North/South or East West Loading Fireplace better?

[mtj53]

I've read many posts where some load their splits east/west, and some north & south. I had all my wood this year cut for east/west, and the firplace burns excellent like that. Only thing bad about it is sometimes when you stack the fireplace full for the nights burn, sometimes you'll get a piece fall down against the door. I have next years wood cut already, but am getting ready to cut for the following year and wondered if you guys can tell me what other advantages there are of stacking north/south? For me one advantage is nothing or not as much would fall against the door, just wondering what else I need to think of. Thanks in advance!

 

[firefighterjake]

I pretty much only burn east/west in my woodstove due to the firebox configuration . . . no issues in getting either a quick, hot fire or a long burning fire . . . I control this by the amount of wood I put in the firebox, type of wood species, size of wood, etc. In other words if I want a quick hot fire the wood will be small splits or rounds or slabs, softwood, etc. . . . a long, slow burn will have medium to large sized splits with higher BTU wood. I don't have much wood roll up against the door due to the way I lay the wood into the firebox . . . occasionally a piece will roll or fall up against the glass, but it's not an every day occurence.

 

[Slow1]

Key is rate of burn I believe. Most stoves/inserts have air enter from the front (air wash across glass at a minimum, possible extra air input near bottom). Thus, the airflow across the bottom of the stove goes front to back (or to keep in loading terms from south to north?). So, with the air running lengthwise across the splits you get a faster, hotter burn.

 

[madison]

I am not familiar with your RSF Opel 2, but looked at the brochure and could not find the firebox dimensions other than it is 3.1 ft3 firebox and takes 20" logs. And seeing that it is a fireplace type unit, the e/w 20" max wood length makes sense.

I am curious as to what you would estimate or measure the front to back dimension of this firebox. if it is significantly shorter than the e/w dimension, i think e/w would be the orientation that the unit is designed to be loaded.

I would, as a tinkerer, I would take out a saw and chop some of your current supply of wood to the maximum length that would fit N/S and give it a shot. But if it means loading 12" pieces ..... fogetaboutit ....

 

[mtj53]

That's great advice guys, I will trim down some pieces now and burn that a few days and see what happens. I currently load this east to west, and I get very long burns, that's not an issue at all. I know this has a pretty large firebox on it, but in order to take advantage of that, and get the long burns, you have to pack her pretty tight in the evening. Doing that means stacking basically two rows, normally three splits high. But it never fails, I always get a split up top in front that ends up falling towards the glass. That in itself isn't a big deal either, although it's in the back of my mind that in a worst case scenario it could break the glass. Also, the gaskets sit up front in the lowest spot there is, so when a split falls down by the doors, it's burning over top the gasket, and I had one go bad already after about 4 months....can't say for sure why that wore out so quick for though, but I suspect the extra heat over top and on the gasket never helped.

The firebox on this is set up so it is 20" wide left to right in front, but it tapers towards the back. In the back, it can fit an 18" split max. That's not allowing any extra room. Seems to work much better and burn much better with an inch or so of air around the wood. I do believe the air comes from the top front. Far as depth, there is approximately 15" from the glass to the back, however, there is about a 3" ledge in front, so really it would have to be 12" long splits at the most for north/south burning. I have no problem cutting the wood 12" long...be extra splitting but if that proves more effective, I'd do it. That would only be for all night burns anyway if it worked.

Most of the time using the fireplace none of this is an issue though, takes just a few splits to keep the box up to temp and throws way plenty of heat like that....I'm just thinking of overnight burns. I'll try some north/south and see what happens. Here's a photo of the RSF Opel 2 firebox....Thanks again....

 

[SolarAndWood]

That is a beautiful fireplace. I broke the glass burning EW in my old stove and generally only burn NS now. Not sure I would burn NS if I had to stack 12" splits though.

 

[Gooserider]

This is a long running debate - with lots of people on each side, but really it comes down to the nature of the individual stove - the way it flows it's combustion air through the unit, the configuration of the firebox, loading door style and position, etc... As such, the advice of people that aren't running the same unit that you are is of limited value.

There are a few stoves, mostly ones with nearly square firebox layouts, that can burn either way, but most will have a clearly preferable direction, usually the long direction. Unfortunately, on many stoves this does leave one with the "rollout" problem you are experiencing - and aside from trying to use your more flat sided splits and careful loading, there isn't a lot that can be done about it.

Essentially as others have suggested, experimentation is the only way to find out for sure, but given your stove dimensions, I wouldn't be terribly surprised to find that it doesn't produce the results you want when burned other than the way you are now...

Gooserider

 

[Swamp Fox]

Well...I had been burning E/W in my Blaze King King for four years. Really having no issues with the burn or the rate, just difficulty getting/keeping the glass clean. About six weeks ago, I found out I was putting my wood in in the "wrong" directions. I called BK and was told either direction would work but they did in fact find that their stoves functioned better with the wood place N/S. After burning a few splits N/S I decided to cut a cord of splits down from 22 inches to 17 inches using a chop saw. I really liked burning N/S much better. It easier to load the stove without having to reach from front to back; I "seem" to get longer burns (actually I'm able to put more wood in tighter; and the glass does in fact get and stays cleaner. Now I have a big decision to make...I have two years of wood seasoned out there (mostly at 22 inches) and I'm trying to decide if I will chop it off to 17 inches so I can burn N/S. Crazy as it may sound, I'm leaning towards shortening the wood, I like it that much better!

 

[summit]

I ran a side load F600 before my PE stove, and that thing had to run E/W to be able to use the large wood thru the side door... I always hated it when the top log would roll down on the glass in the middle of the night, and always wondered when it would eventually break the glass.. I got a PE summit before I ever found out, and i gotta say the N / S load is a lot nicer way to burn: You can pack more in it, its more uniform, and I think it burns better when its going front to back like a cigar burn. That, and the top log will not roll down on the glass. I will go E/W once in a while, but it is usually when I am only putting a log or two in at a time, trying to cover up the coal base, not when loading it up full for the night.

 

[Gooserider]

If you do decide to shorten it, I can suggest the best way that I've found to cut down a LOT of splits fairly quickly is to make a "cutdown rack"... Build a box that is open on one side, a little narrower than the length of your saw bar, and about 1" shallower than your target wood length. Height doesn't matter all that much, but you need to make sure the bottom of the box is at least a couple inches off the ground. The taller it is, the more wood you can fit in per batch.

Stack the splits to be cut down in the box with one end up against the back, and the other sticking out the open side. Pack them in as tightly as you can... Then fire up your chainsaw and make one cut down parallel to the side of the box, trimming all the splits in it to the right length... Shut the saw off, restack and repeat... I found this was much faster than any of the stuff I tried with different saws to trim the splits one at a time.

I went from a stove that took 24" to one that took 18", had about 3-4 full cords that I had to cut down. I still use the rack occasionally, as I get a small percentage of the wood I cut that comes out over my maximum length, so I have to trim them...

Save the cutoff chunks - I find this "chunk wood" can be handy to burn for quick fires during shoulder season.

Gooserider

 

[Swamp Fox]

What a great idea! I may just build that box tomorrow and get started. Wasn't looking forward to recutting that much wood. Now I'm not dreading it at all. Thanks for the tip!