Tips for keeping small fire?

[zmender]

Hey everyone - got an interesting question - how to build a small and consistent fire?

Background - I'm burning using a VC Monteplier insert. I tend to keep blower on all the time since I believe in getting max BTUs into the house. Here in CT, past few days the temperature has being hovering around 40F~50F, foggy, damp, and no wind. Not quite warm enough to rely solely on oil, but I easily overheat (75+) the house if I just keep adding splits. Ideally I'd like to have a small hot fire going at all times (hot enough to reliably light up new logs, and also run a clear chimney exhaust ). Wife and I both WFH so we can tend the fire at least on hourly basis.

Couple of scenarios I've ran that did not work are are -

1) Burn full loads - this overheats the house. I end up opening all the windows because it's too hot.
2) Burning splits that are too thick (>2in) - I don't always have good coal bed, and thick splits end up smoldering
3) Burning only 1~2 log at time - this doesn't burn reliably. If I have coal bed it's better, but without coal and primary closed, once wood boils off the fire dies off

Couple of scenarios that had played out well so far

1) Use BioBricks - I wake up in the morning and load 6~8 bricks and light with a few kindling. Good for 4~6 hours of useful heat, but unless I start adding small splits by 3hr mark, oven is not hot enough to reliably light new bricks / logs.
2) Use lot's of smaller woods - ideally 1.5in across, but this is a lot of work adding them in

I've found that when running fuller loads, once wood is burning, I can close off primary air control (no idea how good the oven control is) and the slow dancing flames will keep fire burning. However with smaller loads I seemingly have to keep primary on all the time and never really getting to secondary?

What are your tips / thoughts for keeping a smaller fire going when full loads are not needed?

 

[30WCF]

My house is 1100sq/ft I have an England’s Madison. It’s a beast of a stove for my house. If I load it up it will run me out. I burn 1-2 splits at a time most of the time and it stays nice. On warm days I burn one log every few hours. Just pull the coals up front and set it on top. It doesn’t seem to be a problem keeping it going. I do leave the air open. I probably have about 18’ of chimney and 3 year old wood stored in a shed.
I usually put 3 splits in before bed and can rekindle it in the morning.

 

[EatenByLimestone]

Physically let the ash build up and make the firebox smaller. This will hold the splits at the top of the firebox. This allows the box to stay hot and give you a clean burn with the least amount of wood in the box.

 

[zmender]

I've tried the building up ash strategy & pull coal forward - with the stove issue is the location of primary air makes it very easy to block off the air holes completely. After a day or two, air holes will be chocked off by been full of accidental ashes from pulling coal forward. At this point, I can't reliably maintain coal temperature and can't even relight. Coals start cooling down and fire dies off over next few hours.

Is this more of a symptom for some other issue with airflow in stove?

 

[gthomas785]

In this weather I just build a fire and let it go out. Then when the house gets down to 64-65 I'll make another fire.

 

[CincyBurner]

Experiment by mixing in longer coaling wood. Try osage.
Use shorter splits, or use chunks/ uglies - less wood but increase wood/wood interface for better combustion.

 

[EatenByLimestone]

You could try a row of firebrick E-W along the front and then stack the wood behind it. The brick should form a wall that'll keep the primaries open.

 

[firefighterjake]

When I am looking to just add a touch of heat in the shoulder seasons I tend to use my punks, chunks and uglies, not fill up the firebox to the max and let the fire burn itself out (and avoid reloading the stove).

However, if I am looking to add a touch of heat during this time of year -- say on a warmer than normal day, but still cool enough so that I know I will want to keep the fire burning vs. starting a new fire from scratch . . . I tend to use more softwood or soft hardwood along with a stick or two of hardwood. This way I get a nice, hot fire to take the chill off the place, heat up the stove and then let the radiating heat do its thing while the fire burns down to coals. When the temp starts to drop or I start to get chilled I'll toss some wood on to the coals and do it again . . . or go with the better stuff if I need a fire with "longer legs."

 

[FPX Dude]

WFH same here too so I keep coal bed going with 3 splits. 2 splits with ends propped up on andiron at a NNW/SSE angle, or use a small piece of kindling, to get air underneath, otherwise will smolder on the coal bed, then 1 on top of those. All running the same direction. Burn it good and hot, and gives me about 3-4 hours between cycles.

 

[Beer Belly]

I bet the stove is running full bore today .....Wife will pop open our slider when it gets to 80, then sits next to the stove in a sweatshirt

 

[clancey]

Good for her--us women like to be warm...clancey

 

[TradEddie]

Try run with the fan off. It may not be as inefficient as you think. My experience with an insert is that having the fan off increases the radiant heat to the surrounding walls, ceiling and floor. The air heats slower, but when the fire itself dies down, there is still a period of room warming as those surfaces release heat into the air. Additionally, or perhaps just as importantly, the firebox is hotter with the fan off, and therefore achieving and maintaining secondary burn with a smaller load is easier. I think that effect may compensate for the presumed inefficiency due to higher flue temperatures.

TE