Tending the Fire

[raiderfan]

Simple question on what people do, should do and why.

Once the stove is loaded, fire is cruising with the air shut down and is burning for awhile, how do you guys tend the fire. Do people simply leave it alone and let it burn right down (sort of a "set it and forget it" process) or do you knock the wood/coals around a few times during the burn?

Reason I ask is because last night I loaded the stove up around 10:30pm and was able to crash for the night after the air was shut down. Woke up around 3:30am, so decided to check on the fire. I saw that it was cruising on the stove top at 550 and inside the box, the wood was coaled up but still intact. However, if i hit it with the coal rake, it would have broke up easily.

Probably not a big deal either way, but was wondering what you guys do when it gets to that point in the burn cycle, and if there are benefits to knocking the fire around a few times or not.


HAPPY THANKSGIVING TO ALL

 

[thewoodlands]

Simple question on what people do, should do and why.

Once the stove is loaded, fire is cruising with the air shut down and is burning for awhile, how do you guys tend the fire. Do people simply leave it alone and let it burn right down (sort of a "set it and forget it" process) or do you knock the wood/coals around a few times during the burn?

Reason I ask is because last night I loaded the stove up around 10:30pm and was able to crash for the night after the air was shut down. Woke up around 3:30am, so decided to check on the fire. I saw that it was cruising on the stove top at 550 and inside the box, the wood was coaled up but still intact. However, if i hit it with the coal rake, it would have broke up easily.

Probably not a big deal either way, but was wondering what you guys do when it gets to that point in the burn cycle, and if there are benefits to knocking the fire around a few times or not.


HAPPY THANKSGIVING TO ALL

raiderfan I'll check the liberty three times after I reload, then make adjustments to the air during the burn cycle.


zap

Happy Thanksgiving.

 

[Pagey]

Once I get my air adjustment dialed in, I'm a "set it and forget" type in the sense that I don't add more wood or make major swings at the primary air (unless for some reason it is truly needed). These EPA stoves really do burn best in cycles. Load up the amount/species that you need for your given heating needs at the time, get it cruising, then enjoy till it's in the coaling stages. I usually try to reload with a stove top temp of 250F to 300F. This makes relights so much easier for me. I also try to restart with pine if I have it.

The problem with adding more wood during the early coaling stage is that you end up with a deep, deep coal bed in the firebox and may end up throwing a bunch out due to frustration. If you happen to be up and around when the stove is getting later into the coaling stage, you can open the primary air to help burn them down some, if so desired.

 

[oldspark]

Raiderfan, wow 5 hours and it was still 550 is that with the fan off (I assume so), cant get mine to cruise that long on that temp (summit) had every temp there is but I run the fan when its that hot and it runs cooler. Its amazing I can get it to 500 degrees on small splitts and sticks but a long sustained burn (at 500 with fan on) has not happened. I need to break out the big pieces of Oak I guess.
I try and not mess with the fire after its set but once in a while I do, had a south wind and cold temps for a while yesterday and it kept me busy.

 

[EatenByLimestone]

I try not to mess with it after it's set, but sometimes I'm in a tinkering mood. This usually leads to shorter burn times and less heat. But I stay amused which is sometimes more important.

Matt

 

[raiderfan]

yeah, Spark was sitting at 500 this morning. Before I crashed for the night, it peaked at 700. Had the fan on medium at that point, but within 30min shut the fan off and hit the sack. Woke up early am, as I said, and saw 500*. Just checked now at 840am, and its at 325 with some coals. Going to reload around 915 to 930am for the day, so the room should stay warm for me to head down there and relax after I get home from the holiday visits.

I just didn't know whether I should knock the wood down to coals when its at that point in the burning cycle or if I should just let it be. I left it be last night and knocked it around when I woke up at 6am.

This is all really experimenting, on my part. I'm not a "real" burner like most here. Just one night a week and weekends. However, now that I have a "real" stove capable of these things like overningt burns and heating enough to keep the primary heat source from coming on, I'm enjoying experimenting with it. Girlfriend wanted to "camp" in the Cave last night with a fire, so I thought it would be the perfect opportunity to try my first overnight burn. Worked well, I guess!

 

[Bobbin]

I'm definitely in the "set it and forget it" camp. I figure the stove has been designed and engineered to burn in nice, long cycles if provided with adequate, properly seasoned fuel. So, I don't see much point in hovering over it. The exception to that would be those days when the air is very still and humid and the temperature is a raw, mid-40s/low 50s; I'm more apt to keep an eye on things on those days, but only if it took longer than usual to get the fire up and rolling along nicely.

 

[Backwoods Savage]

Simple question on what people do, should do and why.

Once the stove is loaded, fire is cruising with the air shut down and is burning for awhile, how do you guys tend the fire. Do people simply leave it alone and let it burn right down (sort of a "set it and forget it" process) or do you knock the wood/coals around a few times during the burn?

Reason I ask is because last night I loaded the stove up around 10:30pm and was able to crash for the night after the air was shut down. Woke up around 3:30am, so decided to check on the fire. I saw that it was cruising on the stove top at 550 and inside the box, the wood was coaled up but still intact. However, if i hit it with the coal rake, it would have broke up easily.

Probably not a big deal either way, but was wondering what you guys do when it gets to that point in the burn cycle, and if there are benefits to knocking the fire around a few times or not.


HAPPY THANKSGIVING TO ALL

And a Happy Thanksgiving to you too.

In the scenario you give, I would have simply opened the draft a bit more and went back to bed.

I rarely knock the wood around and certainly not towards the end of the burn. The only time I knock the wood around is if it were not put in right at the start of the burn. This is one area where my wife has a problem. It seems that on most of her fires she has a problem placing the wood right and there is always an area where there is an air gap at the bottom. So I simply move the wood so it makes contact with the bottom and the fire gets going good. I've tried to teach her over the years but it just doesn't seem to soak in. So many times she'll ask me to make that "magic" poke and get the fire going. It drives her nuts sometimes. lol

So, for the most part you are just as well off to not knock the last of that burning log into pieces. Just let the fire burn on and open the draft some.

 

[raiderfan]

Thanks BW. Exactly the info I was looking for!!

 

[snowleopard]

First winter w/a new Hearthstone Heritage, and still learning. Fortunately, it's a forgiving stove (meaning I have neither destroyed it with an overfire or burned down the house. I think the most important thing I've learned over the last few months is restraint. I'm learning to wait to start the fire until the house is starting to cool, to wait to put the `cruising' logs in until the coals have burned down, and to build moderate fires instead of the `load it up and shut it down' ones that I was inclined to at first. This goes against my general nature, so I am also learning to cultivate patience. Or distractions, which is why I'm on here waiting for the fire to burn down a little bit instead of thowing on more wood and overheating the joint.

The stove I have is not completely idiot-proof--I'm not sure that any stove is--but it sure is a lot less finicky and temperamental than any other one I've lived with. I got lucky with my installation--it's a straight shot up, clears the ridge of the house by a couple of feet and is off the ridge by a few feet, and the draft is so good that it pulls ash dust up when I'm cleaning the stove out. It's an easy starter, and keeps the kindling cracking, and doesn't take too much fatutzin' with to make it go. Now that I think about it, the amount of time that I spend tinkering with the fire has a direct connection with the amount of time I have available to tinker, which suggests to me that I am doing just what Matt was referring to--keeping myself amused.

So many times she'll ask me to make that "magic" poke and get the fire going. It drives her nuts sometimes.

Carry on, sir. You're doing the right thing.

 

[firefighterjake]

Set it and forget it . . . breaking apart the coals or fiddling with the air usually isn't needed.

I'm pretty sure you shouldn't play with your wood . . . you'll go blind or something like that.

 

[Backwoods Savage]

Jake, was that your mother's advice?

 

[raiderfan]

I'm pretty sure you shouldn't play with your wood . . . you'll go blind or something like that.

I thought that would only happen if you burned pine??? :coolsmirk:

 

[firefighterjake]

Jake, was that your mother's advice?

Mother doesn't know . . . she thinks I am reading.

 

[firefighterjake]

I'm pretty sure you shouldn't play with your wood . . . you'll go blind or something like that.

I thought that would only happen if you burned pine??? :coolsmirk:

Nope . . . burning pine causes baldness . . . that is the only explanation for why I am losing my hair.