Increasing burn times with a small stove

[drewmo]

I got in on SmokinJoe's thread about whether the Jotul 400 stove would be too much for his house a little too late. (Smokin, glad to see that you've got a new stove on the way!) Anyhow, it's helped me formulate a question I've been meaning to ask for sometime. We have the same, small stove - a Jotul F100. Great little stove and heats the house (50 meter square) more than adequately 90 percent of the time. We've seen that on really cold and windy nights a bigger stove would be better. However, the biggest problem with the stove is the amount of wood that will actually fit in the box. A couple smaller splits, maybe a big one at maximum, especially if there's a nice bed of coals glowing. I once had the top baffle dislogde and fall into the fire because of my insistance that the split would fit. I don't want that to happen again, ever. So, my question, what's the best way to load the stove for a longer night burn? Should I go with the largest, single split that will fit comfortably? Or, should I load it with as many small splits as possible? Too bad trees don't grow squarely, that would solve a lot of problems. As always, if I missed a similar thread through my search of the forum, please direct me that way.

 

[Corey]

You have pretty much hit on the only solution...use the biggest and most dense single piece of wood you can. Slightly higher moisture content doesn't hurt either.

If you are good with an ax or splitter, you can turn rounds into squares by splitting off crescent shapes around the edges (see the painfully simple attached diagram. If you have to use splits, look at them closely before you put them in the stove, then stack in the tightest way possible for the longest burn. A bunch of small splits will start burning on all the exposed area and not last as long.

Corey

 

[HalJason]

You have pretty much hit on the only solution...use the biggest and most dense single piece of wood you can. Slightly higher moisture content doesn't hurt either.

If you are good with an ax or splitter, you can turn rounds into squares by splitting off crescent shapes around the edges (see the painfully simple attached diagram. If you have to use splits, look at them closely before you put them in the stove, then stack in the tightest way possible for the longest burn. A bunch of small splits will start burning on all the exposed area and not last as long.

Corey

I do something similar, but it requires a bit less skill with the maul

When I have a particularly large round, I'll take one of the wedge shaped splits, rotate it 90 degrees (so one of the 2 sides that was NOT the outside of the tree is facing me) and knock off the inner few inches, creating another (smaller) wedge shaped piece, and a trapezoidal piece. Sure, it's not square, but it's blocky enough that a few of them can pack the stove tight.

-Hal

 

[kjklosek]

Drewmo,

Regardless of how I pack that little stove,Jotul 100, I really can't stretch out the burn time. The best thing I do is to throw in two small splits, about 2"(50mm), let them get going, then load two large pieces, leaving about 2" to the top baffle plate, and close the door.

For me, If I pack it too tight, the pieces of wood, I lose too much heat in the firebox, then the stove has to recover before it will burn well again.

It has been around 10 degrees Fahrenheit(-12 degrees celsius) at night. If I don't want the house too cold I need to stoke the stove twice during the night. I go to bed at 10 PM and stoke around 1 AM and then again about 4 AM.

Sometimes my wife gets up and then nobody is happy. She just chucks some wood in the firebox, shuts the door, and comes to bed. Of course there is a litany of curse words and other permutations that are not allowed in print on a family site such as this.

Suffice it to say that mama don't like gettin up at night.

Well, during the day I have no problems heating the house, but I do make quite a few trips to the stove during the day so I am really excited about getting a bigger stove.

I really do not know how to get a longer burn time. The firebox is less than one cubic foot, so I figure my 2 - 3 hours is as good as it gets.

J.P.

 

[whiskeyrichard]

Another option would be to burn those compressed logs.

We have two stoves in our house. One is a small Country striker 160. I used to have to find just the right pieces and get the sucker packed full to have her burn all night.

I have switched to the compressed logs (maybe you could just use them over night), and now I put 1 1/2 or at the most 2 in there, and she easily burns all night. With two of these logs in the stove, there is a ton of room left over.

WR

 

[kjklosek]

Another option would be to burn those compressed logs.

We have two stoves in our house. One is a small Country striker 160. I used to have to find just the right pieces and get the sucker packed full to have her burn all night.

I have switched to the compressed logs (maybe you could just use them over night), and now I put 1 1/2 or at the most 2 in there, and she easily burns all night. With two of these logs in the stove, there is a ton of room left over.

WR

How big is the firebox?

J.P.

 

[wg_bent]

Well, here's a side effect of burning Elm that actually results in elm being a great burning wood. Can do this with any wood, it's just necessary with elm. instead of trying to cut 16"-18" rounds and try to split them, I cut like 8-10" rounds and split them in 3 peices. This when I'm dealing with rounds that are a good 16"+ across.

This way I get two cresent shapes, that are still quite large, and central block of wood that's a rectangular shape. I put two of these elm rectangles in the stove and I have a nice 8 hour burn. Elm is a mid grade wood too. I tried this with a peice of Locust and I got a burn that went a good 10 hours. I have a 1.8 cuft firebox, and I'm telling you this technique gives you like 1.6 cuft of solid wood. A critical point here is that you need a really good hot coal bed or the chunks take a long time to get going.

 

[jtcedinburgh]

The firebox is less than one cubic foot, so I figure my 2 - 3 hours is as good as it gets.

My Morso Owl is probably around the same size - here's a link: (broken link removed to http://www.morsoe.com/us/Products/Stoves/3400/Model_3410/Morsoe_3410.htm) - and the site claims an 8 hour burn time but I am lucky to get an hour of flame before I'm down to just glowing coals, and perhaps another hour of glowing coals after that.

I wish I could figure out how to even get 4 hours!

john