Heartstone Homestead Owners can you please help.

[Andy99]

Ok

I have had my stove for a couple of months and I still have questions. I cant seem to get my stove top temp over 400. Where do you normally leave the air supply lever during a normal after work before bed time fire??? I was pushing it back about 1/2 to 3/4 but sometimes the flames would get so small It would just glow. Then I add a little air and it takes off. I dont know what else to try to get the temp up. Im using real seasoned hard woods. The other question Im having is the overnight. I go to bed at 12 and when I wake up at 6 I have a warm stove and no embers. How can I get longer burn times over night. I pack it full with wood Burn it full open for about 15 min then cut the air supply to about 10 % open. But when I wake up there is nothing but Ashes. The stove is still warm to the touch, but I need to build a fire from scratch to restart it.

Thanks
Andy

 

[edthedawg]

Can't help you w/ over 400 stovetop - I'm struggling the same way w/ the Heritage. I blame it on wet wood and a general PEBCAK kinda thing, as I'm still learning as well.

I can tell you once we get the fire really rolling, the optimum burn seems to be w/ the primary very close to full off. Wife leaves for work after me and she claims she chokes it completely off when she goes to work. And she usually has decent coals to refire when she gets home (before me).

For your overnights, have you tried letting it burn higher longer, prior to backing down the primary?

Going from full open for 15m down immediately to ~10% open is probably not the best practice - step it down in smaller increments every 10-15min. That seems to be helping me w/ the Heritage.

Also - how much / what kind of chimney do you have? I'm finding i get the longest burns with a good full box and the flue damper almost completely closed down - but I have 35+ feet of centrally-located 6" dia stainless, so it's a freakin' wind-tunnel in there.

 

[Highbeam]

For warming it up to above 400 you will need to be more aggressive with an air setting between 50% and 25% and keep an active flame. I use about 25% if I want to get to 500 soon. The snuffing of the fire as you describe is poor burning and likely makes smoke. Keep feeding it smaller splits like 3-5 inches across max as soon as you have room and keep and active flame and you will get it hot.

For the longer burns you will have an established coal bed and a 400 or so stove. Stuff it full with larger 4-6" splits, stacked tightly but loosely enough to catch fire, and then let it char and close down the draft in increments to fully closed. You should not snuff the flame in this process. You should stack to the top without toughing the ceiling bits. Expect the temp to climb up above 400 and then cool slowly until the next morning. Your smallish stove may not be capable of overnight burns so you can only do the best you can.

 

[edthedawg]

You know I mentioned the other day I did well by adding some more small splits - sticking with my usual 3 @ each load interval plus one or two at random ain't gonna do it - I need to make a run at 6 of them now that I've clearly defined what 3 or 4 will do for me. the learning process continues...

 

[Highbeam]

Here you go Ed. Loaded for bear with 7 splits plus coals. You can't do that unless your ash heap is down. This was one of those times when the "F-around gauge" was down to zero.

 

[Vic99]

Ok, I've had the homestead since Dec. I can easily achieve stove top temps above 500F most of the time. 600F is not out of the question, but obviously that is overfire territory.

In the morning from a cold start, assuming that your wood is dry (try a moisture meter)

1) Open the air intake all the way;

2) Build a top down fire (firebox should be 2/3 to 3/4 full. Use medium & small splits and kindling. Stack somewhat loosely.

Since you are having trouble, use more newspaper and cardboard than you think that you will need. Light the paper in 3-4 places, keep the door cracked for a good minute til the fire is really going;

3) Close door and keep the intake open all the way for 15-20 minutes, this will help burn off creosote in the chimney (do this every day or nearly every day once you are burning 24/7) and it will also help get the temp up;

4) Then close the intake down to 3/4 for a few minutes;

5) Go down to 1/2 for a few minutes . . . ideally stove top is above 200F. If not, wood is probably not dry enough.

6) Go to 1/4 open for a few then close all the way. Stove should really take off at this point.

Sometimes, when the stove gets to 300-350, I add another decent sized split in the middle. Char it at 1/2 for a few minutes, then close down all the way and this should put you 400+ (more likely 500+) pretty easily.

In case you approach overfire, point a fan on high toward stove. til temps come down.

Let me know how you make out. Good luck.

 

[dosyoro]

I have the heritage, a little larger stove, but have no trouble getting temps up to 400 or higher. Is your thermometer on the center stone on top of the stove? I agree with Vic99: "start with a top down fire" and then add smaller pieces with the draft open until you get a good coal base (30 min or so and at this point I'm usually at 400) then add a couple larger logs let them catch then turn the draft down to about 3/4 to 1/2 open. After those burn down I add 3 to 4 logs at a time keep the draft open till they catch (about 5 min.) then turn down to 1/4 or less and let them burn. At night I usually close the draft all the way to open just a tad (1/4 or less) after having a good coal base built up, but cannot achieve an all night burn. I usually get about 5 hours out of a full load of mostly split oak and cherry. I hate to say it but I don't think you'll get more than that out of your Homestead, possibly look at the Equinox for longer burn times.
I love the soap stone heat though and can live with the burn times, I think if I had anything bigger it would run us out of the house.
Good luck!

 

[Buck1200]

I might add- how tight is your house? Do you have good draft? We just had ours insulated including foaming the cellar and now I'm in the process of adding an outdoor air kit, not because I wanted to, but because I'm having a rough time with anything other than a full load of wood. Where I used to be able to easily burn smaller loads of wood, now I just get this languishing smokey fire and I have to crack a window to get it to burn. I can tell it must be draft because I used to have jets of flame coming from the secondary air pipes with a full wash of flame down the front door, where now I just have these tepid little flame fronts that never fully engage the load of wood. It's better when I stuff it full, but now I need a lot less heat so burning a smaller load is a prime goal.

You might measure to ensure you have good draft. And I normally see 500F on the top stone even with less than a full load of wood.

Anyway, just something else to think about.

 

[badger1968]

Hey Andy--
I can't add much more than these pros have, but I'll tell you what I've found. I have no problem reaching 400 or 500, etc . . . Now, I leave my air open most of the time until I go to bed. I haven't had to burn overnight yet.
In any case, the most important things are:
1. The quality of the wood (DRY)
2. The versatility of the wood--have pieces from small kindling, medium kindling, 1/8 splits, 1/4 splits, to 1/2 splits
3. The way you build the fire. There is plenty of info out there on this one, but a good lattice style bottom up with plenty of good "transitional" 1/8 splits is key to building a good hot fire quickly.
I've gone on a bit here, but the biggest thing I would recommend at this point is building up your arsenal of smaller splits--they are just more efficient and easier to work with. Get a maul, if you haven't already, and break down some of your bigger pieces.
If none of this helps, there may be a draft issue or a wood quality issue. As for overnights, the firebox is just too small, I think--we were mislead on that one. But, I'm surprised you aren't finding anything to work with in the morning. I get some embers without loading up the box before bed.
Good luck! :coolsmile:

 

[rdrcr56]

I have the homestead and have been burning it for three years now and have not had any problems with the overnight. I load it up at 8:30 and have good coals for the re-light at 4:30 no problems. I rake the coals to the front, evenly all the way across the front, put two splits stacked at the back, another smallish one ahead of those, then one right on top of the coals, now pack the rest with whatever fits. Set the air wide open till it's all charred, now down to half for 10-15 min, then about quarter open for a few minutes, then depending on how it's burning close it down a hair more.

 

[Vic99]

I'd also add that last year my longest burn was 7.5 hours with hickory split small and medium.

A typical over night burn for me is 6-7 hours. My wood is drier this year, so we'll see if I improve.

 

[Ithaca]

To get the most heat out of my homestead, after getting a good bed of coals I load it up with the air 100% open to char it. Then I adjust the air back looking for a bright white flame all across the firebox. Set the air too low and the flame will turn orange/blue and some of the smaller flames along the firebox will go out. Too much air and that excess air is cooling the firebox. The bright white flames really put out some heat and will overfire if you don't watch it. I am also using mostly small splits of dry wood.

Yesterday I was using this technique and got it up to 575. I turned the air control off at 550 but as some of the wood was still high in the firebox, it kept feeding off of the secondary tubes and the temp rose and hovered at 575. It stayed there 10- 15 min. To my dismay I noticed the airwash baffle has a slight 'wave' to it now. Anyone else's stove's airwash not straight anymore? I have been so careful not to go over 600 it is frustrating.

 

[Andy99]

After following everyones advice I went for it last night. I got it up to 475 and was very happy with the way it heated my house. It was in the 30s last night and my house was perfect about 75 in the living room and the other rooms were all around 68. Now for the overnight. I lit the fire at 7. I had a great coal bed at 10:30 so I loaded it up for the night. I filled the fire box and ran full open for 10 minutes. Then I ran 50% for 15 minutes and then I closed it down to about 10% open. I had great secondary burn going. I used my infer red thermometer and got temps of 475 on the top center and on the top stone on the side of the stove I was at 575. For some reason top stone on the side of the stove is always hotter then the center stone on the top. Anyway. Off to sleep I went. When I got up this morning at 7 the stove was still hot to the touch and I had three nice size embers glowing red. I didnt try to relight the stove this morning (its getting up to mid 50s today and Im at work all day) and I dont know if I would have been able to with the embers that where left but that was the best overnight burn I have had so far. I Might have to wake up just a little earlier. What I did this time that made it better is I really stuffed the firebox full. In the past I was trying not to hit the secondary tubes and was leaving room between them and the wood. Last night I packed the stove only leaving about an inch between the tubes and the wood. I love the stove but wish I would have gotten it a little bigger. It heats the house great but the firebox is a little to small. One last question. How often do you scoop out the ash? It seems that Im scooping ash out twice a day. The stove is filled with ash after 12 hours.

 

[Vic99]

Glad to hear you've had better burns!

The method I gave above is conservative to get good burns. As others have mentioned, you'll tweak it and find what works best for you. Wood species, seasoned time, split size, and how much you fill the stove all play a role.

ASH
I clean out ash 2-3 times per week when I'm burning 24/7 in winter. Keeping white ash in the stove reflects heat back into the fire. I do not use the ash pan, it is a pain to use. I keep the ash pan full and closed and forget about it. Try using a small fireplace shovel to take ash out of the firebox. Regardless, keep the doghouse at the front of the firebox clear with every reload.


OVERNIGHT BURNS
I, too, wish I had overnight burns that were a bit longer (Heritage). Last year I averaged 6.5 hours with 6-8 month seasoned wood. This year I hope to ave 7 hours with large, 1 year seasoned sugar maple splits with white birch and white pine filling the gaps.

By the way, I used to reload (to the gills) at 300F. This works well most of the time, but sometimes I have to prevent an overfire with a box fan blowing on the stove. So now I stuff at 250ish and don't worry if I 'm sleeping or out of the house. See what works best for you.


BEST HEAT OUTPUT
Check out the opening post on this thread. Notice the difference between 400F and 600F. It'll make you want to run with a stovetop of 550F as much as possible in midwinter. Just be safe. You don't want those hairline soapstone surface cracks turning into something more.

https://www.hearth.com/talk/threads/5835/


Once your stove is as efficient as it can be, then you can work on your house insulation.
Good luck.

 

[rdrcr56]

Ash removal in ours is also 2-3 times a week, I use a metal dust pan, push most of the ash to one side and get a full dust pan out then level out the remaining ash. To re-light in the morning, even with just a few coals I rake them right in front of the air inlet with air full open, go get a cup of coffee, then put two little pieces of kindling on the coals front to back, lay a small split behind the pile and another split on top of the two pieces of kindling, then one more split diagonally on the other two, wait a little and then fire.

 

[Andy99]

As far as I can tell packing the stove with wood is the best way to get long overnight burns. The problem Im having is getting the wood in with out hitting the top metal tubes. I seem to always be gently tapping them when I try to load it up for the night. Any one else ever bump the tubes every now and then? How bad is it to slightly tap them from time to time?

 

[edthedawg]

I occasionally bump the tubes but you gotta gotta GOTTA be careful not to slip a corner of the split between them and poke the baffle. You're done if you break it. Keep a flat face up on those splits you place on the top of the pile, and make sure they're not going to slide/shift and send a sharp edge levering up between the tubes. You aren't ever likely to break the glass w/ a sliding split - but i don't think i'd lay wager to the baffle surviving a mid-fire WHACK.

On that note, i'm gonna go put a couple more splits on for the night...

 

[Highbeam]

Regularly bump and "use" the tubes for helping hold the load together. You aren't going to hurt the tubes as they're quite stout. My baffle has taken some hits and has a couple of scratches. It is thick though and still solid.

 

[Andy99]

AUGH!

I was trying to load up for the night tonight and I wanted to get 4 splits in. I put the first on on the bottom in the back then I put the second split in front of it. then I tried to put in two more on top of the two I just put in, but because of the tubes I couldn't get the 3rd split in far enough towards the back to fit in the fourth. I ended up bumping the tubes. No matter how I tried I hit the tubes and couldn't get it far enough back to fit in that fourth split. I need that 4th split to get thru the night with out it I cant make it until morning. I guess im just venting unless anyone has a better way to load this stove. I dont have a rake but I might buy one. If I raked the coals forward it might have lowered the back log low enough for me to sneak the other one on top of it.

 

[Todd]

Been there and done that. You definitely need a coal rake. I always rake the coals forward when reloading. Like you said it will give you more room in back and longer burns. There ain't much room back there with that sloping baffle.