Need Info On Wood Stove "Slow Burning" Fuel

[Bob Fliegel]

In the fall of 2005 my wife and I purchased an "Osburn 2200i" wood burning fireplace insert. It turned out to be just a wonderful unit.

We find that the stove will burn between 2 and 4 hours with a load of fire wood fuel. This works just fine except for the night shift from 12:00AM to 6:00AM. If I fill the unit with wood at 12:00AM, by 6:00AM there is not enough embers left to start a fire and the unit is cool. It's like starting a fire from scratch, you know, with paper, kindeling and everything. During the day, you just drop in one or two logs on that nice bed of hot embers and it's just like "perpetual motion".

During the summer of 2006 I spent a great deal of time on the internet searching for alternatives - a better, slower burning, fuel to be used for that night shift. Within a few months I found a company in Vancouver, British Columbia that makes an incredible firelog which is advertised to burn for 12 hours - pure sawdust, no additives. The firelog is really remarkable. Right now, January in NY, I will place two logs on a hot bed of embers at 11:00PM and by 6:00AM I will break apart the remaining logs, toss in a small handfull of tinder, with two logs, and in 10 minutes I will have a wonderful fire. All thru the night the stove remained hot and put out heat. I purchased these logs for $1.00 a piece from a company called "Hearthwise.com" in Leomiester, PA. You should check out their web site and the product, it really is impressive, however, the price, per log is now up to $1.25 and I am getting concerned for next winter.

My question is, does anyone know of another product, or method, to accomplish this same goal - a bed of embers after seven (7) hours! I was thinking maybe two or three lumps of coal? Any ideas or thoughts would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

 

[begreen]

See this thread. The best prices are by the pallet load.
https://www.hearth.com/talk/threads/4763/
I'm hoping to get together with Thomas from NW Fuels and try the original Presto-Log sometime soon. That is an 8# log that is also supposed to have great burn times.

 

[wg_bent]

What kind of wood were you burning? My Osburn 1800i just last night took a full load of oak at about 11:00 pm and it was still going at 7.

3" deep bed of deep red coals.

And My stove is smaller than yours.

 

[PacificGuyInCNY]

Bob, if you're only getting a 2- to 4-hour burn from an insert that size then something's wrong somewhere. As Warren pointed out you should be getting a full night's burn or at least close to it. First step I'd do the dollar-bill test on the door for air leaks, and talk to your dealer and get his thoughts. Any other 2200 owners out there that can share their experience?

 

[ecfinn]

Bob, if you're only getting a 2- to 4-hour burn from an insert that size then something's wrong somewhere.

Agreed, something doesn't sound right here. Please explain your situation a bit better. What kind of wood? Seasoned how long? How many splits? Are you damping down the air at all or just leaving it on full blast all night? How tall is your chimney? Was it re-lined when the insert was installed? Do you have any draft problems? Maybe its drafting too well and that's why its only burning 2-4 hours?

With any reasonable hard-wood you should be able to get 6-8 hours out of that stove, I'd think.

Just my useless $0.02

Eric

 

[seaken]

Eric, not useless. I think you and the others are onto something. We'll have to see after the original poster replies. As Jacque Clusseau would say, "there's something fishey in Denmark."

 

[Highbeam]

Our local hardware store, McLendons, has these logs on sale for 0.74$ apiece with a limit of 100. Supposedly pure sawdust and an advertized 12 hour burn time. Maybe a different brand.

 

[MrGriz]

This is my first season with my 2200i, so I'm still learning.

The burn times you are experiencing do seem short. I don't know if this will help, but this is what I do for an overnight burn. Also, as I understand it, the definition of an overnight burn is having enough coals to re-start with just some kindling and small splits (someone let me know if I'm wrong).

I am burning a mixed bag of hardwood. In fact, I'm not usually sure exactly what is going in at any given time. Hopefully I will be more organized for next year. All of the wood I do have for this year is well seasoned.

When I load up for the night (usually around midnight), I leave the door latch open and the air on full. Once the load gets flaming really well, I close the door latch. About 5 - 10 minutes later, I will shut the air down by about 80-90% (I don't quite close it all the way). Usually between 7:00am and 8:00am the next morning, the blower is still going and there is enough hot coals to re-light a fire with just a bit of kindling and a few small splits.

 

[precaud]

The firelog is really remarkable. Right now, January in NY, I will place two logs on a hot bed of embers at 11:00PM and by 6:00AM I will break apart the remaining logs, toss in a small handfull of tinder, with two logs, and in 10 minutes I will have a wonderful fire. <snip> You should check out their web site and the product, it really is impressive, however, the price, per log is now up to $1.25 and I am getting concerned for next winter.

Anyone can get a long burn time without resorting to using special fuel. It's simply a matter of having control of the air into your stove.

I can reliably get eight hours or more with either of my stoves, and that's burning pinon pine and not stuffing the stove to the gills. That's 8 hours from when the last flames die, not from when you last load it.

You can too. The key is to cut off the air supply after the last flame has died, allowing only a trickle of air into the firebox to keep the coals alive.

My question is, does anyone know of another product, or method, to accomplish this same goal - a bed of embers after seven (7) hours! I was thinking maybe two or three lumps of coal? Any ideas or thoughts would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

Every night, I let the flames die out before bed (10:30-ish) and shut down the air to the stove except for a very small amount on the primary. At 5:30am, the bed of coals gets stirred, primary air opened, and in 5 minutes it is glowing red. A normal load including a couple of smaller diameter splits has a roaring fire 5 minutes later with no kindling, paper, matches, etc.

Unfortunately, most modern stoves aren't made to accomodate this convenience, so you need to study the air controls on your stove and modify them if necessary. You can read this article for an example of the mod process:
https://www.hearth.com/econtent/index.php/wiki/Add_secondary_air_control_to_stove_Morso_2110/

 

[firewatcher]

I must admit i have a similar problem and I have a Osburn 220 Bay. However, I am new to all this too. I can never get flames for more than 3 or 4 hours. I dont know if its me, my wood, my chimney liner, etc...

 

[precaud]

I must admit i have a similar problem and I have a Osburn 220 Bay. However, I am new to all this too. I can never get flames for more than 3 or 4 hours. I dont know if its me, my wood, my chimney liner, etc...

Flames for 3-4 hours IS good. The end of "burn time" is defined not by the end of flames, but by the death of the embers. Yeah, it's confusing... I wish we could have terms for things that made intuitive sense.

 

[firewatcher]

When I load up for the night (usually around midnight), I leave the door latch open and the air on full. Once the load gets flaming really well, I close the door latch. About 5 - 10 minutes later, I will shut the air down by about 80-90% (I don’t quite close it all the way). Usually between 7:00am and 8:00am the next morning, the blower is still going and there is enough hot coals to re-light a fire with just a bit of kindling and a few small splits.

Hey, I did the above and you were right I woke up andthe fan was still blowing with a huge amount of red coals. Thanks for the tip

 

[wg_bent]

Last night I loaded 1 "splits" of elm. These splits are so large, that only 2 fit, and are basically wood cubes because of the way I split elm. I save thes e for over night and cold days because I know that the larger the chunk the longer the burn. Elm isn't the best wood, about mid pack on the btu scale. I woke up about 3:30 (kid caughing) and decided to see how the stove was doing. The chunks weren't recognizable anymore and were coals about 1/2 the original split size. Blower still going, I'm sure it would have gone to 7 am easy. But it's very cold here so I put on 3 more smaller oak and elm splits. Not at 7 there is basically too many coals in the stove. I tossed on 3 pine splits and opened it up.

House temp in center of the house is 71. Outside...6

 

[MrGriz]

When I load up for the night (usually around midnight), I leave the door latch open and the air on full. Once the load gets flaming really well, I close the door latch. About 5 - 10 minutes later, I will shut the air down by about 80-90% (I don’t quite close it all the way). Usually between 7:00am and 8:00am the next morning, the blower is still going and there is enough hot coals to re-light a fire with just a bit of kindling and a few small splits.

Hey, I did the above and you were right I woke up andthe fan was still blowing with a huge amount of red coals. Thanks for the tip

I'm glad that worked for you. I'm still playing around with things, but I'm starting to get the hang of this thing.

 

[firewatcher]

I’m glad that worked for you. I’m still playing around with things, but I’m starting to get the hang of this thing.

Just curious to compare apples to apples. Do you use your stove as primary heat? What kind of house do you have and how many square feet is it? I have a colonial with the insert in the back family room and my house is 3000 sqft. And i run my heat once a day at 7am to 8 am to make the wife happy when she gets up...

 

[MrGriz]

Firewatcher, yes I do use my stove (insert) as the primary heat source. Our home has electric baseboard heaters, with each room acting as its own zone. The only one that kicks in with any regularity is the one in my daughters room (we keep that one set a bit higher for her). The others are all set at 60* and the stove keeps it well above that.

Our home is a tri-level, approximately 1800 square feet. The insert is in the fireplace in the finished basement, across the room from an open stairway. The stairway leads through the entry and to the main level with the living room and kitchen / dining room. This area is directly above the basement where the stove is located. From that level, there is an open stairway leading up to the bedrooms, which are on the opposite end of the house from the stove (above the garage). To this point in time, I am only using the blower on the insert to move the air throughout the house.

I am usually able to keep the basement (my office) in the low to mid 70's. The main level stays 2* - 3* cooler and the hall between the bedrooms looses another degree or two. The only places I can't seem to get the heat to flow to are the bedrooms, which is actually fine with me and my wife (we like it cooler for sleeping). I don't know if the bedrooms 'pressurize' and keep the cooler air trapped, but it does stay a few degrees cooler, even with the doors open.

As I said, I am still experimenting and learning as I go. I do believe that it is easier for me to try to keep the house reasonably warm through constant burning (even if we will all be out for the entire day), rather than letting it cycle from hot to cold. This being the case, if we will be gone for the entire day, I will follow my overnight procedure before leaving for the day. If I will be home, I usually keep a low fire burning, adding a split or two at a time, throughout the day.

I hope this answers you questions. Let me know if you have any more.