The Hottest Fire

[crazydoctorbob]

When is the fire in a fireplace insert at it's hottest ? When there is a raging fire ? When the wood is just glowing red ? or somewhere in between ?

 

[Backwoods Savage]

First, you need a bed of hot coals. Then you start with a raging fire when you add wood (this evaporates the remaining moisture from the wood), but as the wood gets good and charred, then cut back the draft. With that wood burning and the hot coals underneath you will get good heat. But remember, if you have that draft wide open, more heat will go up the chimney than will get into your house. Each setup will be slightly different as for how to set the draft. It takes some experimenting but won't take you very long to learn. Good luck.

 

[begreen]

The hottest point for our stove is when it is at peak secondary burn.

 

[Corey]

There are a couple of ways to define 'hottest'. If you mean the highest temperature fire, then anytime you get blue flames...generally seen dancing over a bed of bright orange coals...would probably be the highest temp. Think of a blacksmith working iron and what the forge looks like. If by 'hottest' you're looking for the maximum heat output, probably raking the bed of coals forward and putting several small splits on the grate would give you max heat. You'd have raging flames from the wood and also a good amount of heat from the coals.

Then there is also the air supply to deal with. Generally wide open doesn't give the most heat output...you have to cut it back to the point where the fire can still burn, but there is no excess oxygen - which would just cool down the firebox.

 

[crazydoctorbob]

Thanks guys, for the insite.

 

[67ref]

great thread, thanks for the info!