Heritage - Burn times stink

[Backwoods Savage]

I really do not think it is the wood. I scored some very nice Oak in the spring of 2009. That gave it a year and a half to season which should be perfect for a freshly cut tree if I'm not mistaken. I get the fire going with higher heat woods like Cherry and Hickory and then switch to the Oak and Maple after I'm in secondary burn mode.

And earlier you wrote, "Definitely no wet wood in play. If anything, it’s over seasoned."


When someone has problems like this I always first look at the fuel. It is the same with a car, truck or tractor. They don't perform, very often it is the fuel.

My first question has to be, what is over seasoned wood? Personally, I've never seen such a thing and we've burned wood that was 10 years in the stack and it burned absolutely wonderful. We regularly burn wood 6-8 years in the stack as has been posted on this forum many times.

If we burn oak, we do not give it a year and a half to season....we do not attempt to burn it until it has been split and stacked for 3 years. Sorry, but oak gives up its moisture very reluctantly. Yes, there are members on this forum who burn oak sooner and maybe they have different oak that we have but we just do not get decent fires from oak until it has seasoned for 3 years or more. I cut some oak today and based on what we have for wood at present we will not get at this oak until the winter of 2016-2017. It should burn very well then.

There very well may be other factors that are affecting the output of heat from your stove, but I'm betting the fuel is a big contributor of your problems. Good luck on solving this.

 

[rudysmallfry]

Umm, if my oak was under seasoned, wouldn't it crack, pop, hiss and take 3 days to get going? My OP is regarding a stove that is burning all types and factors of wood in record time. The stove gets hot, just doesn't stay that way long since the fire is out within an hour or two. I've had zero problems getting fires going. It's just keeping them going.

 

[wkpoor]

Told ya the wet wood thing was going to come out. When I had heat output issues I was burning kiln dried hardwood lumber scraps. Eventually I came around to the simplest answer.....the stove was just too small, plain and simple or I had it in an impossible situation to heat.

 

[wkpoor]

Easiest way around the wood thing is to just put in a load a 2xs. I know its soft pine but if water is your problem even pine will give you better results. But I agree, most likely its not the wood.

 

[Backwoods Savage]

Umm, if my oak was under seasoned, wouldn't it crack, pop, hiss and take 3 days to get going? My OP is regarding a stove that is burning all types and factors of wood in record time. The stove gets hot, just doesn't stay that way long since the fire is out within an hour or two. I've had zero problems getting fires going. It's just keeping them going.

You are over-exaggerating a bit there. It certainly would be hissing and difficult to light. My main point was on your comment about "overseasoning." I added about the oak just to let you know what we do and how we treat the oak. Longer seasoning for oak is always better. As stated, there has to be some other factors involved and I hope you can get it figured out.

 

[wkpoor]

I was somewhat in your shoes last January. I went and visited a house that had a cast iron EPA stove that the owner raved about. Good heat ouput, long burn time, yada yada yada. I walked in, over to the stove, that was in a maybe 400 sq ft room on the first floor. Yes the room was warm, but it was then that I had it figured out. There is just no way to compare a stove used that way against one that is trying to heat a whole good sized house from the basement up.

 

[NH_Wood]

What size splits are you using? Are they VERY small? I just can't imagine a fully loaded Heritage going from full load to small bed of coals in under 2 hours, especially with good hardwood. Have you tried larger splits? Sounds like you are having no issue with getting a good, hot fire - I'm boggled as to how you are burning through the wood so fast. Perhaps it would be a good idea to make a video of your stove burning a full load - perhaps 15 seconds of video every 20 minutes - so that folks could see the time lapse of what your stove is doing - this is an odd one. Cheers!

 

[rudysmallfry]

If you split a 12" round into quarters, that's about the size of the splits. They're pretty good chunks. I think I will do the time lapse video, that is if we another cold night. It would be fun even if not productive.

 

[summit]

lemme tell ya about the magical stove they call the Summit....

 

[certified106]

Something just doesn't add up with all of this, I don't see how you can burn a 2.3 cubic foot firebox of wood in two hours without melting something down :bug:

 

[YankeeFarmer]

...Now that it's warmer, I do seem to suddenly be getting longer burns, although now I'm blowing myself out of the house with the heat. Wish it would do that in the dead of winter. I cringe when I hear that damn boiler kick on around 3:00am cuz the stove has fizzled out prematurely. Maybe I'll get one of those energy audits done before next season and see if I can seal the house up a little better.

Have you ever measured the draft? In cold weather, the draft will be stronger than in warmer outside temps. Being in the basement, you may may have enough chimney height to require some additional draft control to get slower burns in cold temps.

 

[wkpoor]

Something just doesn't add up with all of this, I don't see how you can burn a 2.3 cubic foot firebox of wood in two hours without melting something down :bug:

#1 2.3 may or maynot be the actuall firebox size. Probably is smaller.
#2 Even if there were an actuall 2.3 available space for wood that is IMO a really small fb. I think 3.5 is still small too. My old stove was 5.6 and in a garage/shop I can nearly continuosly throw wood it in. With my experiences heating from a situation that sounds close to his, I would say condition normal, especially with a 2.3cuft fb.

 

[rudysmallfry]

...Now that it's warmer, I do seem to suddenly be getting longer burns, although now I'm blowing myself out of the house with the heat. Wish it would do that in the dead of winter. I cringe when I hear that damn boiler kick on around 3:00am cuz the stove has fizzled out prematurely. Maybe I'll get one of those energy audits done before next season and see if I can seal the house up a little better.

Have you ever measured the draft? In cold weather, the draft will be stronger than in warmer outside temps. Being in the basement, you may may have enough chimney height to require some additional draft control to get slower burns in cold temps.

When I first got the stove, I had trouble getting fires started. We thought it was because of the 2 right angles in my stove pipe. The guy came out and measured the draft. While I don't remember the reading, he said it was normal. I have since altered the setup to about an a 1" rise in the pipe that is horizontal to the thimble. Maybe that 1" created this "overfiring" problem for lack of a better word.

Also guys, I am not loading this thing full due to concerns about it burning out of control. I put two hefty splits in there and fill a few gaps with some smaller pieces. I leave probably 1/4 of the firebox empty.

 

[Highbeam]

Your problem is obvious now. It is caused by your method of operation. You have worried yourself into creating a poor performing stove. You are underloading and then running too much draft. Perfect recipe for short burns. Perfect recipe for shoulder season burning where you don't want much heat.

You pushed yourself into a corner. Too afraid to load the stove full for fear of overfire, and too afraid to turn the intake air off for fear of underfire.

To heck with creosote, for an experiment, ignore the flue temp. Take the gauge off if you must. With a decent coal base, load the stove with at least 4 good sized splits packed pretty tightly, char the load and shut that intake air OFF. You will never get a good burntime with this stove unless you shut the intake OFF. No wussy excuses. If your wood is dry then you will not snuff the fire, your glass will stay clean, the splits will burn to fine ash, and your smoke emissions will be minimal.

This stove operates very different at zero air than even at 10% air. I figure that if the stove is going to self destruct with the draft setting to zero then it is not safe and I would be happy to replace it. What I have found is that this stove loves the zero air setting. Max stove top temps are to be had at about 10% air setting.

 

[Fsappo]

My car goes slow but I dont want to press on the gas pedal too hard!

 

[NH_Wood]

Your problem is obvious now. It is caused by your method of operation. You have worried yourself into creating a poor performing stove. You are underloading and then running too much draft. Perfect recipe for short burns. Perfect recipe for shoulder season burning where you don't want much heat.

You pushed yourself into a corner. Too afraid to load the stove full for fear of overfire, and too afraid to turn the intake air off for fear of underfire.

To heck with creosote, for an experiment, ignore the flue temp. Take the gauge off if you must. With a decent coal base, load the stove with at least 4 good sized splits packed pretty tightly, char the load and shut that intake air OFF. You will never get a good burntime with this stove unless you shut the intake OFF. No wussy excuses. If your wood is dry then you will not snuff the fire, your glass will stay clean, the splits will burn to fine ash, and your smoke emissions will be minimal.

This stove operates very different at zero air than even at 10% air. I figure that if the stove is going to self destruct with the draft setting to zero then it is not safe and I would be happy to replace it. What I have found is that this stove loves the zero air setting. Max stove top temps are to be had at about 10% air setting.

For what it's worth, my Mansfield loves to run completely shut down as well. Cheers!

 

[rudysmallfry]

I am an overthinker, so that would all make sense. Okay, next cold night, I'll take the temp guage off and let 'er rip with air closed.

 

[Highbeam]

Awesome, sorry for thinking you were a dude. The Rudy name threw me.

 

[Rob From Wisconsin]

Do you have a pipe damper ?If not try it .I have my Mansfield in my basement and before the damper I'd get only5-6 hours of good heat.With the damper I'm getting 12 hours.

Rich is "right-on" when it comes to having a pipe damper.
Our Hearthstone draws like a bandit, and having a pipe damper adds
at least 50% to our total burn time, and doesn't seem to affect our clean burns.
If anything, we get more of a "firestorm" effect.

 

[DanCorcoran]

Awesome, sorry for thinking you were a dude. The Rudy name threw me.

Rudy is the dog in the avatar photo.

 

[daleeper]

No, basement is finished in a raised ranch. Lower part is underground. Upper half is insulated.

That lower part that is underground, is it insulated? If not, that than be a real heat sucker. In my basement, the sidewalls are insulated, but the floor is not. It can take up to a week to warm that floor if you let it get cold.

That stove has a 2.3 cu. ft. firebox, mine has 1.7 and was getting 12 hour burns most of the winter, keeping the basement comfortable, and heating the upstairs most of the time, but yes my furnace was kicking on in the early morning hours. Point is that the firebox should be capable of holding a fire quite a while longer than what you are getting.

I think Highbeam is right on most of your problem though with loading the stove full, and getting it shut down. I think a lot of your heat is going up the chimney with those flue temps.

But I will have to say that that basement will use a lot of btu's, and that stove may not be big enough to heat the upstairs the way you want it to if the air does not circulate well.

 

[wkpoor]

Testimony to basement heat loss for me is how long it takes to warm all the concrete but how fast it goes away when I let the fire go out. It typically takes 2 days to recover from 1 day without the stove going. I do have a walkout though and no walls are insulated on the inside. 3 sides are on the dirt side.

 

[Seasoned Oak]

That fire box is too small for that size home unless it is very well insulated. I think she would have much better results with a 3+ CF firebox. My harman get 15 hour burns if i pack it tight at least half that time with very good heat output. Even when i had it in an uninsulated house.

 

[daveswoodhauler]

I am an overthinker, so that would all make sense. Okay, next cold night, I'll take the temp guage off and let 'er rip with air closed.

I would be curious to see how you made out.
I have a small firebox, and like you even when I put a lot in, it is usually 1/4 empty. (I don't pack it to the gills)
I usually get 4 hours with coals after, and the firebox is very small.

Anyway, I don't think this has anything to do with if the stove is in the basement/first floor, etc....basically, you are getting quick burns, which means the stove is getting too much air.

Please post back when you fill it up. Take a temp reading when you fill it, shut down air little by little in 5 minute increments, and after 30 minutes or so it should be closed as much as you can. Then, take a temp reading every 30 minutes and post back. Please let us know how you make out with the results.

 

[Seasoned Oak]

With a 2.3 CF fire box and you not loading it full you may actually have just 1CF of wood in there taking into account spaces between the wood or slightly over. How much heat can you reasonably expect from 1+ CF of wood. Burn times are calculated with a full load of wood.