Overfilling firebox

[old greybeard]

My Osburn 2300 says to fill only to level of bricks. I always squeeze in as much wood as possible, within 1/2” of tubes.
I don’t beat wood against the tubes. Any one have issues from doing this?

 

[kennyp2339]

I think manufactures say fill to the brick line to insure that damage to the baffle and air tubes does not occur incase a piece gets jammed in there

 

[Highbeam]

These clean burning noncat stoves use primary combustion at the fuel and secondary combustion up above the fuel in an insulated “chamber” where oxygen is injected to burn the leftover smoke from the primary fire. If you stack your fuel to close to the tubes then this secondary “chamber” just becomes part of the primary fire since those tubes are blowing directly onto the fuel.

Your stove will pollute more and that tallest fuel will just burn rapidly because it’s getting blown on a lot by those upper tubes. The pollution is inefficiency but you will get some heat from the primary combustion up there.

I wonder if this is why we’re seeing more runaway stoves these days.

 

[old greybeard]

Secondarys seem great filled full. The Lopi I had previously would overfire. This 2300 runs calm.

 

[marty319]

My Osburn 2300 says to fill only to level of bricks. I always squeeze in as much wood as possible, within 1/2” of tubes.
I don’t beat wood against the tubes. Any one have issues from doing this?

That's what I do.i have a 2300 as well

 

[Caw]

I fill my Osburn 1600 insert similarly for overnight fires without any issues. It runs around 650 STT during secondary phase and then cruises around 500-550 the rest of the way. I use an IR gun to get temps at the stove top and pipe junction.

I understand the argument that the top piece or two near the tubes may just be turbo burning due to O2 injection onto the fuel. However, I get significantly longer burn times when its fully loaded while being able to maintain control. I can keep the air a touch open with the blower on low, squeeze 8-10 hours out of my little 1.85 cu ft box, and still reload on coals...occasional kindling CPR required.

Do you 2300 guys fully shut the air at night? I find mine burns best/longest open ever so slightly. Maybe 5-10% and blower on low...high steals too much heat from the box. That might be less of an issue for you big box bois. The manual actually says it runs most efficiently a touch open too.

 

[begreen]

I wonder if this is why we’re seeing more runaway stoves these days.

We used to see a lot more on a daily basis in October and November as people fired up their new stoves for the first time. This seems to have mellowed in the past couple of years for som reason. What hasn't changed is people cracking their baffles which also can come from overfilling the firebox.

 

[marty319]

I get my burning fast then shut it down fully.load it at 8:30 at night and still have lots hot coals at 6 am.im only burning pine right now.saving the hardwood for the cold weather

 

[Caw]

I get my burning fast then shut it down fully.load it at 8:30 at night and still have lots hot coals at 6 am.im only burning pine right now.saving the hardwood for the cold weather

Your firebox...it's....it's so big

 

[marty319]

Your firebox...it's....it's so big

Yes holds lots of wood.real warm here today 41° f so not burning much as I will get thrown outta here lol.how is Gordon?

 

[Caw]

He's enjoying the colder temps...29 degrees here. Have a few ash splits in there now just holding me over until bed time in a couple hours then I'll load'er up with oak/cherry for the night.

 

[marty319]

Lol,what a face