Let's talk coals!

[7acres]

I've got a burning question :-D I like a flame show. Flames to me equal heat. And I'll keep adding a split or two on top of a red hot coal bed just to keep the flames dancing. But at some point there's just a giant bed of coals and little to no volatiles left to produce flames. So at that point I've got to settle for letting the coal bed burn down. Rake ash to the back, pull coals to the front, give it an hour and repeat. Until we're down to a small pile of coals in front of the doghouse. Finally we're ready to remove the ash and load it to the max for an overnight burn.

My question... If there is no smoke and no flame are the Secondaries doing anything whatsoever? If I want to increase air (decrease Secondary burn) to cook the coal bed down faster is my stove getting any less efficient at heating my house?

 

[yooper08]

Best practice is burn the entire load down to a coal bed and reload - and by that I mean adding enough wood for another cycle. Consider your overnight burn a cycle, but it doesn't always have to be that much wood. Adjust the load size for the amount of heat needed.

As for the coals, there's a very good amount of heat in them when left to burn down. Not as much when there are flames and secondaries going, but still a good amount.

Non-cat stoves essentially have two combustion areas - lower in the box where the wood/coals are and upper where the secondaries take place. Secondaries are mainly burning smoke and some volatiles. Once you're down to coals and secondaries are gone, it's perfectly acceptable to turn up the air a bit. This provides more air to the lower area and will burn down the coals faster and you'll get more heat from them.

 

[7acres]

Awesome, thanks! That's what I was figuring. Happy to get some confirmation!