Time between stokings?

[bluedogz]

So I'm still burning this old Sierra Hearthstove, but the Mrs. and I are considering replacing it. We'll see after the chimney is relined.

To give some context, I'm trying to see how long this sort of ancient non-cat stove should burn on a set of splits. I've gotten overnight burns out of it a couple times, but it normally seems to want 2-3 new splits every 2 hours or so to keep most of the house warm.

Burning almost entirely black locust, cherry, and hickory... THIS YEAR it's all properly seasoned down to under 20% MC.

Any guidance, anyone?

 

[oldspark]

So I'm still burning this old Sierra Hearthstove, but the Mrs. and I are considering replacing it. We'll see after the chimney is relined.

To give some context, I'm trying to see how long this sort of ancient non-cat stove should burn on a set of splits. I've gotten overnight burns out of it a couple times, but it normally seems to want 2-3 new splits every 2 hours or so to keep most of the house warm.

Burning almost entirely black locust, cherry, and hickory... THIS YEAR it's all properly seasoned down to under 20% MC.

Any guidance, anyone?

How big is the firebox and do you turn the draft down to get a longer burn?

 

[bogydave]

Upgrading to a new epa stove is a good idea. I did 2 years ago & am very glad I did.
Over a short period of time, you get your money back. Some federal tax incentives & some states have incentives too.
I know the new cat stoves have long burn times & good heat regulation.
Save on the amount of wood burned per year too.
With your good hard wood, you'd be impresses with extended burn times.
I know I'm still amazed when I load the stove & it's putting off good heat for 14 hours this time of the year & 1 load for 24 hrs shoulder season.
Can't imagine how long it'd crank out heat with a full load of locust.
I went from 10 cords per year to 5-1/2 last season, impressive savings & better heat.
At $250/cord (avg price here) that's a $1000 in wood cost every year (I cut my own but have to cut less) No BS. Amazing.
I have the Blaze king, but other catalytic's are impressive too, from what I read here everyone who's upgraded saves on wood & get better heat.
Here is a good place to see the specs of several epa stoves:
(broken link removed to http://www.epa.gov/Compliance/resources/publications/monitoring/caa/woodstoves/certifiedwood.pdf)

 

[nate379]

If I had to put wood in the stove every couple hours I don't think I'd burn wood. I usually load the stove 2x a day and it holds the house at ~75* without trouble.

 

[bluedogz]

Spark: I don't know what Sierra said the capacity was but I physically measured it at 2.25cf. We rarely have filled the firebox up to now because it seemed very difficult to control. With input from the good folks here and a large supply of properly-seasoned wood I'm doing that better- that's how got the overnight burns I mentioned. With a new liner in I can devote some effort to really learning how to use it.

Dave & Nate: that's why we're considering an upgrade. What we have now is basically a steel box that holds logs, nothing more. Here I've learned that there's a lot more to it.

 

[Wood Duck]

I think you should decide exactly what the most impartant characteristics of a new stove would be. For long burns I hear catalytic combustor stoves are great, but lots of people including me are pretty happy with our non-cat stoves. I think either one will be a big improvement.

I think long burns seem like a priority for you, since your original post mentions the frequency of reloading as a concern.

 

[bluedogz]

Duck, you're correct. For me alone, I LIKE messing with my fire, but Mrs. Blue does not. Left to me, the fire is tweaked and tuned with different air settings and stovetop temps; left to her, it generally goes out.

So yeah, longer burns would probably be a priority.

 

[Backwoods Savage]

bluedogz, you will get longer burns if you learn one new habit: that is, quit messing with the fire and let the stove do what is was designed to do. If you are constantly stirring the fire, it will burn faster. Also, while you are stirring the fire, the firebox door is open and you are allowing lots of room air to enter that hot firebox so this means that you are cooling the stove, which is the opposite of what you say you want. So creating better habits will help you a lot.

 

[firefighterjake]

Something I learned a long time ago is to stop playing with it . . . playing with it will not give you long burn times . . . and hairy palms . . . or so I've been told.

On the serious side . . . one reason I only looked at EPA stoves was not because I was super environmentally conscious . . . but rather it was because I grew up and had myself pre-EPA stoves where you always had to get up every few hours to reload the stove . . . I bought an EPA woodstove for the convenience . . . the convenience of not having to put up 8-12 cords (real cords) of firewood each year . . . and the convenience where I can load my stove at 9:30 a.m. at night, get the house up to 72 degrees or so and then wake up at 5 a.m. the next morning and typically find the house only down to 60 or 62 degrees . . . I relish my sleep and do not wish to wake up several times to reload the fire. I should mention that individual circumstances may vary . . . depending on the house insulation, location, etc.

 

[bluedogz]

You're right there- I've tried to make a new habit of not opening the door until the fire is down to coals only, so that I can properly observe the effects of using different wood, adjusting the air intake, etc. Of course, those two things are on the Mrs.' list of "messing with the stove."

 

[WoodpileOCD]

I'm loading about 3 times a day if i need it to really be putting out. I get 12-14 hours out of it fairly easily if I let it go and still have a great bed of coals to reload on.

I can tell you that if you get a cat stove, you'll have to resist the urge to 'poke' at the fire because you will get couple or 3 hours of nice blaze with decent secondaries but then it will just be glowing. No fire to speak of, just this smoldering heap of wood and coals. Still heating like a SOB mind you and no smoke from the chimney but no 'fire' either. Damnedest thing I ever experience when I switched from my old dragon last Jan.

 

[Battenkiller]

Even with an outdoor campfire I have one simple rule:

Do not touch the fire until it moves by itself.

Fussing with a good fire only makes it worse. Let nature and gravity take its course, the wood usually falls in a fortuitous fashion. Putzing around just collapses the load and starves portions of it of air. Plus, it collapses the air spaces inside the coal bed, leading to a massive bed of small coals that are hard to burn off.

 

[WoodpileOCD]

My dad always told us boys that if we played in the fire we would wet the bed. Had me totally convinced until I was 10 and I proved him wrong.... Oops, probably shouldn't have told that on myself huh? :red:

 

[Flatbedford]

We had an old Franklin style stove. Basically a free standing iron fireplace. It would make massive heat for about 2 or 3 hours and be cold in about 4 or 5. the one year I tried to keep it going 24/7 we burned about 5 cords and $3000 worth of propane. The first year with our Woodstock Fireview cat stove we burned less than 4 cords and about $1200 worth of propane AND the house was much more comfortable day and night with 3 loads a day and no "messing" with the stove in between loads. On very cold days we run a bit hotter and load 4 times a day. Less wood and more heat. Works for me. Also much less ash to haul out and the chimney can go 2+ years between cleanings.