Tips on reloading on a coal bed?

[Sconnie Burner]

I'm getting the stove figured out as far as burn cycles and such. Got the top down fire figured out on start up, stove tends to creep up to 700-725 but not too worried as it takes the chill out of the house nicely.

On a reload I think I'm not getting the temps back up quick enough with plenty of smoke. I just load a smaller split or 2 (4") and then pile the box full with normal splits 5-6" sometimes 7" at their widest. Is it okay to have a fair amount of whiter smoke out the chimney for the first 5-10 mins and then it eventually tapers off in 15-20 mins. This is all with boxelder( 17%-20% on the mm). And from what I understand, oak will be slower and it is anywhere from 18-22% on the mm depending on split size.

METHOD I USE: I just slide the start up air back to start up the timer (Quadra-fire) and set the air back forward to near closed, Leave the door cracked until I see decent flames start up. And don't touch the primary (upper control) at all. Which is set at almost as closed as it will go for cruising. Trying to get this method fine tuned for middle of the night loads when the temps get cold calling for a reload so I dont have to baby sit the stove when I want to be sleeping, or maybe thats just not an option?.
Just wondering how much creosote is actually building up during the smoking period? And if there is a better method?

Thanks,
SB

 

[BobUrban]

Not sure how your stove works but any stove is going to have some smoke out the stack on starts and reloads. I don't think you can avoid it so the build up in you stack will happen but is minimized by the warm chimney(less likely to condense in the system) and dry wood.

I would just have a hard time trusting an "automatic" stove system with a new load of wood and me going back to bed so baby sitting would be necessary until I was sure it was under control.

 

[BradleyW]

Last year I had a Quad 3100 step-top (I think that is what is in your picture?), but no timer. I would never have to leave the door cracked. I kept both primary and secondary open to start, then closed primary off after about 15 minutes when the box was full of flames. I could shut the secondary down about 50% after another 15 minutes or so.
That said, I rarely got overnight burns. I thought the box was just a little too small. Got tired of getting up at 3:00am so now I have a Jotul F55 and am hoping for better sleep this winter.

 

[Swedishchef]

Personally, I load my stove before bed and reload in the morning. My stove top temperatures are around 200F when I get up (which is about 7-8 hours after I load). I as well don't want to load in the night and baby the fire.

My father in law wakes in the night, tosses as couple of pieces in his stove, turns it down and goes right back to bed. His chimney is up through the 2 floors of his house and he still has to sweep it 3 times a year. however, it is a smoke dragon that he has owned for 25 years or so.

Andrew