This is how much creosote i harvested today.

[MountainStoveGuy]

It was so warm out, i thought i could clean my chimney for the first time this burn season. I was pleasntly suprised at how little creosote i got. I have burned three cords of mixed pine this season.

 

[MountainStoveGuy]

I dont know why this wont show up as a link. Never mind, i just uploaded the photo.

 

[joshuaviktor]

Dude, throw those olives away! They look nasty!

On the plus side, the fact that you don't even have a bit of creosote in the Grolsch bottle is amazing!

Congrats!

<grin>

Good job, burned some good wood, huh?

Joshua

 

[MountainStoveGuy]

I dont know if its the wood quality, or a complete comustion quality of the stove/chimney combination. Im happy, i sleep better at night when i get those results. And for the record, i never turn my stove down. When its running, its full blast. I let it cool down, the relight for the second fire of the day. This method alows me to only burn two fireboxes of wood a day, 6-8 splits. I keep my consumption down and my cresote down. One of the benifits of soapstone IMO.

Maybe if i mix a few of those olives in my vodka....

 

[Mo Heat]

This method alows me to only burn two fireboxes of wood a day, 6-8 splits.

How long does it take your Heritage to completely burn a load of wood? Do you burn those two loads 12 hours apart, or are they closer together during the daytime?

That does sound like quite an advantage of the soapstone. Like a little masonry heater.

Does it raise the temp in the room pretty good (and keep it there), or do you just bask in the radiant heat coming off it and keep the room temps a bit lower?

Sorry for all the questions, but I think you're the first person I've heard of that burns that way (besides masonry heater folks).

Hmmm... Maybe I'm about to be a soapstone enthusiast again...

 

[MountainStoveGuy]

I fire my stove in the morning around 6:30 am. My house is well insulated and maintains temp pretty well. I let that load burn out, which gets me to 10-11 am and then it heats untill 3-4pm. When i get home at 6:30 pm, i start the process over from a cold firebox, but a warm chimney and stove. My room stays between 65 and 72 depending on outside temps. When the stove is cranking the room stays on the warmer side of those figures. Using this method, i only burn 3+ cords a year of pine at 9000' of altitude, and a burn season that starts in september and ends in may. I have burned a little more this year because i need to change my gaskets. I feel that if you constantly feed a stove that cant get any hotter then 500-550 then whats the point of feeding it if its already there. I only add wood to get the stove back up to temp instead of trying to maintain temp, the soapstone does that for me. Hope thats a ok explanation.

 

[Mo Heat]

I fire my stove in the morning around 6:30 am. My house is well insulated and maintains temp pretty well. I let that load burn out, which gets me to 10-11 am and then it heats untill 3-4pm. When i get home at 6:30 pm, i start the process over from a cold firebox, but a warm chimney and stove. My room stays between 65 and 72 depending on outside temps. When the stove is cranking the room stays on the warmer side of those figures. Using this method, i only burn 3+ cords a year of pine at 9000' of altitude, and a burn season that starts in september and ends in may. I have burned a little more this year because i need to change my gaskets. I feel that if you constantly feed a stove that cant get any hotter then 500-550 then whats the point of feeding it if its already there. I only add wood to get the stove back up to temp instead of trying to maintain temp, the soapstone does that for me. Hope thats a ok explanation.

Thanks for slogging through the questions. Interesting, and practical, approach.

I've been thinking somewhat along those same lines about wasting my fuel, but with cast iron considerations. My stove cycles much more quickly than yours (cast iron), but I try to let it burn down a lot more than last year to take more advantage of the residual heat, and I only throw in a split or two at a time. Takes a lot more attention this way. Your method is way more practical, but I only heat one room, only in the evening (most of the time), and have a furnace burning NG (seems like greenbacks lately) as my main heat source.

Thanks for reminding me how magical soapstone is. That is absolutely a pittance of wood for your area and burn season length!

Did you consider the Mansfield? Was it too big for your place? Seems like it might lend itself even better to your method.

In the back of my mind, I'll have a Mansfield one day, or a Tulikivi, or a PE Summit, or a Blaze King, or a...

 

[MountainStoveGuy]

I love my heritage, but im thinking like you. I want to get the mansfield for even the longer burn time and cycle length. I have to sell my stove first here at the shop. Someone will get a good deal. I think the mansfield will be too big for my heating area but i can deal with that in my climate. If i owned the hearthshop i would consider a tulikivi, but DAAAAMN 20-30k us a little steep, expecially if i can get the same result with a hearthstone. My floor wont hold the weight of the tulikivi anyway.