I find this time of the year hard control the house temp with wood. Not cold enough to burn full out. I use small fires and use my Poplar and pine, but I'll use more oil during the mild weather then the cold.
Hard time for burning wood
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John,
I have the same problem only that I run it up too hot, have to open windows to equalize the temp. I find that a fan works well in dispersing the heat throughout the house.
Erik
I have the same problem only that I run it up too hot, have to open windows to equalize the temp. I find that a fan works well in dispersing the heat throughout the house.
Erik
Yep, I think spring and fall is when wood burning really is an art. Draft is weaker due to lack of temperature differential, and its a challange to get your wood load correct in the stove. Too much, too big, too much hardwood, and its too hot. Too little and you don't even have a fire worth burning. There's only so small you can go in a fire size and have it be worthwhile at all.
I hear ya. This is a good time of year to get rid of all the 'junk' wood. Cropped ends of logs, low BTU wood, small branches, etc. This year, it includes a bunch of broken up pallets for me. In previous years when all I've had is solid wood, I've found it is still pretty easy to control the fire by splitting the wood a little finer. Going down to 2"x2" or 2x3" sticks allows pretty good control over the fire.
Last night, I literally burned three 2x4's and about four 1x4's from some old pallets and got the house temp right where I wanted it. My biggest problem is when the weather 'sneaks' up on me...like a bright, sunny day that is 32 degrees or a cloudy, rainy day that is 80. So I also keep an indoor/outdoor thermometer within sight of the stove to gauge the outdoor weather and fire accordingly.
Corey
Last night, I literally burned three 2x4's and about four 1x4's from some old pallets and got the house temp right where I wanted it. My biggest problem is when the weather 'sneaks' up on me...like a bright, sunny day that is 32 degrees or a cloudy, rainy day that is 80. So I also keep an indoor/outdoor thermometer within sight of the stove to gauge the outdoor weather and fire accordingly.
Corey
for my 2 cents worth, i build a small hot fire and let it burn down with a fairly open primary air setting, looking for to reach 450deg stack temp to get my 1/4 plate stove warmed up and smoke free. When it has burned down to cherry red log remanants, I look at basement air temp which tells me how much hotter basement air needs to go to heat the whole house and this gives me a clue to how many and how large of the splits to add on 2 refresh the fire.
once the splits have gone down to cherry red , I can slowly open the door without any smoke escape, as long as i remember to fully open the stack dampner first.
and the cherry red splits ignite the new splits fast. I am carefull not 2 put big splits or rounds,
only in really cold weather, and only a few. an old timer stove like mine is sensitive to too much fuel which will make it smoke but smoke is avoided by adding smaller size fuel in smaller amounts & then opening up the primary contols and sometimes the door,if I misjudge and put in 2 much fuel.
The trick is to get the stove as hot as possible in the shortest time possible so as to achieve 400 deg stack temp no smoke burning zone.
You guys probably have new epa secondary combustion non cat stoves , so this is not an issue for you, but I can ,if i have to , burn wet or green wood and still get into the no smoke temps in a reasonable amount of time.
control temp with fuel load size ,not primary air.
once the splits have gone down to cherry red , I can slowly open the door without any smoke escape, as long as i remember to fully open the stack dampner first.
and the cherry red splits ignite the new splits fast. I am carefull not 2 put big splits or rounds,
only in really cold weather, and only a few. an old timer stove like mine is sensitive to too much fuel which will make it smoke but smoke is avoided by adding smaller size fuel in smaller amounts & then opening up the primary contols and sometimes the door,if I misjudge and put in 2 much fuel.
The trick is to get the stove as hot as possible in the shortest time possible so as to achieve 400 deg stack temp no smoke burning zone.
You guys probably have new epa secondary combustion non cat stoves , so this is not an issue for you, but I can ,if i have to , burn wet or green wood and still get into the no smoke temps in a reasonable amount of time.
control temp with fuel load size ,not primary air.
that funny cause I bucked and split a bunch of locus trees early last spring and was figuring on using that wood for my early fall stuff,,then come to find out everyone tells me to save it for the cold! I ahve been pretty haoppy with it thus far, it does burn nice and hot and not as fast as I thought it would!
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