I realize that there will be a lot of overlap here with standard fire building and other wood burning ways, but growing up with a radiant wood stove my whole life, I've quickly learned that heating with a wood furnace is a completely different ballgame. A lot of what I learned in regards to my wood stove does not apply to my wood furnace, or needs to be modified in such a way to where it becomes it's own technique.
I feel that there should be a thread where general wood furnace questions could be asked, as well as knowledge sharing to get the best from our contained fire beasts. I'll share two tips I've recently found, and if you're willing to share yours, please do so.
Fire building:
One tip I just discovered with my wood furnace is starting the fire with an upside down fire. I have been an outdoorsman my whole life, and have build hundreds if not thousands of fires. For the life of me, my first two dozen fires in this thing would be a PAIN to start. I'd get TONS of smoke drafting everywhere but up the chimney, failure to light with 2 year old seasoned ash, etc etc.
I decided to try an upside down fire; where you put your largest logs on the bottom, and stack to smaller, then kindling on top. Essentially, it burns from the top down, creating less ash, smoke, etc. Since my burn box is narrow but long, I couldn't stack it exactly how you'd find in a standard google search, but I did give it a whirl.
I was sold immediately. The kindling lit much more easily, I didn't have to use ANY cardboard, and only a very small piece of paper as opposed to multiple pieces strategically placed around the box. I had a lot of long lasting coals, and it seemed as if the whole unit heated faster and with less wood. I also didn't need to use a fire poker at all. Score. I kept the draft blower door fully open the whole time too.
Getting heat:
In my particular unit, I noticed that it takes a TON of effort to get it to operating temperature, but once it gets there, it's pretty easy to stay there. I normally have to start the fire with 3-5 good sized logs, and it takes about 20-30 minutes to get to where we're starting to get to operating temperature with a bed of coals. Once going, I toss on a log or two every few hours. I turned down the low setting on the limit switch lower than it likely should be, because once that thing starts making heat, I want it immediately piped into the house, even if it's only slightly warm and is in the process of warming up.
Does anyone else have tips to share? How do you get the most of your wood furnace? Any tips on firewood preservation (so you're not heating the outside), making your unit more efficient, keeping coals alive throughout the night, etc? Any tips would be great. Maybe we can get a compilation and get them stickied for newbies to these things like me.
I feel that there should be a thread where general wood furnace questions could be asked, as well as knowledge sharing to get the best from our contained fire beasts. I'll share two tips I've recently found, and if you're willing to share yours, please do so.
Fire building:
One tip I just discovered with my wood furnace is starting the fire with an upside down fire. I have been an outdoorsman my whole life, and have build hundreds if not thousands of fires. For the life of me, my first two dozen fires in this thing would be a PAIN to start. I'd get TONS of smoke drafting everywhere but up the chimney, failure to light with 2 year old seasoned ash, etc etc.
I decided to try an upside down fire; where you put your largest logs on the bottom, and stack to smaller, then kindling on top. Essentially, it burns from the top down, creating less ash, smoke, etc. Since my burn box is narrow but long, I couldn't stack it exactly how you'd find in a standard google search, but I did give it a whirl.
I was sold immediately. The kindling lit much more easily, I didn't have to use ANY cardboard, and only a very small piece of paper as opposed to multiple pieces strategically placed around the box. I had a lot of long lasting coals, and it seemed as if the whole unit heated faster and with less wood. I also didn't need to use a fire poker at all. Score. I kept the draft blower door fully open the whole time too.
Getting heat:
In my particular unit, I noticed that it takes a TON of effort to get it to operating temperature, but once it gets there, it's pretty easy to stay there. I normally have to start the fire with 3-5 good sized logs, and it takes about 20-30 minutes to get to where we're starting to get to operating temperature with a bed of coals. Once going, I toss on a log or two every few hours. I turned down the low setting on the limit switch lower than it likely should be, because once that thing starts making heat, I want it immediately piped into the house, even if it's only slightly warm and is in the process of warming up.
Does anyone else have tips to share? How do you get the most of your wood furnace? Any tips on firewood preservation (so you're not heating the outside), making your unit more efficient, keeping coals alive throughout the night, etc? Any tips would be great. Maybe we can get a compilation and get them stickied for newbies to these things like me.
