Now that I am burning 24/7 I have a couple of questions. When I load up at night for over night burn I fill the stove up to top and I'm good it Goes all night. I have coals leftover for relight in the morning. After the morning burn is down I have a lot of coals left. I rake the coals to the front and let them burn down a little before loading up again. But the stove drops in temperature and the house gets colder. If I reload to soon I have to many coals in box. How do I go about loading wood in the stove and burn down the coals the same time so I have a hot stove all the time. I am home all the time so should I put 1 to 3 logs at a time in the afternoon. Or load it up like over night burns and let it burn down for 8 hrs.
How to keep it going 24/7
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when my coals get to big I do just place a few in on the top of that mountain if I want to keep it real hot, if the house is already 77 I add nothing and let the mountain burn down on its own. My wife will feed it constantly and make so many large coals when I get home it may take me 3 hours to get them all burned down to ash.
When I get a lot of coal build up (happens in this cold weather), I'll pull them to the front then load a split or 2 on top.
That tends to burn down the excess, while also keeping the stove and house warm.
Give it a shot.
That tends to burn down the excess, while also keeping the stove and house warm.
Give it a shot.
X2 on Dave's comment. Rake forward and add 1-2 splits with extra air to keep hot and burn coals. As has been mentioned in many posts wood heat is awesome but not magic so when it is really cold there are trade offs due to the need for sooner load intervals. Best solution is to now start working on tightening up your house and adding insulation to help retain the heat your stove is producing. I have a big time drafty home and have the coaling issues when it gets deep cold or especially when it is windy and cold - sucking all my precious heat out into the world.
If this happens during the day and you can do it, get there early to turn the air up. This way you get a bit more heat those last couple hrs and then at the reload time it will be ready. I.e. if you expect to reload at 2pm and know there will be too many coals, up the air at 12:30 or 1 and that way you get more heat those last couple hours and have it ready on time. Of course you could just reload on those coals and have a quicker startup too... Nothing says the stove has to have minimal coals.
One thing that I've learned burning wood - it pays to plan ahead.
One thing that I've learned burning wood - it pays to plan ahead.
With Mulberry and Oak even Ash I get enough coals to heat a small house, takes forever to burn them down.
Today is a good example. This morning we had a large coal bed and the outdoor temperature was in the teens. I think 15. Had to go to town, so we put in one split. Turned the stove to about 50% draft. Got home to find the coal bed down. Took out some ashes and then put in 4 splits. All is well on the home front.
Our normal thing is to turn the draft to full open at or just a tad before the burn is down to all coals. This will hold the stove temperature to give us heat while burning down the coals and it usually does not take long to do this. When it is down to your liking, then put 3 or 4 splits in and enjoy the heat.
48F here at 5pm. The heat pump has only come on a few times today, no wind and a mild day. I took advantage of the warm spell to burn down the coal bed and let the stove go out. It was overdue for a shovel out of ashes and clinkers. Cleaned the glass too. Now it's ready for the next cold spell.
We touched 40. But the ice didn't seem to notice and just lay there waiting for the snow to come about sunup. Looks like it will be just a few inches though.
ailanthus
Feeling the Heat
It's nice to have some pine, poplar or something that doesn't coal to throw on top of a deep coal bed. Turn up the air, burn it hot and the coals get burnt down while still getting a nice amount of heat while doing so.
Coal Management 101. Someone needs to post a video of best practices. I sure could use it. Now in my second year with the PE, I've become more vigilant with dealing with my coals. As Slow1 says, it does pay to plan ahead. My wife runs the stove during the day (i.e. loads when she can due to her own hectic schedule), so there's a little management work to be done to 1.) Get the house temp up before bedtime for the kids and 2.) Get the coals burnt down for a nice overnight load. Every bit of advice here should be considered, including diligence on the insulation. We burn pellets as well, and a handful of pellets atop a raked pile of coals with the air on high does wonders. For the non-pellet folks here, might be worth buying a bag at $4-$5 every now and again. Stay warm, folks!
I don't think it hit the mid 20s here and will be down in the mid single digits tonight. I noticed a buildup in coals so I threw a couple splits and left the air on higher than I normally would. I'm about ready to reload as the coals are burnt down pretty well now. I'll pull ashes out after the cold front moves through. One thing you can do to help this is to stir the ashes. The larger coals will move to the top and the ash will fall to the bottom.
Thanks all, I did try mixing up coals and laying 1 to 2 splits on them and the air 3/4 open and worked good. Coals burnt down well and kept the temp's up too. It has been in the 20's the last couple of days so was just trying to keep heat going steady. I think I am finally getting to know my stove a little better thanks to you guys. I think the 1 to 2 splits at a time is a good way to burn the coals down faster and keep heat going.
jdp1152
Minister of Fire
tahoostas
Member
I suspect coaling problems are due to pushing the stove harder for more heat. This could be due to a stove being a tad too small for area being heated or the wood being a bit too wet (thus you get less heat from the same loads). Anyone who is dealing with coaling issues for a long time (not just a couple ultr-cold days, whatever that is in your climate) should take heed of this and consider whether perhaps their wood could be dryer or maybe their stove is too small...
I generally like having a nice hot coal bed sit there for hours putting out heat - but it certainly isn't as much heat as the first 2-4 hrs of the burn. When I want that longer peak heat is when I get eager to load and then the coal bed isn't "a really nice long burn" but a "problem."
I generally like having a nice hot coal bed sit there for hours putting out heat - but it certainly isn't as much heat as the first 2-4 hrs of the burn. When I want that longer peak heat is when I get eager to load and then the coal bed isn't "a really nice long burn" but a "problem."
My stove is a good size for my house definitely keeps me in the mid-70s very nicely. It's just been in the 20s the last couple of nights and I'm trying to Keeptheheat going at that temperature. My house could use some insulation and my wood could be a little better seasoned. But overall it's doing a pretty good job. And now I can control the coals with a couple of splits or with the opened air to burn them down and it still gives off a couple hours a heat like you guys mentioned. Thanks for all your help.
Yup - I'm in the same boat a few days a year - less now that I have the PH (I had a lot more days like that with the FV which was clearly too small for my house). As I type I'm burning down coals from my morning burn. Generally the stove is "happy" to do an 8hr burn on full load but I'm planning on pushing it to 6hrs between these two loads to get more heat - today's high here is in the teens so it is unusually cold for us.
Those reading this who may have a coaling problem for half (or more) of the burning season are the ones that I believe should be giving serious consideration to their wood and/or stove size.
"Big coal beds are a particular problem with EPA certified non-catalytic stoves because their insulated fireboxes and high temperatures tend to cook out the volatile gases quickly, leaving a big load of charcoal. This isn't much of a problem during moderate weather because the coal bed can do an adequate heating job"
Nature of the beast.
So how do you keep the volatile gases from burning up to fast and to help burn down the coals. Put some heat tape over half the vent holes to slow things down..
BCC_Burner
Feeling the Heat
Buy a pre EPA stove.
There is no way I can fine tune my stove. I have heard the people have put heat tape over half the secondary hole to slow things down and get nicer burns, is this true or false.
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