longer burn times

[new_wood]

Ok so we finally have the Buck 74 freestanding stove up and running. Everyday I am learning more and more about the stove. I am using a Rutland stove top thermometer. I have been able to achieve overnight burns. I do however have a couple of questions. 1) Where can I find the recommended burn tempertures for my stove. I have looked the manual over and over but don't see anything. 2) How long and how much wood is everyone using to get your stove upto the "burn zone"? With a cold stove I usually start with a couple pieces of paper twisted up with a couple pieces of kinlin. Once this takes off I put a couple more pieces on but usually not regular split size wood. I keep increasing the size of the wood as I go along. I leave the damper open all the way until it gets up to temp but it seems like I have to keep feeding the fire to get it up to temp and by the time it reaches 425-450 it seems like the wood as burnt up so much that I have to add more. Then the fire really takes off more because I am adding this wood to good fire already. But if I don't add wood to it then and wait for it to burn down then the stove temp drops as well...often to 300 and below. Do I need to get the stove to a higher temp? Once you have reached your desired temp how long does your stove stay in the 300-600 temp range during your burn cycle? I am burning maple and poplar wood seasoned for 15 months. Thanks for any input.

 

[Huntindog1]

I feel your pain. These new stoves are tricky. A bit different than burning older stoves.

Your gonna have to have really Seasoned wood. You can go to Lowes and get a moisture meter if your not sure of the moisture in your wood. Split a piece of your wood then stick it with the meter and take a reading. 20% is what your shooting for. No way around having good dry wood.

Your gonna have to have kindling , I sat down just last night and split a bunch of kindling my self from some dry ash splits. I picked out some good ASH pieces that looked like they would split easy to make kindling.

If your loading from hot coals rake your coals to the front so as to make a space in the back for east west loading. If your loading North South rake coals to one side. Your trying to open up an area all the way down to the bottom of the stove so you can stack wood all the way on the bottom of the stove so as they are not laying on the coals. These logs stacked all the way to the bottom with no coals under them are for long burn times. So lets go back to east west loading. Stack 2 or 3 splits from the bottom of the stove in the back of the stove since you raked the coals to the front, stack up to about 2 inches from the burn tubes in the top but leave room for the burn tubes to ignite the smoke. These stoves have to have some space to let the air circulate to get a better burn. Space between logs also if you can stack in such a way to have spaces between the wood splits. Ok now that you have like three pieces in the very back of the stove. Try and stack 2 more splits in front of those if your stove is big enough. But your trying to leave room in the front where you pulled all those hot coals to stack some small kindling. When adding in 2 more splits in front of the very back splits make sure you leave head room also about 2 inches from the burn tubes. Now the purpose of having the room in the front to stack small kindling is to get a very hot rapid heat up fire going to build up heat in the stove and the tubes. Your trying to get he stove up to temps like 500 flue temp and 700 to 800 stove top temp so as the stove is in the operation range to get the secondary burn going really good, so then after being in the secondary burn for a little bit you can then damper the stove back for a slow burn and since at that point in time its burning smoke, it will sustain its self with those high stove and flue temps.

If your loading north south try and rake the coals to one side fill up the empty sie all the way to the bottom of the stove then rake the coals over to the middle of the stove so as now you have another side to fill from the bottom of the stove and since the stove has all the coals in the middle the stove will burn from the middle out to both sides of the stove for a long burn time.

Got have some good kindling and some dry firewood.

If starting from a cold stove, stack the complete bottom of the stove with wood then stack a second layer and hopefully your around 3 inches from the burn tubes. Then stack a bunch of dry kindling on top of your wood and light the kindling with some kind of fire starter once the kindling ignites you will get a very rapid hot fire to quickly heat up the stove as the kindling is up in the top of the stove by the burn tubes that provide the most air in the stove so you get a hot rapid fire. If your start the fire with the bigger pieces on top to inhibits the heating of the stove and inhibits the kindling from burning rapidly as also in the bottom of these stove there is less air than is around the upper secondary burn tubes. This top down method will get your stove going much quicker.

 

[PLAYS WITH FIRE]

I actually called the Buck guys awhile ago about burn temps. They didn't give any information but asked me what temp I burn at. I told them where my thermo is, how I use it(insert) and that I see as high 650 degrees. The guy from Buck said, "you ain't gonna hurt that stove," that "they burn them at 650 regularly"


How long and how much is dependent on type and seasoning of the fuel. I burn mine hot cause it is an insert and depends on if completely cold start or morning of coals. Anywhere from 20-maybe 40 minutes. The sucer is heavy 468lbs and may take a bit.

I know for sure it makes grrrrrreat heat! I heat about 1600 sqft from a basement masonry insert install.

When you see the flames go from an inferno(air control full to .25" open) to lazy (air control .25" or less). You are making some heat!

 

[Wood Duck]

I think you should try loading a lot more wood into the stove when you start a fire or reload - load up then burn down to coals, then repeat. This is what is meant by people on this forum who talk about burning in cycles.

When I start my stove cold I use about three medium-sized splits, five or siz small ones, a bunch of kindling, and a firestarter (actually about 1/4 of one supercedar firestarter). It actually takes a few minutes to load the stove cold and I put some care into it. In particular it is important to have enough kindling to really take off fast from the firestarter. I light the firestarter and leave the door cracked open slightly. In a few minute I'll shut the door with the air wide open. in 15 or 20 minutes it I will have a firebox really full of flame and I'll start shutting down the air. This load will burn for maybe two hours before it is all coals and I reload.

When I reload I generally use at least the equivalent of five medium splits or so. I take some time to pack the stove carefully, and fill from the coal up to at least half or 2/3 of the way to the burn tubes - in other words I load a fair bit of wood in the stove. After reloading I will let it burn without adding wood for several hours. I will adjust the air, but that is it.

My sons have been trying to start fires with far less wood than I use and far less small wood/kindling, and they get slow, smoky starts. We have been working on their technique.

 

[Huntindog1]

Wood Duck

Thanks for the info as I am still perfecting my technique also.

How big would you say your medium size splits?

 

[Wood Duck]

medium split = 3 or 4 inches square. small = 2 or 3 inches. smaller than 2 inches is kindling.

 

[Backwoods Savage]

Many also do not realize that by leaving the draft full open they are losing much heat right up the chimney instead of leaving it in the stove so that you can receive the heat. For sure if I left our draft open until the stove reached 400 it would take lots and lots of wood. As it is, we can get to 600 degrees with 4 splits and sometimes using only 3 splits and yes, this is with a cold stove. We watch the flue temperature and try to not let it go over 400 degrees if possible. When it reaches that the stove won't be heated up much but we close the draft half way. This causes the stove to heat up much quicker. Again, we watch the flue temperature but also watch the fire. If it gets going a bit strong, the draft gets closed a bit further, to around 25% open. Ours is a cat stove so when the stove top reaches 200 we engage the cat. At that point for sure we want no more than 25% air and usually turn it down just a tad more. The stove will heat up to 600 quite fast then.