To Many coal

[DamienBricka]

Since starting to burn wood a month ago, the biggest challenge I have is to much coals. The only way I found to get rid of it is open the door 1 inch for a couple of hours that does not seem normal.
If you need additional information to help me resolve the situation feel free to ask.

Thanks guys for your Wisdom

 

[pen]

There are several situations that will often lead one to have excessive coals building up in the stove.

1. The wood is not well seasoned enough and takes so long to boil the moisture out of it that the stove doesn't provide enough heat to the space for it stay warm until it is time that the operator wants to reload it again.

2. The stove is not large enough for the area it is trying to heat. As such, the area cools down and the operator tries to load more wood in before the stove can go through it's full cycle.

3. The operator is trying to keep the house too warm for the size of the stove. Or, is trying to warm things up too quickly after the space has cooled too low.

pen

 

[Jotul118]

There are several situations that will often lead one to having excessive coals building up in the stove.

1. The wood is not well seasoned enough and takes so long to boil the moisture out of it that the stove doesn't provide enough heat to the space for it stay warm until it is time that the operator wants to reload it again.

2. The stove is not large enough for the area it is trying to heat. As such, the area cools down and the operator tries to load more wood in before the stove can go through it's full cycle.

3. The operator is trying to keep the house too warm for the size of the stove. Or, is trying to warm things up too quickly after the space has cooled too low.

pen

Very helpful information!

Happy I stopped by! Cheers!

 

[DamienBricka]

Hi Pen.
I know that number one does not apply my wood is below 20 percent humidity.

I am not sure I understand 2. and 3.

What do you mean the stove goes to the full cycle? My house is at 72 F all the time. It is even to hot sometimes.

So are you suggesting that when the flames go down I should wait until the coals burn down before I reload?

So maybe either of putting in 2 logs every two hours I should do it less often?

 

[pen]

So maybe either of putting in 2 logs every two hours I should do it less often?

Yes, exactly.

 

[oldspark]

The non cat EPA stoves are known for doing this, some conditions can make it worse (pens post)

 

[Sprinter]

What do you mean the stove goes to the full cycle? My house is at 72 F all the time. It is even to hot sometimes.

This suggests that maybe you're trying to burn too much wood at once sometimes. You don't always have to load the stove up if the conditions don't require it. I very often make small fires with small splits and just let it burn down. I especially like it when I can do that because a small fire with small splits gets going very quickly and heats up the secondaries fast. If I need to add to it, I just put a small, manageable load on. Of course, this method assumes that you can tend the fire as needed, but it makes managing the fire and stove temps easy.

 

[Woody Stover]

So maybe either of putting in 2 logs every two hours I should do it less often?

Yes

I have a cat stove, but what I usually do is to load it full. Then while the stove is still putting out decent heat (before a reload is needed,) I'll rake the coals up to the front and open up the air enough so that the coals burn down. I don't open the air all the way, or the heat goes up the flue. If I open the air just far enough, I can raise the stove top temp about 50* and room temp won't drop too much before the coals are burned down far enough to put another full load in. When it's really cold out, it's harder to manage the coals; I need more heat and don't have as much time to burn coals down before I reload.