Uneven Burns

[jadm]

Sometimes, when air gets shut down all the way (I do this in stages), one side of load has the active flames/secondaries while the other side has nothing .

Temp. on the side generating the flames will be 600+ degrees while the other side reads in the 300* range.

Things just seem a bit uneven even though no smoke is coming out of chimney.

Is this just how it is sometimes or is there a trick to getting flames to even out the entire length of the load?

 

[Pagey]

My stove will do that from time to time. Could be that one side has larger splits, a bigger coal bed, relatively wetter wood, a tighter fit with the door gasket, length of a split mucking with the primary air/"doghouse" air, etc.

Other than the appearance of the fire, I see no operational differences.

 

[Backwoods Savage]

I get the same thing. On the stove top this does not matter but I'm sure if I took temperature readings on the bottom there would be some difference although not a great difference. We notice no difference in the house because of this. Sometimes this is also caused by the wood that you burn as many times there are various densities on the same tree.

 

[jadm]

Pagey - Thanks for the reply. What you said makes sense and now my brain can just take a rest and enjoy the variation of burns that each load produces. :coolsmile:

 

[LLigetfa]

If you know just how anal I am, you would understand why I take great care in selecting just the right shaped pieces to place at the front, on top of the coals so that they get an even distribution of air. I save the boomerangs for daytime burning. Actually, I lied. The real boomerangs are sitting in a heap where I do my wood processing because they don't meet quality control standards to make it onto my stack.

 

[fire_man]

If you know just how anal I am, you would understand why I take great care in selecting just the right shaped pieces to place at the front, on top of the coals so that they get an even distribution of air. I save the boomerangs for daytime burning. Actually, I lied. The real boomerangs are sitting in a heap where I do my wood processing because they don't meet quality control standards to make it onto my stack.

It's good to see I'm not the only one who uses a caliper to measure my splits and a laser-level on my coal bed. :cheese:

 

[Jags]

If you know just how anal I am, you would understand why I take great care in selecting just the right shaped pieces to place at the front, on top of the coals so that they get an even distribution of air. I save the boomerangs for daytime burning. Actually, I lied. The real boomerangs are sitting in a heap where I do my wood processing because they don't meet quality control standards to make it onto my stack.

It's good to see I'm not the only one who uses a caliper to measure my splits and a laser-level on my coal bed. :cheese:

Seek professional help. :gulp:

 

[wahoowad]

Sometimes, when air gets shut down all the way (I do this in stages), one side of load has the active flames/secondaries while the other side has nothing .

Temp. on the side generating the flames will be 600+ degrees while the other side reads in the 300* range.

Things just seem a bit uneven even though no smoke is coming out of chimney.

Is this just how it is sometimes or is there a trick to getting flames to even out the entire length of the load?

I sometimes see this too and have just learned to tolerate it. The way I see it, it just means I might get a little bit longer burn out of that load!

Not right now though. I have a perfect secondary burn of 2 year old Virginia wild cherry getting gassified!

 

[precaud]

E/W stoves are more prone to this, in my experience.

If the flames are always hotter on one side and "lean" toward the other, then I'd suspect an imbalance in the primary air supply. It doesn't take much of a deviation in the airwash gap across it's whole width to create this...