my burning trick for shoulder season

[Ricky8443]

Sharing something that I have found working well during 45 degree nights and 70 degree days in my 1800 sf brick colonial house in a blaze king princess insert stove. It gets cold at night outside, but not until deeper in the night does the house get cold and lose its residual heat. Therefore we don't need a lot of heat early in the night and we don't want to use valuable oak/ash/locust this time of year.

I've been creating a large bed in the firebox with lighter splits like cedar, softwood, poplar, white birch etc. I throw a large heavy un-split round of 8-month seasoned maple right into the meat of the firebox on top of the 'bed'. The maple doesn't throw off too much heat, but it starts to bake evenly later in the night (after its had time to heat up and dry up on the bed of coals). In the morning, there is a giant pile of hot red coals where the maple round was located. By noon, stove temps are only about 150 degrees and it no longer throws measurable heat. It's been very efficient for me and haven't noticed any temperature fluctuation in the house.

I'd love to hear what others have found works well for them during this shoulder time of year,

 

[pen]

So long as there is enough heat from the other wood in the unit to get that big unseasoned round to light and dry out while still giving enough heat up to the cat so as to not strangle the poor cat, more power to you.

From my view point, so long as there is enough heat to keep that cat functioning you could theoretically chew through a dead woodchuck put in the middle of the stove. However, if there isn't enough heat to dry the moisture out of that big round (or woodchuck), and the cat is trying to keep up with it in unseasoned form, it could mean an early death to the cat.

In the end, IMO, seasoned wood is best, period. Anything else, means caveats are involved as far as getting good results in terms of burn and cat life.

Have fun,

pen

 

[HotCoals]

yeah..he should maybe look out at his chimney to see what's going on also when doing that.

 

[Ricky8443]

yeah..he should maybe look out at his chimney to see what's going on also when doing that.

I guess I could take a flashlight outside and look up at the stack, but I thought as long as the cat was in the active zone than what good is looking at the chimney?

I've found that the 8 months dead maple round is almost the perfect moisture content, enough to keep the cat active and burn slowly, but not too much to overheat and burn up quickly.

 

[Ricky8443]

Just curious to know if anyone has any shoulder burning tips with the blaze kings?

 

[HotCoals]

I guess I could take a flashlight outside and look up at the stack, but I thought as long as the cat was in the active zone than what good is looking at the chimney?

I've found that the 8 months dead maple round is almost the perfect moisture content, enough to keep the cat active and burn slowly, but not too much to overheat and burn up quickly.

This is what I have been trying to tell people.
Just because the cat probe is reading in the active zone does not mean the cat is actually active.
The gauge for the cat also pics up the temp of the stove top which that alone will move it well into the active range.

 

[tomc585]

I build a fire no bigger than a football. I keep a supply of small short (8-10") pieces for times when I just want to maintain the comfort inside especially on Sundays when watching a game. It does require refueling,( just one piece), every 20-30 minutes or so but I'm getting up for another beer anyway.

 

[Ricky8443]

This is what I have been trying to tell people.
Just because the cat probe is reading in the active zone does not mean the cat is actually active.
The gauge for the cat also pics up the temp of the stove top which that alone will move it well into the active range.

Interesting. My stove top thermometer seems to lag the cat probe when heating up, but seems to cool down faster than the cat probe. Cat is positioned in between coals and stove top. My thought was the cat absorbs heat longer than the stove top because of its position relative to the heat. But what your suggesting seems a little different than what I'm monitoring on my stove.

I guess I'm also banking on blazeking's reassurance statement that states 'as long as the probe is in the active zone, then it is working'. I'll have to take a closer look at the stack next time just to confirm.

 

[Woody Stover]

My stove tops don't as a rule go much over 500 so I figure if the cat is much higher, it's probably lit. I understand what you're saying about the probe being positioned closer to the fire box exhaust than the stove top is, so it could read hotter but I figure if I look at the stack and there's no smoke, either the cat is burning or there's not much smoke to be burned.

the cat is trying to keep up with it in unseasoned form, it could mean an early death to the cat.

I wouldn't think the cat would be damaged if the wood is slightly under-seasoned if you don't open the stove and throw it on when the cat is blazing, then close the bypass right away, causing thermal shock to the cat. I think in his case the extra moisture wold just retard the ability of the cat to burn effectively. But you could be right; Maybe some parts of the cat are burning and other parts aren't, resulting in some sort of stress to the cat that could result in the ceramic cracking. I don't think I would take the chance. Ricky, why are you burning wet wood in the first place, don't you have any dry? Can't you just burn the magical BK on dry wood at a low air setting and have enough heat to maintain temp in the house? As an aside, are steel cats available for the BKs? The steelies take thermal shock out of the equation...

 

[jeff_t]

45 at night and 70 during the day, I let the furnace exercise a little if it's needed. Or I build a small fire with only kindling in the morning, and let it burn out.

I had the zero LP attitude a couple of years ago, but I don't think that maybe ten hours of furnace operation in a year is going to break the bank, and it should run at least occasionally.

 

[Ricky8443]

all of my dry firewood is premium stuff, so I don't want to use that this time of year. my junk firewood is 8 months old now and that is the only junk firewood i have.

 

[kennyp2339]

I build a fire no bigger than a football. I keep a supply of small short (8-10") pieces for times when I just want to maintain the comfort inside especially on Sundays when watching a game. It does require refueling,( just one piece), every 20-30 minutes or so but I'm getting up for another beer anyway.

Im doing that right now minus the beer, 47 deg with showers, low fire 72 deg inside