My new learning for this year - split size

[joefrompa]

Bearing in mind I have a 2.2 cubic foot stove, that WILL fit a 24" long split angled diagonally across with one edge pretty much touching the glass...

I have, in preparation for this year, a ton of 20-22" pieces. My "large" splits - which I have lots of.

My learning is that my chainsaw is going to cut them all in half. There is no reason I need them that long and it really makes it very hard to get good stove performance.

My stove MUST get reloaded with 3+ distinct pieces for it to perform well. 1 piece will barely maintain the reload temp. 2 pieces will do so so and then peter out. 3+ distinct pieces always takes off great. Doesn't even really seem to matter if they are small, medium, or large pieces.

So I've learned: Stop trying to cram large, long pieces in there to the point where you can only fit 2 splits.

Cut them down so you can layer a bunch of pieces in. Chunks, 8" pieces, 12" pieces - doesn't matter. The more important thing is total volume you can fit into the stove, and total surface area of the wood exposed to heat. And to get both of those, I need shorter pieces.

That's my learning

Joe

 

[bogydave]

Yea, angling long pieces in, takes up all the room.
Better to short than to long.
Does your call for 18" splits & have you tried a N/S full load fairly tightly stacked of 18"?
You might get more wood in easier & get longer burn times.
Then use the shorties for shoulder season fires.
I started cutting to the length that best fits my stove, I figured 1 "the right length" split & one short split is better than 2 short ones.
I started measuring my rounds better, real close to the length I need for my stove, uglies, shorties for shoulder season.

 

[maxed_out]

joe, I'm in the same boat with you on this one. you hit the nail right on the head.

 

[Wood Duck]

I got a half cord of seasoned oak splits from Freecycle this fall, and most of the splits are longer than 18 inches so they won't fit in my stove (or maybe some would fit diagonally but I don't load that way for the reasons Joe listed). I am cutting them all in half which makes them just right for loading north/south in my stove. I also have a fair number of overlong splits in the stacks of firewood I cut. It would be really a pain except that having to cut allows me the option of N/S loading which works great, so I don't mind too much.

I have a sawbuck near the stacks and when I find overlong pieces I put them on the sawbuck. Every once in a while I get out the chainsaw and cut them all in half. I usually bungee the splits together which makes cutting easier.

 

[eclecticcottage]

We have some pretty long ones (20-24") seasoning for next season right now, but we left them that length because the Temco can handle them. Of the wood we bought for this season, we had about 5-10% over 18" and I found the same thing-a big ole pita to reload them. I shoved them aside for warmer days when we were home and just wanted to keep temps even.

 

[firebroad]

I also got tired of trying to cram long wood into my firebox. My insert is supposed to take 18" splits, and it will--just barely. I don't like the wood touching the front air vent, I prefer 16" splits. Also have a lot of 20-21" pieces.

Rather than cut the long stuff in half, I will take off about an inch or three and keep these nuggets in a milk crate type box to use as kindling.

 

[joefrompa]

FYI, I loaded the stove ~75% last night with cherry of about 14-15" lengths. 4 distinct thick pieces of a shorter length.

Best overnight burn I've EVER gotten. 8.5 hours later, my blower was still running, I had never shut the air all the way (it was open maybe 20%), and I had chunks of coals the size of a child's fists.

The glass is also clear because it burned all night at least 4" away from the glass.

I haven't been cutting the length of my own wood - I've either been getting it pre-cut from a neighbor (mostly for free!) or splitting it myself from rounds I've gotten. Time to get the chainsaw out and do a better job

 

[geoxman]

Ahhh.. It is so nice not to have to worry about this any more! The FA-288CCL can take 25-27 inch splits with no problem. With the defiant/encore I was always having to cut down splits, I have not had to do it once this year.

 

[firebroad]

I also like Wood Duck's idea about using the bungees. Gotta try that!

 

[HighHeat22]

Joe, i have learned the same thing. I have also learned this year to make my splits smaller. They burn much better and give off more heat.

 

[Huntindog1]

Joe,

Thats some really good information.

My stove also is about 2.2 cubic foot, I can get a 20" in there East/West or if I need to I could cut my splits down to 14.5" to load North/South.

Your info backs up some of my thoughts on what I am finding with my stove.

I got a some questions for you to clarify what you have found.

How are you loading East/West or North/South? E/W is ends of logs facing sides of stove , N/S ends of log facing towards the front window and door.

Do you load the largest piece in the back of the stove then progress smaller towards the front?

Your split sizes I am confused on is it the length your focusing on or is it more important how small you split the log, say like a small splits is 2-3" diameter , medium 4-5" and a large is greater than 5" diameter.

Are you loading some kind of log cabin style criss cross like some going East/West then next layer going North/South then next layer East/West and so on....?

 

[MrWhoopee]

I prefer to keep my wood as long as possible, minimizing the number of cuts and fuel consumption. I have no problem getting enough heat from my stove, my concern is extending the burn time. Larger pieces give me that longer burn time. My firebox will take 20 in. N/S, but my woodshed requires no more than 18 in. to get maximum fill capacity (longer than 18 reduces the number of courses). I also prefer consistent lengths, stacking gets complicated with irregular lengths and also reduces the maximum amount of wood the shed will hold. I have woodpile OCD.

 

[joefrompa]

Hi Huntingdog,

So I load N/S - my stove is probably only about 14" wide between the firebricks, while it's about 20-21" deep (25" deep if I angle to the rear corner and touch the glass in the front).

My ideal re-load, at least, is a hot bed of coals evenly spread along the bottom. And I then load purely N/S.

I just did this ~30-35 minutes ago on a slightly struggling stove running 350 degree stovetop and mostly coals. I had put a huge piece of oak in ~2 hours before, so plenty of coals had formed, but not a hot stove.

I shoved the stove with one large piece of oak slightly angled (~4" across at bottom of split), 2 thick but short pieces of cherry (by 3x5" ends, 12" long), and 2-3 ~1.5" lengths of oak branch. All of this was N/S except for the angled larger piece of oak.

Now, 35 minutes later, my stove is cruising at 750 right now with the air fully closed and the firebox is almost a solid wall of flame. I would not have gotten this performance with:

1. E/W loading (in my stove)
2. 3 larger splits angled over top of one another

I only do a "log cabin" style during my initial warm-up of the stove. I';ll do 2 large splits on the sides N/S and then lay a variety of smaller stuff E/W on top of them, then shove paper above and below it.

The biggest thing for me is that I always thought I wanted large chunks for long burns. But it's the opposite in this stove.

FYI, I probably could've gotten 10 hour burn times last night with cherry if I had loaded it when the stove was 500 and quickly been able to shut the air all the way. I've never gotten such a long burn time before, even on red oak. Cherry beat it out - not sure if that was the cherry or the shape of the wood.

 

[joefrompa]

I prefer to keep my wood as long as possible, minimizing the number of cuts and fuel consumption. I have no problem getting enough heat from my stove, my concern is extending the burn time. Larger pieces give me that longer burn time. My firebox will take 20 in. N/S, but my woodshed requires no more than 18 in. to get maximum fill capacity (longer than 18 reduces the number of courses). I also prefer consistent lengths, stacking gets complicated with irregular lengths and also reduces the maximum amount of wood the shed will hold. I have woodpile OCD.

No I agree. My woodpile ranges from 14"-26" lengths (yeah, I need to cut the 26" lengths). It's really annoying to stack them. It would be far nicer to stay within 16-18".

 

[Huntindog1]

Joe,

Yes I agree that a key you mentioned is getting the stove hot and shut down quickly makes for a longer burn time. I have had times when I try and load just large splits and it take a while to get the heat built up with the big splits.

My solution you can search for is already been documented. What I found is related to stoves that need to be East/West loaded. Rake coals forward to clear space in back clear down to bottom of stove for that big split responsible for having coals in the morning. Plus this way you can add more wood in the back against wall since your loading on the bottom and not on coals which had there been coals you would have less head room to load more wood. Plus raking coals forward and loading not on hot coals that big split will last alot longer. Then the second row after loading that back row was usually a little smaller in size. But the most important row was the last row to load closest to the front door on a East/West Load. Don't load it up. Don't surcome to wanting to cram pac the stove full as you can get it. Leave that front row open to load a nice pile of small split good quality kindling like some real dry white oak split to like one inch size diameter. The idea is to get the heat up fast. I found that kindling made of the good stuff has such more btu heat output as its split small burns fast. Before I would use crappy stuff to make small sized kindling but the crappy stuffs ability to heat the stove up was much less. Its was a very noticeable difference. Like you said if you can get the stove air shut down quicker the burn is going to last longer as I will add because you didnt burn up all your bigger stuff trying to get the heat up in the stove.

 

[Backwoods Savage]

Bearing in mind I have a 2.2 cubic foot stove, that WILL fit a 24" long split angled diagonally across with one edge pretty much touching the glass...

I have, in preparation for this year, a ton of 20-22" pieces. My "large" splits - which I have lots of.

My learning is that my chainsaw is going to cut them all in half. There is no reason I need them that long and it really makes it very hard to get good stove performance.

My stove MUST get reloaded with 3+ distinct pieces for it to perform well. 1 piece will barely maintain the reload temp. 2 pieces will do so so and then peter out. 3+ distinct pieces always takes off great. Doesn't even really seem to matter if they are small, medium, or large pieces.

So I've learned: Stop trying to cram large, long pieces in there to the point where you can only fit 2 splits.

Cut them down so you can layer a bunch of pieces in. Chunks, 8" pieces, 12" pieces - doesn't matter. The more important thing is total volume you can fit into the stove, and total surface area of the wood exposed to heat. And to get both of those, I need shorter pieces.

That's my learning

Joe

Joe, have you ever noticed that with an outdoor fire you can't get a decent fire with only two splits or logs? Try it with three and Bingo! You have a fire.