Need to Get Longer Than 4hr Burn Times out of my Englander 30!!!

[BurnIt13]

I used 4 pieces of paper. Two smaller ones crumpled up at the bottom between the splits. THe other two were larger pieces I crumpled up on top of the pile. I lit the ones on top first to help warm the flue and improve the draft, then I lit the ones on the bottom. A weak fire started immediately.

I closed the door after about 30 seconds and left the air open for about 5 minutes. The fire was starting to look healthy so I reduced the air to about 40% open. Took a shower and came back to 400 degree stove temps and 400 degree flue temps.

I reduced the air to about 15-20% open and the temps rose to about 550 and flue temps of 500. It settled in around here so I left it alone. I'm not looking to get a long burn today, just to take the morning chill off. Its going to be warm today in the upper 30's, so no need for a nuclear generator until I get home from work.

Again, thank you for your help! This has been a very productive thread!

 

[Burd]

Is there a reason way you guys are burnin N/S instade off E/W I've noticed that if I burn N/S that I get hotter burn in the insert and less burn times. when I burn e/w much longer burn times and I can control the temp of the stove better ???

 

[BurnIt13]

Not that I have enough time with the stove under my belt but I don't think this stove likes E/W very much. I have no evidence to back this up, just the fact that the doghouse is up front and the stove tends to breath better in the N/S configuration. Hopefully some others will chime in and give a better response.

 

[oldspark]

Is there a reason way you guys are burnin N/S instade off E/W I've noticed that if I burn N/S that I get hotter burn in the insert and less burn times. when I burn e/w much longer burn times and I can control the temp of the stove better ???

For that very reason, more heat as my house is good sized and below zero and winds out of the south means its show time.

 

[Agent]

Just thought I should add in my photographic abilities, which are ok on a good day.
The first is the bed of coals that I was starting with for the night. It takes alot of wood fed pretty regularly to make a good bed of coals.
Next go in the 3 big splits for the night. When burning pine, size matters. Alot. And laziness prevails when splitting.
10 minutes later, the secondaries are rolling, the stovetop is 500ish, and the air is shut down to 5-10%. Bedtime
8.5 hours later, COALS Normally, I'll have less than this, so I prolly turned my air down more than normal. Stovetop temps were still 200, and the fan was on low all night.

 

[oldspark]

The picture on the lower right looks like a christmas decoration.

 

[wowser]

This has been the single most helpful thread I've read here. My problems wasn't the wood, the draft, the insert, the stacking, it was THAT LITTLE LEVER that dials down the air. Like the original poster, I had my stove dialed at "pedal to the metal" for 20 minutes, thinking I had to get the logs good and charred. Then dial it back. NO. It makes sense now. You are burning off all that energy all at once and there's little left for the long haul. I kept thinking you guys must have some unobtanium-filled logs or something to get flames after a few hours.

So this morning, on my cold stove, I lit a small fire with just a few small splits of really dry pine, let her go for about 20 minutes and then dialed it back, THEN piled in a bunch of hard wood and after a few minutes started throttling down. In about 10 minutes I was down to about 5% and there it stayed, just burning away, flames licking nicely and secondaries going like a furnace. It held steady at 500°. Right now I am an 1.5 hours in and the logs are fully intact with almost no charcoaling and still at 500°. Usually by now my logs would be starting to crumble. I've got a long way to go but I am hopeful.

My fear was I was going to get a smoldering fire, so I needed a lot more air. Now I get it! The only thing is, one third of my glass is really sooty in the lower left side, which has never happened. I am guessing it's because the way I loaded it up. I built up a wall right a few inches from the glass and the wood didn't catch right away in that corner. That's okay. I checked the stack a few times and no smoke.

What I've learned:
Get coals going on hot stove.
Load stove to the MAX with big splits.
Shut door and leave damper open just until fire establishes
Slowly shut damper in stages until slow, licking fire.
Enjoy long burn.

THANKS EVERYONE and the original poster!

 

[Huntindog1]

Wowser,

You just did what I was thinking of doing as my next reload. That is throw some small stuff on the coals to get them burning really hot then load on the big stuff.

What I have been doing and it works pretty good also is raking the coals to the front then loading a medium split (4") in the back on the bottom East West then a second Medium on top of that one. Then push the coals back towards those first two logs so as to lower coal pile that I first raked forward, this way by pushing some coals back and lowering the coal level, I give my self some head room to load in 2 more splits on top of each other without getting too close to the secondary burn tubes, got to have some head space up there to burn smoke gases. So then I am left with about 3 or 4 inches from the front of the primary air or doghouse air, that is open space and coals to lay small kindling that will ignite quickly and burn hot in an open front area of the stove to heat up the stove fast and get temps up so as to not have to keep the door open very long which burns up to much of my big splits for long burn times. Its all about getting the stove up to temp quickly so you can then damper it down to burn gases. Its that area up in front that is open that is for a kindling fire hot and fast that gets that job down. One person posted in another topic that he thought he had better luck than his sons at getting the stove going as he used more kindling and fire starter than they did, I agree as its all about getting the stove up to temp so you can damper it back down to be a smoke burner. I have also noticed that if I get it rock-in a little hotter like say a stove top temp of 700 I can damper it down farther for a longer burn. But I had to use more kindling and a whole super cedar to get it up to that temp quickly so as to not burn up my big splits that are needed for the long burn time.

This has been the single most helpful thread I've read here. My problems wasn't the wood, the draft, the insert, the stacking, it was THAT LITTLE LEVER that dials down the air. Like the original poster, I had my stove dialed at "pedal to the metal" for 20 minutes, thinking I had to get the logs good and charred. Then dial it back. NO. It makes sense now. You are burning off all that energy all at once and there's little left for the long haul. I kept thinking you guys must have some unobtanium-filled logs or something to get flames after a few hours.

So this morning, on my cold stove, I lit a small fire with just a few small splits of really dry pine, let her go for about 20 minutes and then dialed it back, THEN piled in a bunch of hard wood and after a few minutes started throttling down. In about 10 minutes I was down to about 5% and there it stayed, just burning away, flames licking nicely and secondaries going like a furnace. It held steady at 500°. Right now I am an 1.5 hours in and the logs are fully intact with almost no charcoaling and still at 500°. Usually by now my logs would be starting to crumble. I've got a long way to go but I am hopeful.

My fear was I was going to get a smoldering fire, so I needed a lot more air. Now I get it! The only thing is, one third of my glass is really sooty in the lower left side, which has never happened. I am guessing it's because the way I loaded it up. I built up a wall right a few inches from the glass and the wood didn't catch right away in that corner. That's okay. I checked the stack a few times and no smoke.

What I've learned:
Get coals going on hot stove.
Load stove to the MAX with big splits.
Shut door and leave damper open just until fire establishes
Slowly shut damper in stages until slow, licking fire.
Enjoy long burn.

THANKS EVERYONE and the original poster!

 

[SlyFerret]

Is there a reason way you guys are burnin N/S instade off E/W I've noticed that if I burn N/S that I get hotter burn in the insert and less burn times. when I burn e/w much longer burn times and I can control the temp of the stove better ???

What stove do you have?

My 30 doesn't burn E/W very well, but N/S it burns great. I suspect that if my house were bigger and if I could keep the 30 hot all the time, I could maintain a good enough coal bed to burn E/W.

-SF

 

[GAMMA RAY]

If you want it going quick you could always pick up and use a set of bellows.

I have an old aluminum arrow shaft that I use to blow on the fire for a sec if I'm impatient and the coals are low, I don't feel like using kindling, etc.

pen

Are you freakin kiddin me pen? I did not know people still used those things...I saw a few of them in an antique store this summer...do they really help? Did I tell you guyz I have no patience? So I am not sure about those bellow jiggers... :lol:

 

[SlyFerret]

That is a good idea! I usually just blow on the fire until I turn blue.

-SF

 

[BrotherBart]

If you guys will wait a little while my new product Stove Blow will be on the market. Just waiting for the labels to be delivered so I can stick them over the ones already on the little cans of compressed air from the electronics section of Target.

 

[pen]

If you want it going quick you could always pick up and use a set of bellows.

I have an old aluminum arrow shaft that I use to blow on the fire for a sec if I'm impatient and the coals are low, I don't feel like using kindling, etc.

pen

Are you freakin kiddin me pen? I did not know people still used those things...I saw a few of them in an antique store this summer...do they really help? Did I tell you guyz I have no patience? So I am not sure about those bellow jiggers... :lol:

6.99 at Tractor Supply. I would assume a 7 buck set of bellows would last just long enough for you to decide if you wanted to buy a quality set or not.
http://www.tractorsupply.com/redstone-trade-fireplace-bellows-1109271
(broken image removed)

Better quality sets can be found on amazon.

I don't use bellows tho, the arrow shaft was free.

pen

 

[wkpoor]

I got one last Christmas almost identical. Used it till I got the Elm. Haven't used it since.

 

[Burd]

Is there a reason way you guys are burnin N/S instade off E/W I've noticed that if I burn N/S that I get hotter burn in the insert and less burn times. when I burn e/w much longer burn times and I can control the temp of the stove better ???

What stove do you have?

My 30 doesn't burn E/W very well, but N/S it burns great. I suspect that if my house were bigger and if I could keep the 30 hot all the time, I could maintain a good enough coal bed to burn E/W.

-SF

1402 nopolean