Is this a waste of wood, burn cycle?

[spadafore]

This is my first year burning, read a lot on here before starting. When I am home I sit in front of the stove and watch my rutland stove thermometer. I know it is 100 degrees off. If it says 500 degrees the actual temp. is 400. Anyways, I find myself more and more almost like an ocd tendency watching the rutland and when it gets close to falling below the burn zone I reload the stove and it climbs back up to 500 or 600 degrees. Is this a waste of wood by not letting the stove cycle all the way. As it sits right now it is 15 degrees outside, 83 in my man cave and 73 in the rest of the house. Any opinions or advice?

 

[savageactor7]

Is there a relationship between 5-600* and your comfort level all through the house? If so I wouldn't call it a waste of wood after all if your in and about the house it's a lot easier to maintain a warmer house than it is to get it up there...

...that's about how we burn...just in the red zone or higher. Of coarse a blower tends to cool down a stove top but still your talking about a good working fire, right?

 

[Corey]

I wouldn't 'sweat' the details so much. It's not a nuclear reactor! If you're running around the house sweating, or have windows open to vent excess heat, then you're probably wasting wood. If the temperature is what you consider 'just right' then it's not waste. Burning the stove hot tends to be the most efficient operation, if you've got use for all that heat in the house, even better.

 

[BrotherBart]

Let it roll back to around three hundred one time before reloading one time and see if the house isn't a little more comfortable. All of the nasties are burned out of the wood by then. And you won't build up such a monster bed of coals. That 80 degree stuff is going to continue migrating after the stove cools a little.

 

[spadafore]

I guess I am caught up in doing things and doing them right. It seems like creosote is an evil monster and since this is my first year of burning, I don't want to be a statistic. Yes the heat is awesome since it is the dead of winter and it is free heat. I'll post something real big and stupid when my better half tells me it is too hot. That would be enough for me to drop my beer. Thanks for your posts guys you make a good point BB. I will let her die out a little more before I reload.

 

[swestall]

If it is an EPA stove and you are not putting out smoke, creosote is not a giant concern. Also, if you do want the wood to go through a longer burn cycle, open the draft up a bit at the end to burn the coals off a bit hotter, then reload.
Its your wood and your house and you are the one who can figure out what temp is right for you. That's the whole thing is to burn it so you are comfortable and not sending a lot of cash out to oil/gas.

 

[Backwoods Savage]

You might also consider opening the draft when the temperature starts to drop a tad. That way you'll be burning up some of those coals and you won't have to dump them out with the ashes. People seem to have a big problem with this, but, depending upon your stove, most folks will rake the coals towards the front (where the air enters the firebox) and open the draft full to burn off the coals. Don't worry then about sending heat up the chimney as you won't. It will burn those coals though. Get as much heat out of your wood as you can.

The real key to keeping the creosote down is not so much hot fires (but they are necessary), but having dry fuel. That means getting next year's wood on hand now! No later than April 1 at the worst. It is even better if you can have a two year supply on hand. Some of that depends upon what wood you burn. Some wood needs two years to season properly. And it seems that most sellers of wood just tell folks the wood is seasoned. There are some honest ones out there, but most sell just what they have and call it seasoned.

 

[bkatzman]

You might also consider opening the draft when the temperature starts to drop a tad. That way you'll be burning up some of those coals and you won't have to dump them out with the ashes. People seem to have a big problem with this, but, depending upon your stove, most folks will rake the coals towards the front (where the air enters the firebox) and open the draft full to burn off the coals. Don't worry then about sending heat up the chimney as you won't. It will burn those coals though. Get as much heat out of your wood as you can.

The real key to keeping the creosote down is not so much hot fires (but they are necessary), but having dry fuel. That means getting next year's wood on hand now! No later than April 1 at the worst. It is even better if you can have a two year supply on hand. Some of that depends upon what wood you burn. Some wood needs two years to season properly. And it seems that most sellers of wood just tell folks the wood is seasoned. There are some honest ones out there, but most sell just what they have and call it seasoned.

This thread was worth it's weight in gold, especially for someone like me who is originally from the city, does not have any experience with wood stoves (or access to anyone who does), and has an old non-cat stove.

It cannot be overstated that the dry/seasoned wood is a must to combat creosote, burn effeciently, and keep the air that we all breath clean...

I don't seem to burn too hot (between 300 and 400) because of the size of my stove and my hesistance/fear of getting the thing too hot for me to control. When I look at my chimney I don't see an ounce of smoke, just waves of heat. Seeing this and the knowledge of my wood being dry/seasoned enough is all I need to heat our safely and affordably (although it is only what we use on the weekends and evenings).

Thanks all!
Bryce

 

[sandie]

I am having trouble getting the stove to burn consistantly at 500 degrees. I have burned top down, bottom up, just kindling first and once that is burning well load a couple of splits or loading it up to the hilt and then lighting. I think dispite what I have been told, the wood is not seasoned well because when I use some wood that was in my garage for a few years that had been orignally bought for campfires, my stove goes to the wanted 500 but then waited til it went to coals and put in some of the other wood and 300 degrees is all I get. I bought "kiln dried" yesterday and it looks like anyother wood to me but will try burning that tonight and see if that is any better but think they are all thieves by calling it seasoned or kiln dried and charging all outdoors. my problem is I have not space to store this years and next years wood so kind of dependent on getting wood in April for next year I guess and for this year try to air out the wood I have as much as possible and get the temp up as much as possible.
My question is should I just start with the kindling, get it going to ?degrees, then add a couple of splits or should I load the stove, leave the damper and thermostat lever at open and wait to get to 500 hopefully then close damper and wait a little and then close the thermostat a little at a time til it is at half or little less and let her go til it is coals and then reload? OR is there a better way of getting a hot fire and keep 'er going?
Sorry if this seems to sound like a Darwin question but better to ask and know than to not know so...

 

[Backwoods Savage]

Well, this thread is almost a year old now!

Sandy, when I light the kindling I usually wait only until that gets going fair and then add some small splits. However, I always add soft maple because it lights easy and burns hot. When that is going good I'll add a couple larger splits and different wood.

Once the fire is going good, I decrease the draft to about 50%. This will keep more heat in the stove rather than sending it up the chimney. I then wait until our stovetop is 250 degrees before engaging the cat. Once I do that, the draft is usually set to about 25% and then it gets turned down even further usually within 10-15 minutes but sometimes longer. It all depends on how much heat we need at the time.


You seem to have a good handle on what it takes for wood. Hopefully you will continue to get even better with which type of wood is best for your situation and how long it takes to season. You also no doubt understand that you can not take a sellers word for what seasoned wood is.

If you have to purchase next year's wood in the spring, then by all means, even if you have to split it again, get it split small. Stack it outdoors where wind will hit the side of the pile and don't try to stack it tightly. If you stack it loose the air can move through easier. It is best also to stack it in the sun but wind is even more important than sun.

We never cover the wood piles that first summer but some do. When we cover in the fall, we cover the tops only. Leave the sides and ends open to continue to dry. Don't worry about rain hitting the sides of the piles as that will dry in a few hours after the rain.

Good luck.