Reloading...

[ispinwool]

After reading through a thread of 'burn times'...may I ask a favor?
When you reload your woodburner, can you please post a pic of how you load and how full?
The thread was saying about 10 or 20 hour burn times on a reload---I'm lucky to get 4 or 5!!
I'm obviously doing something really wrong! Maybe a couple of pics from the pros will help me.

 

[EatenByLimestone]

20 hour burn times? Before convincing yourself you're doing something wrong, make sure you're talking about the same stove. The Blazeking Bois reload once a week, but the rest of us have to reload more often.

Cat stoves burn longer at low temperatures.

Non cat stoves can burn long times also, but it has to do with the firebox size, chimney, familiarity, etc. And you arent going to get useful heat 20 hours later.

 

[ispinwool]

20 hour burn times? Before convincing yourself you're doing something wrong, make sure you're talking about the same stove. The Blazeking Bois reload once a week, but the rest of us have to reload more often.

Cat stoves burn longer at low temperatures.

Non cat stoves can burn long times also, but it has to do with the firebox size, chimney, familiarity, etc. And you arent going to get useful heat 20 hours later.

LOL-- how'd you know that it was a Blaze King thread?!
ok...maybe I'm not doing all that bad.
But so many folks talk about "all night burns" and my Heritage falls a bit short.

So maybe I should ask about H.H. burn times and how they load them?

 

[moresnow]

So maybe I should ask about H.H. burn times and how they load them?

You are likely to receive much more pertinent info if the thread is directed to H.H. users. Should be a interesting read for everyone. You might get a few worthwhile tips. Good luck!

 

[webby3650]

When most people talk about overnight burns they simply mean there’s plenty of coals to relight a fire easily. Except for BK’s of course... Do you have coals left in the morning?

 

[kennyp2339]

im going to reload right now

 

[jetsam]

Don't forget the social engineering aspect.

If you have more blankets handy than everyone else in the house, you are the last one who will start volunteering to get up every 5 hours to load the stove...

 

[begreen]

After reading through a thread of 'burn times'...may I ask a favor?
When you reload your woodburner, can you please post a pic of how you load and how full?
The thread was saying about 10 or 20 hour burn times on a reload---I'm lucky to get 4 or 5!!
I'm obviously doing something really wrong! Maybe a couple of pics from the pros will help me.

Ya, that thread is specific to BK cat stoves and the long burn times are in milder weather. The Heritage is pretty but not the most efficient burner. Is the stove connected with single or double-wall stovepipe? Do you have a thermometer on the stovepipe?

 

[orlkc]

I'm just entering my third season with a heritage, so definitely still figuring thing out myself. Here's a graph of what it did over 9 hours today. Green line is the flue temp, yellow is the stovetop. At 7am the stove and flue were at around 150F from last night. I filled it up loosely to within a couple inches of the top tubes (sorry, no picture this time) and used a piece of newspaper up at the top to get it started again. I left the side door a crack open for around 2 minutes, and started cutting primary air down a couple minutes later once the flue got to 300F, all the way to completely closed at 450 or 500F. Start closing the flue damper at 600F. That sequence took around 20 minutes, and I didn't touch the stove again all day.

There is definitely no useful heat coming from the stove the last several of those 9 hours, but also no need to reload as the house hadn't cooled off enough to need more heat yet.

 

[ispinwool]

When most people talk about overnight burns they simply mean there’s plenty of coals to relight a fire easily. Except for BK’s of course... Do you have coals left in the morning?

Sometimes. It depends on how late we leave it for the night/how early we get to it in the morning and how big the splits are.
11 pm until 6 am is a pretty easy relight with quite a few coals. 10 pm until 7 am is a restart.

 

[ispinwool]

Ya, that thread is specific to BK cat stoves and the long burn times are in milder weather. The Heritage is pretty but not the most efficient burner. Is the stove connected with single or double-wall stovepipe? Do you have a thermometer on the stovepipe?

hmmm...it's been so long since I took notice of the stovepipe that I honestly don't remember...but I do have a
thermometer on it...

 

[ispinwool]

I'm just entering my third season with a heritage, so definitely still figuring thing out myself. Here's a graph of what it did over 9 hours today. Green line is the flue temp, yellow is the stovetop. At 7am the stove and flue were at around 150F from last night. I filled it up loosely to within a couple inches of the top tubes (sorry, no picture this time) and used a piece of newspaper up at the top to get it started again. I left the side door a crack open for around 2 minutes, and started cutting primary air down a couple minutes later once the flue got to 300F, all the way to completely closed at 450 or 500F. Start closing the flue damper at 600F. That sequence took around 20 minutes, and I didn't touch the stove again all day.

There is definitely no useful heat coming from the stove the last several of those 9 hours, but also no need to reload as the house hadn't cooled off enough to need more heat yet.
View attachment 252379

Nice graph!
thanks for the reply.... My "lighting" sequence is vastly different! ...similar to almost needing lightening to get things
going! But at least your graph shows that most of the heat/burning is in a 4-5 hour window...much like mine.

 

[orlkc]

Nice graph!
thanks for the reply.... My "lighting" sequence is vastly different! ...similar to almost needing lightening to get things
going! But at least your graph shows that most of the heat/burning is in a 4-5 hour window...much like mine.

Yes, usually two hours with secondaries going full tilt. Maybe closer to three if I pack everything just right, but that is very rare. Then several hours of useful heat as flames die off, then everything cools down.

Not all lighting sequences go so well as today's though.
Cold starts are harder, as I sometimes get a reversed draft after a day of a cold stove.

Then there's the third type of starts that don't go well due to wood that needs another year of drying. I have far fewer of those than last year now that everything has had two summers (not two full years yet) to dry. In those cases there's an hour or more of cutting air down too early and too much and starting over from wide open.

I suppose there's a fourth type too if I try to start a half full firebox where I also tend to cut down the air too quickly, but that's not a problem anymore now that it's getting cold.

 

[SpaceBus]

Yes, usually two hours with secondaries going full tilt. Maybe closer to three if I pack everything just right, but that is very rare. Then several hours of useful heat as flames die off, then everything cools down.

Not all lighting sequences go so well as today's though.
Cold starts are harder, as I sometimes get a reversed draft after a day of a cold stove.

Then there's the third type of starts that don't go well due to wood that needs another year of drying. I have far fewer of those than last year now that everything has had two summers (not two full years yet) to dry. In those cases there's an hour or more of cutting air down too early and too much and starting over from wide open.

I suppose there's a fourth type too if I try to start a half full firebox where I also tend to cut down the air too quickly, but that's not a problem anymore now that it's getting cold.

I have the occasional reverse draft on my cook stove and I have remedied this with a propane torch pointed into the firebox on top of a bucket. Before lighting any kindling or starting a fire I burn some small pieces of bark or paper to make sure the smoke is going out the chimney. If the firebox overloads with smoke I sometimes still get a bit of smoke spillage if the flames go out. Usually the torch gets this going again and if I'm quick there is very little smoke spillage.

 

[ispinwool]

im going to reload right now
View attachment 252387View attachment 252388

Nice BIG firebox! (that's about how we split our wood too...I was wondering if ours was split too big---I guess not...)

Thanks for the pics!!

 

[Socratic Monologue]

We've been burning a Heritage for 3 or 4 seasons now. Took me a while to get the hang of it.

Leave ashes in the box, and when you go to reload in the pm for an overnight burn, make sure you do it while the stove is hot. Move the coals to the front and the ashes to the back, and nestle a solid split into the ashes. Then load pretty full with splits of oak or the like. Just make sure the secondaries are going to take off and close off the air.

If I'm lucky, there are coals left to start from (with fatwood and kindling, and a little babying) after 7 or 8 hours. I really like the stove, but overnight burns are challenging.

 

[Woody Stover]

There is definitely no useful heat coming from the stove the last several of those 9 hours, but also no need to reload as the house hadn't cooled off enough to need more heat yet.
View attachment 252379

Everyone's house is different, but here, 300 stove top is still holding stove room temp OK. Might not be enough if you are trying to send the heat a couple rooms away.

hmmm...it's been so long since I took notice of the stovepipe that I honestly don't remember...but I do have a
thermometer on it...

Paying attention to it might help you anticipate when to start cutting air on a new load, thereby stretching burn time a bit. How are you determining when to cut the air now, just by how the fire looks? I think that's a good way to run it as well, but more info from the flue meter can't be a bad thing..

 

[ispinwool]

We've been burning a Heritage for 3 or 4 seasons now. Took me a while to get the hang of it.

Leave ashes in the box, and when you go to reload in the pm for an overnight burn, make sure you do it while the stove is hot. Move the coals to the front and the ashes to the back, and nestle a solid split into the ashes. Then load pretty full with splits of oak or the like. Just make sure the secondaries are going to take off and close off the air.

If I'm lucky, there are coals left to start from (with fatwood and kindling, and a little babying) after 7 or 8 hours. I really like the stove, but overnight burns are challenging.

This sounds just like what I'm experiencing...thanks for chiming in!
The one difference is "closing off the air" part---never could do that and keep it lit. Chokes it every time.
So I 'almost' close it down.

I really do like the stove too... I was just thinking that I was doing something wrong because 'longer' burns were
such a struggle.

 

[Socratic Monologue]

The one difference is "closing off the air" part---never could do that and keep it lit. Chokes it every time.
So I 'almost' close it down.

I think the trick to this (other than -- of course -- really dry wood) is to have the stove already running at a high temp before loading this final burn of the day. I don't measure stovetop temps (I could, once it gets cold enough here to fire the Heritage up again), but a digital probe in the double wall pipe about 18" up from the stove needs to be 450F+ before the stove will behave decently. I tend to run the pipe temps around 600 - 800F routinely; this stove runs a hot pipe, and seems to like it that way.

I highly recommend a digital probe flue thermometer. Not only do they read accurately, but the response time is fast, so you can see what the temp is now, not ten minutes later. I use this one (https://www.auberins.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=17&products_id=292) and like it well enough.

 

[ispinwool]

Paying attention to it might help you anticipate when to start cutting air on a new load, thereby stretching burn time a bit. How are you determining when to cut the air now, just by how the fire looks? I think that's a good way to run it as well, but more info from the flue meter can't be a bad thing..

Ya, once the fire 'looks' like it's going ok, I'll start cutting the air. I try to pay attention to the 'burn zone' marked on the
thermometer too. However, if I was super successful with the whole thing, this thread wouldn't be necessary! LOL

I guess it all comes down to 'it keeps me warm. the wood is free' so I'm happy with it. A few bumps along the way are
to be expected.

 

[ispinwool]

I think the trick to this (other than -- of course -- really dry wood) is to have the stove already running at a high temp before loading this final burn of the day. I don't measure stovetop temps (I could, once it gets cold enough here to fire the Heritage up again), but a digital probe in the double wall pipe about 18" up from the stove needs to be 450F+ before the stove will behave decently. I tend to run the pipe temps around 600 - 800F routinely; this stove runs a hot pipe, and seems to like it that way.

I highly recommend a digital probe flue thermometer. Not only do they read accurately, but the response time is fast, so you can see what the temp is now, not ten minutes later. I use this one (https://www.auberins.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=17&products_id=292) and like it well enough.

Thanks for the info and the link

 

[orlkc]

I have the occasional reverse draft on my cook stove and I have remedied this with a propane torch pointed into the firebox on top of a bucket. Before lighting any kindling or starting a fire I burn some small pieces of bark or paper to make sure the smoke is going out the chimney. If the firebox overloads with smoke I sometimes still get a bit of smoke spillage if the flames go out. Usually the torch gets this going again and if I'm quick there is very little smoke spillage.

I've tried a torch and that definitely works, but requires keeping the torch around. My current approach is a loosely crumpled sheet of newspaper in an empty firebox. That usually lights off fast enough to get a draft going with only a wisp of smoke as I close the door.

I can use the flue temp to tell if the draft is reversed before starting. Room temp or higher and it's good, somewhere closer to outside temp then I need to fix it before starting.

 

[Woody Stover]

current approach is a loosely crumpled sheet of newspaper in an empty firebox.

Make sure it's only black and white newsprint if you are putting it in a cat stove..