Long burn..............

[WoodMann]

Hey guys, as the title states, I'm shooting for a long burn; over niters and about 10 hours for when I'm away at work. I'd likt to go 24/7 with the stove and cut out PNM entirely for heating, I live alone but have become pretty comfortable with keeping creosote buildup in check via maintaining proper flue temps thereby reducing likelihood for dreaded chimney fire. So what can I do to get the desired burn time? Am I asking too much of the stove? Possibly packing the firebox to the max would be a good first step and throtling down the air intake. But I'd like to know from the pro's what to do.
Thanks................

 

[Todd]

What size Regency and what type of wood do you burn? I don't think you will get over a 10 hr burn unless it's the large Regency and you use good dry Hardwood. To get the longest burns with a noncat stove you need to pack it full with large splits laying sideways or east/west on top of a good coal bed and burn it on high for 10-15 minutes, then turn the air all the way down. You may have to play with those times and air settings, it takes some trial and error.

Some people have modified their non cats to control the air intakes better or use pipe dampers to reduce draft.

 

[Hogwildz]

Hey guys, as the title states, I'm shooting for a long burn; over niters and about 10 hours for when I'm away at work. I'd likt to go 24/7 with the stove and cut out PNM entirely for heating, I live alone but have become pretty comfortable with keeping creosote buildup in check via maintaining proper flue temps thereby reducing likelihood for dreaded chimney fire. So what can I do to get the desired burn time? Am I asking too much of the stove? Possibly packing the firebox to the max would be a good first step and throtling down the air intake. But I'd like to know from the pro's what to do.
Thanks................

Larger splits burn slower.

 

[Vic99]

My stove my be a bit smaller than yours. In one season of burning, the longest burn I ever got was 7.5 hours with hickory. My stove's rated for "up to 8 hours", but obviously that's a near ideal situation that I probably won't see.

Yes, large splits, pack stove tight, very dry wood, close air intake.

 

[Pine Knot]

I do things a little differently than most to try to get long burns. I have a Dutchwest cat stove which loads east-west in relation to the glass front door. I keep some oak that has been cut in the fall and is of course not completly dry. I load one split of this in the back on the bottom and complete the loading with DRY wood in front and on top. And due to it's position the unseasoned wood seems to give up it's moisture very slowly during the burn and does not burn until very late in the burn cycle and usually provides the hot coals that are raked to the front to start the next burn cycle. This has helped me get consistent all night burns.

 

[MCPO]

My former Pacific Energy Super 27 end loader had the longest burn of any residential stove that I have ever seen. It always burned clean and left fine ashes and I was always able to rekindle a fire from the hot coals after 8-10 hrs + .
That said I make no rediculous claims that it was somehow able to extract more BTU`s from a load than most other competative stoves in it`s class.
It was a stove that I would definitely purchase again if I had to though.

 

[WoodMann]

Thanks guys. I'm burning pinion pine wood that's very very dry- been dead standing for a good while. The box is about 1.5 cu ft I'd guess. I'll juggle some of y'alls suggestions. Best I've had so far was to wake up to a 110* stove with a few glowing coals..............

 

[Jags]

Thanks guys. I'm burning pinion pine wood that's very very dry- been dead standing for a good while. The box is about 1.5 cu ft I'd guess. I'll juggle some of y'alls suggestions. Best I've had so far was to wake up to a 110* stove with a few glowing coals..............

With a 1.5 cu ft. fire box, I think you are doing very well indeed. You might be asking for a little too much from a small stove. If you could load it with a higher btu wood you might gain some time, but only so many btu's is gonna fit in that box. The difference is "how fast" do you extract the btus from the wood.

 

[Adios Pantalones]

Burning 1.5 of pine... good luck. A cat stove helps. Burn E/W if you can, I'd guess.

 

[Todd]

I do things a little differently than most to try to get long burns. I have a Dutchwest cat stove which loads east-west in relation to the glass front door. I keep some oak that has been cut in the fall and is of course not completly dry. I load one split of this in the back on the bottom and complete the loading with DRY wood in front and on top. And due to it's position the unseasoned wood seems to give up it's moisture very slowly during the burn and does not burn until very late in the burn cycle and usually provides the hot coals that are raked to the front to start the next burn cycle. This has helped me get consistent all night burns.

You shouldn't be burning green wood in a cat stove. It can create thermo shock and crack the combustor. Many people believe mixing green wood with dry wood will give you a longer burn, probably an old wives tale. It may of worked back in the old days with the non air tight uncontrolable potbellies, but with new EPA stoves you need good dry wood for a long burn.

A while back someone explained why dry wood burns longer than semi green wood. They stated that the wood is made up of straw like fibers and when the wood dries these fibers shrink and close off so the fire has a harder time burning through. If the wood fibers still have water, first it is evaporated out and the straw like fibers stay open and don't shrink which makes the wood burn faster. Hope that makes sence.

 

[Todd]

Thanks guys. I'm burning pinion pine wood that's very very dry- been dead standing for a good while. The box is about 1.5 cu ft I'd guess. I'll juggle some of y'alls suggestions. Best I've had so far was to wake up to a 110* stove with a few glowing coals..............

I use to have the same stove and could barely get a 6-7hr burn with Oak. It sounds like you doing pretty good with Pine. You really need a bigger firebox over 2cu ft to get good overnight burns.

 

[WoodMann]

I use to have the same stove and could barely get a 6-7hr burn with Oak. It sounds like you doing pretty good with Pine. You really need a bigger firebox over 2cu ft to get good overnight burns.

Hmm- I guess that's about the best I can hope for, then. Well it does get me thru the night, I was just thinkin' if I could go a little further with it. Sure does make ya appreciate the passive solar design of the home though for during the day. I just wanted to cut out the gas company as much as possible and replenish my cash reserves..............

 

[WoodMann]

'K guys- I just had an epiphany. I've been loading E- W but now I'm gonna incorporate N- S as well. Also gonna go larger splits; I always went with smaller splits as I was always anal about completely burning the wood, or cleanly more precicely so as to avoid the dreaded creosote. I'm comfortable to keep the thing idling aroun 400*. But I think all of us have a concern about a chimney fire, I sure do and hearing horror stories about chimney fires in Alaska sends me into a scare. So really- what is it that might cause a chimney fire; is it burning too hot for too long? Deferred cleaning of the stove pipe/ burning not hot enough thereby causing buildup?
I remember reading in the paper awhile back that a family in Las Vegas house burned to the ground then the story about how they all got up in the morning then fired up the stove to warm up the house and after breakfast everyone went on their way. Right there I thought, chimney fire, to this day it's still conjecture as I think that they fire up the stove in the morning really hot then head out and everythign cools and setles but they'd need heat again at night, or moist wood coulda been a factor.
Moot point I guess but I just want to prevent a similar occurance, so any more pointers are more than appreciated..................

 

[begreen]

Creosote is caused by condensation of the flue gases on the interior of the flue. It happens when the gases are too cool and condense, just like interior moisture on single pane windows in the winter. In a modern stove the primary cause for creosote accumulation is burning wood that is not seasoned and dry. A smaller second cause is being too timid with the stove and burning too cool all the time. We've had a few posters here that have never let their stove go into secondary combustion. Another cause is deferred maintenance. The chimney should at least be inspected once a year. And the stove should be checked to be sure there isn't a pile of soot and flakes piled up at the exit elbow and or stove flue collar. A blocked flue may also stop secondary burning due to poor draft.

In years of burning I have only gotten handfuls of creosote from our flues. And even then it is the stage 1 light fluffy stuff. This is burning softwoods, often fir or hemlock. Burn dry wood, let your first fire get the flue and stove hot, and you should have no worries.

 

[myzamboni]

Thanks guys. I'm burning pinion pine wood that's very very dry- been dead standing for a good while. The box is about 1.5 cu ft I'd guess. I'll juggle some of y'alls suggestions. Best I've had so far was to wake up to a 110* stove with a few glowing coals..............

Don't clean out your ash. I get the longest burns when I am overdue for emptying the ash. I actually was able to restart the fire from coals after 10 hrs (this was with pine)

 

[savageactor7]

Tough to get a long burn with pine...which btw I have never burned indoors but I don't let that stop me from adding my 2cents.

What I do now to get a long burn is split small, so I can load full full without bashing the smoke re-burner tubes on the top, after the fire is going I lock down the primary air so I'm burning low low...not smoldering. You can still see flames...they're just not roaring like when we're home in front of the fire...it's like a gas burner when your simmering soup and this works best and only when you're burning seasoned wood.

I saw a made in Canada video recently posted here that also recommended an EW arrangement of logs for a long burn...the way the young lady explained the EW burn it made a lot of sense so the next stove we get will burn EW as well as NS. Before I saw that video I was not a fan of EW burning ...but I saw the light.

 

[precaud]

Tough to get a long burn with pine...which btw I have never burned indoors but I don't let that stop me from adding my 2cents.

This has got to be one of the most persistent false 'truths' in woodburning. It's not tough at all. Pinon pine is denser than the Ponderosa pine by about 30%. Not quite an oak but it's pitchier and burns hotter. I get 8 hour burns with it every night in the winter.

 

[begreen]

That illustrates the issue. It's not really false. Pine is a big family. Trees in dry high altitude grow a lot slower than low altitude trees that have plenty of moisture. That makes the wood denser. Hard to compare a lowland pine to pinon pine. Similarly, the spruce growing at 7000 ft. in Colorado is totally different than the spruce growing at sea level locally.

 

[North of 60]

That illustrates the issue. It's not really false. Pine is a big family. Trees in dry high altitude grow a lot slower than low altitude trees that have plenty of moisture. That makes the wood denser. Hard to compare a lowland pine to pinon pine. Similarly, the spruce growing at 7000 ft. in Colorado is totally different than the spruce growing at sea level locally.

Thats so true. A pine tree here has very tight rings. @ 50 years here your lookin at 6-8" diameter. A 20" tree has a lot of klondike
history. Havent found any gold in them yet. BTUs for sure though. No problem to get a 14 hour+ burn with decent heat output. Only in the latest stove @ 2.8 cu ft. The old one, not a hope in frozen hell. :vampire: 6hrs max.

 

[savageactor7]

Well that's all good to know...here at 452ft above sea level pine is mostly used as a morning quick house warming wood.

 

[precaud]

Good point, BG. I have some of the lower-density pine here, once we get into the heart of winter I'll see how it compares to the pinon in burn time.

 

[WoodMann]

No problems with seasoned wood here. SO I should be OK so long as I check and clean the critical areas of the clue and maintain pretty ideal burn temps..............

 

[begreen]

I've got some big chunks of soft pine that I will be burning this year too. We'll see how it compares to fir, soft maple and madrona this winter. By weight alone, I suspect it will burn up pretty quickly.

 

[WoodMann]

Fine with the pine, the concern is fire as I'd like to leave this thing alone regularly.............

 

[JustWood]

Save some 5" or 6"rounds for long burns. Oak or hickory would be best.