how much to "load" into my stove at a time

[Mroverkill]

So i am getting used to starting this thing up and it seems like i like the top down burn a little better.



BUT how much wood is ok to load 1/2 a firebox full 3/4 etc etc? Just things i wanna learn but not the hard way

 

[vvvv]

look @ the video in my sig. for ideal burn from member Laynes69. note that the hot zone is on top & if a load was under the flame it would heat up & gassify from the top of the pile downward therein having a more controlled gassification than if the wood heated from the bottom up like on a bed of coals

 

[Joey]

Definately a learning curve. Gotta experiment with your stove, each one runs a bit different. I was always afraid to overfire my stove when I first started burning. You will see that loading up the stove and gradually closing the air down will give ya a nice hot and long burn...start with small fires and work your way up. It wont take long to figure it out.

 

[Slow1]

The answer also depends quite a bit on your wood - softer wood (especially if very dry) is a very different thing from large pieces of hard wood. Only experience will really tell you what is best - then it will still surprise you once is a while (perhaps the LONG time burners aren't ever surprised... I wouldn't really know being only starting my 3rd season, heh).

 

[begreen]

Try to keep the top of a full load a couple inches below the burn tubes. You don't want to be bumping them or the baffle board. A partial load for early/late season burning would be like 3 - 4-6" splits.

This video may be helpful:
http://www.woodheat.org/images/Video/EfficientWoodstoveOperation.avi

 

[Mroverkill]

i was worried about keeping the flame off the tubes thats all

 

[madrone]

I've loaded it as full as possible, so that small splits are wedged under the tubes, and it fires just fine, but it's hard to load that way and unnecessary. A full load with an inch or so of space under the tubes seems to burn well. The majority of the time, I load something like 3/4 full. I'm usually home when burning, so I prefer to even out the temps with lots of smaller loads. I only load full if I'm burning overnight, or leaving for the day.

 

[Adios Pantalones]

Mine fires best packed as full as possible. Seems to make sure that heat and burnable gases come in better contact with the secondary tubes.

I load it to the top, start a small birch bark fire in front, and close the door when it's ripping.

 

[oldspark]

Mine fires best packed as full as possible. Seems to make sure that heat and burnable gases come in better contact with the secondary tubes.

I load it to the top, start a small birch bark fire in front, and close the door when it's ripping.

What do you do in the shoulder seasons when you do not need a large fire, even loading it with a lower btu wood could roast you out of the house?

 

[Adios Pantalones]

I do a smaller load and leave a little primary air open for longer than I normally would.

 

[Backwoods Savage]

Most new wood burners fear overfiring and they are not sure how much wood to put into the stoves. One has to realize that if you load that stove up it will give a bunch of heat. That is what it is for. However, until the real cold hits I can see no reason for packing a stove full. New folks who do this tend to run out of wood by the time the real heating season has kicked in. We don't need much heat this time of the year so small fires are the way to go. Small fire and don't let it smolder unless you have a cat stove. Burn the fire fairly hot and then just let the fire die out until you need another shot.

 

[Mroverkill]

yup i was thinking for when it really got cold out there. for now im throwing in 3-4 small/med splits in there and letting it take the chill out. i also just learned last night that i shouldnt go from full open to min air or it will starve the fire amd make it smolder

little by little i am learning just trying to think ahead if i can

 

[Backwoods Savage]

Yes, dialing that draft down a bit at a time is the way to go. We close our draft half way for the first dial-down and then in stages from there. It depends upon the stove as to how low you can go with the draft. We can close ours to 1/4 of the way towards 1 in a draft that sets from 1 to 4. But, we have a cat so it burns nicely at those low settings. Too high of a setting and more of your heat goes up the chimney rather than in the house to keep you warm. No sense in wasting that fuel.

 

[Battenkiller]

However, until the real cold hits I can see no reason for packing a stove full. New folks who do this tend to run out of wood by the time the real heating season has kicked in. We don't need much heat this time of the year so small fires are the way to go. Small fire and don't let it smolder unless you have a cat stove. Burn the fire fairly hot and then just let the fire die out until you need another shot.

Excellent point. I changed stoves last year, and I burned through a lot of wood before I found out my stove worked just as good with half a load. I went through almost four cord through the end of January, but only a little over two for the rest of the season. Should have been closer to half and half. We'll see what happens this year, but I plan on using smaller loads except for at bedtime when I'll be away from the stove. Worst that can happen is I'll get cold and have to put more wood on.

Too much wood and not enough air can make for an inefficient burn. Find the best balance, just like when you tune your saws.

 

[vvvv]

Mine fires best packed as full as possible. Seems to make sure that heat and burnable gases come in better contact with the secondary tubes.

I load it to the top, start a small birch bark fire in front, and close the door when it's ripping.

What do you do in the shoulder seasons when you do not need a large fire, even loading it with a lower btu wood could roast you out of the house?

all air coming from either primary or secondary dives down to the hot spot due to air buoyancy factors

 

[laynes69]

I load according to the weather. I have found out like others that I don't always need a full firebox to heat the house. I'll fill the firebox if we leave for an extended period of time, or when temperatures outside drop quite a bit. Otherwise I load enough to promote proper combustion. We have a 3.5 cu. ft. firebox, so I load 3 to 4 pieces at a time. Two won't cut it for us. Also one thing I found with a EPA burner was I didn't have to stuff the thing full of rounds, or large splits to get a good overnight burn. 3 or 4 large splits will carry us through most nights. Plus I don't look at wood type as much, where before I would take the hardest woods to get us an overnight burn.

 

[firefighterjake]

Random thoughts . . .

During the shoulder season you don't have to . . . and probably shouldn't . . . load your firebox right to the gills. Me, I use my junk wood -- my chunks, punks and uglies which means there is lots of extra room in the fire box. I still burn hot and get secondary combustion, but these are short-lived fires and I don't usually do a re-load. Instead, I get the stove nice and warm and then let the stove radiate heat long after there are no flames.

Overfiring . . . it has been said . . . and I agree . . . a lot of newbies worry too much about over-firing. It is and can be an issue, but I would wager a lot of new burners don't get their stove hot enough vs. run their stove too hot. That said . . . one word . . . thermometers.

Burn tubes and baffles . . . not a bad idea to keep the wood a bit below the burn tubes and baffles . . . I haven't noticed any real difference in the stove performance if I'm right up to the burn tubes or if I've given it some breathing room . . . but I do like to keep the wood a bit below . . . just to avoid any unnecessary roughness and potential damage to the burn tubes and baffles. Don't worry about the fire impinging on the burn tubes or baffle . . . it is made to handle the high heat.

Closing down the air for long burns and that secondary action . . . yes . . . I find that in most cases (unless I've had my stove running for a long time) it is best to close down the air in quarter mark increments . . . then waiting for 5 minutes or so to make sure the fire is still burning well . . . if the fire starts to suffocate I bump the air back up a quarter mark for another 5 minutes.


==

 

[Jaugust124]

Mroverkill,
I'm glad you asked the question about how much wood to load. I've been wondering the same thing. I have been curious about over / under loading the stove. On one hand, I want enough wood in there to get the job done, but I don't want to waste wood nor over fire the stove.
Now I have seen the video floating around with the guy stuffing the bejeezus out of his BK, something like 100 pounds of wood. If that won't over fire a stove, what will? Or are the BK's meant to handle that kind of load? I intend to get a thermometer to help me take the guess work out of it. I'm sure it will be a matter of trial and hopefully not too much error.

 

[BrotherBart]

The max load I put in my big non-cat anymore is even with the top of the firebrick. Experimentation has shown me that I get as good heat and the same burn times as I did trying to pack it all the way to the top. Leaving room for that secondary burn between the wood and the baffle returns great results. What that space up there was designed for.

And don't worry about flames hitting those tubes or the baffle boards. Do worry about your poker or splits hitting those tubes or boards. If you are loading that Quad N/S get ya a set of tongs in the fireplace section at Lowe's for a few bucks and use them on the end of splits instead of trying to move them around with a poker. The poker WILL keep slipping out from under splits and banging the baffle board and tubes. Tongs, less than ten bucks. New baffle boards, over a hundred. Not smacking the baffle boards and tubes, priceless.

 

[Slow1]

Now I have seen the video floating around with the guy stuffing the bejeezus out of his BK, something like 100 pounds of wood. If that won't over fire a stove, what will? Or are the BK's meant to handle that kind of load? I intend to get a thermometer to help me take the guess work out of it. I'm sure it will be a matter of trial and hopefully not too much error.

Every stove is different - in particular pay attention to the difference between burn technologies. BKs are cat stoves and as such burn very different from a burn tube secondary air stove. That 100lbs of wood isn't going to be exposed to extreme high temps and all off-gas at once; rather the stove will allow it to burn down in a more controlled manner.

Another observation that I've made from reading here and a bit of home testing that may seem a bit counter-intuitive is that in some (perhaps more than we think) stoves loading to the gills may not actually improve either the quality or the length of the burn. It seems that there is an optimal load somewhere in there and that some amount of air space around or on top of the load is helpful/necessary for a good burn and without leaving this efficiency goes down at least for some period of time and that may well cost enough loss to make it not worthwhile to overfill the stove. I'm not yet sure about this point btw - I plan to play with my own stove this winter and see if I can somehow quantify this. However, I have seen enough statements along this line that I suspect there is some support to this idea. So many variables to play with...

 

[DBoon]

If you load it really full, make sure you use your larger (but still nicely dry) splits or rounds and not a lot of small piecs - this will give you a longer, more even burn. A lot of small pieces will fire faster and hotter. Also, keep a careful eye on the temperature while the wood is starting to combust and dial it down early enough to avoid getting too hot a fire going too quickly.

I have a blower on my stove, and as I was learning how much to load, having the blower was the ultimate safety feature if the stove got too hot - I could crank the blower up to full blast and move the heat away from the stove to avoid an overfire situation.