What Is In Your Stove Right Now?

[thewoodlands]

It's 26.4 out tonight, the basement is 79, the living area temps are 71 & 72 with the sleeper at 68.

I'm burning down two bigger beech splits with one smaller ash split, that should give us plenty of coals when I load up tonight.

 

[NickW]

First "real" load of the day went in at 5:30 after burning down coals with softwood and bark all day. 3 ash and 5 pine & aspen. Letting it rip pretty good getting the house back up to temperature. 29 outside; started with 66 downstairs, 65 LR, 63 bedroom. Downstairs is up to 73, LR 66, bedroom still 63.

 

[Caw]

70 inside, 37 outside. Perfect time for a small boxelder fire to carry me over until the overnight reload. Weenie coal bed I strung out as long as I could, threw two tiny sleepers down, and 3 splits of boxelder. I'll get a bit of warmth and string along the firebox until 11.

 

[Dieselhead]

30 overnight, may warm up a few degrees tomorrow. I put in 5 medium size splits consisting of oak, hickory and black birch. That will get me through til mid morning when I will focus on getting some coals burnt down til the evening load tomorrow. Mild temps the rest of the week with rain, back to low n slow black glass mode 😎

 

[fvhowler]

Nice cold spell in NC. Burning a lot of Chestnut Oak. Tonight back down in the 20s for lows with more oak and adding black cherry. Stove burns so good when it gets cold.

 

[NickW]

Overnight load in. 2 ash, 4 sugar maple and 1 honey locust.

 

[zmender]

Living room is at 65F, overnight in the 30s... *snicker* when 30s is a relief from cold.

Loaded 6 splits of locust, should be at least 60F in living room tomorrow morning...

 

[ozarkoak]

Whatever I threw in earlier didnt do much for keeping an ash bed. Had to add the bedtime fill earlier than I wanted, 6 smaller oak splits. I like to fill at 11-11:30. A warm stove and nice ash bed really help get my morning off to a quick start. Load fuel, feed and water everyone and come in and start shutting down air is how I like things to work out. Hate having to nurse a weak coal bed back to life first thing in the morning.

 

[thewoodlands]

It's 28.2 out at the moment, the basement started off at 75, the living area temps are 70 & 71 and the sleeper is still 68.

The overnight load is in the wood stove, three beech and six ash splits.

 

[bigealta]

33F outside. 64F inside.
Top down start with oak packed tight to the secondaries / baffle.
Took off like a rocket. This stack is really dry.
I'm much preferring cold Top Down starts vs reload on overnight coals. Just way faster and much cleaner burns in the f400.

 

[Caw]

A good top down does start faster but I find a good coal reload will burn much longer just because I can pack more wood in the box.

 

[mari]

Party pack of ponderosa, juniper, pinon, and oak splits.

 

[Wildflush]

30 outside and climbing to 40. Quick hot top down to warm things up. 600 STT and climbing. Mix of oak, maple and 3 small Redstone bricks.

 

[bigealta]

A good top down does start faster but I find a good coal reload will burn much longer just because I can pack more wood in the box.

I agree but as i'm mostly home i can reload anytime. And at these warmer outdoor temps shorter batch heating works better for me, especially with a large fireplace heat sink.. Hot fires that immediately burn clean work best for my house and neighborhood.

I also am still not happy with my full pack reload skills. I just can't get good starting clean burns fast enough. The tight vs loose packing has such a big inverse relationship in clean burning vs long lasting.

So i'm choosing hotter, shorter, cleaner, when its not to cold with maybe 1 or 2 reloads on the top down coals. Then let it die.
With the cold days last week i did pack tight and full as we needed it to run continuously. But those fires also were not as hot simply due to their structure and produced more smoke than that same amount of splits would have caused if they were all burned top down.
Of course only top down is not realistic unless in the 40's outside.

Maybe it boils down to just getting better skills at full packed reloads when it is cold enough outside to need them.

So now with the 30's outside i'm doing "hybrid top down" batches i guess i'd call it.

 

[NickW]

29 outside, house temps still decent. 3/4 load of ash and crap wood to maintain temperature inside. Weather advisory has been downgraded from 3-6" to 1-3" 😁.

 

[zmender]

33F outside. 64F inside.
Top down start with oak packed tight to the secondaries / baffle.
Took off like a rocket. This stack is really dry.
I'm much preferring cold Top Down starts vs reload on overnight coals. Just way faster and much cleaner burns in the f400.

I swear by top down starts, but in the mornings I really need to just reload by toss the wood in and start the chores.

 

[zmender]

Wow what a difference!. Ambient temperature was 30F this morning and living room was nice at 63F. Looks like an easy 3 load day.

 

[bigealta]

I swear by top down starts, but in the mornings I really need to just reload by toss the wood in and start the chores.

Completely agree, i'm lucky to have the time to do it.
But that said i don't usually have morning coals anyway in this weather and i can set up a top down and have it ripping with full secondary flames in 5-6 minutes from opening the door to put the 1st top down split in.

 

[ozarkoak]

I agree but as i'm mostly home i can reload anytime. And at these warmer outdoor temps shorter batch heating works better for me, especially with a large fireplace heat sink.. Hot fires that immediately burn clean work best for my house and neighborhood.

I also am still not happy with my full pack reload skills. I just can't get good starting clean burns fast enough. The tight vs loose packing has such a big inverse relationship in clean burning vs long lasting.

So i'm choosing hotter, shorter, cleaner, when its not to cold with maybe 1 or 2 reloads on the top down coals. Then let it die.
With the cold days last week i did pack tight and full as we needed it to run continuously. But those fires also were not as hot simply due to their structure and produced more smoke than that same amount of splits would have caused if they were all burned top down.
Of course only top down is not realistic unless in the 40's outside.

Maybe it boils down to just getting better skills at full packed reloads when it is cold enough outside to need them.

So now with the 30's outside i'm doing "hybrid top down" batches i guess i'd call it.

Now that its warmed up here, 37 right now, I'm back to criss crossing and smaller burns with smaller splits. Still gets the stove hot just does not burn nearly as long as a packed N/S load. Our stove is significantly oversized for warmer weather shoulder season burning. Which makes that part more difficult. But I will trade being a little to warm on occasion and having to start fires from a cold box for what the stove provides on the coldest nights.

 

[thewoodlands]

We had 27.3 this morning, the basement temp started out at 73, the living area temps were 68 & 69 with the sleeper holding at 68.

After burning down some coals this morning, the first load was cherry with yellow birch.

 

[Pinesmoke]

Now that its warmed up here, 37 right now, I'm back to criss crossing and smaller burns with smaller splits. Still gets the stove hot just does not burn nearly as long as a packed N/S load. Our stove is significantly oversized for warmer weather shoulder season burning. Which makes that part more difficult. But I will trade being a little to warm on occasion and having to start fires from a cold box for what the stove provides on the coldest nights.

I agree Ozark. For mid temp cruising I keep a 3-4 split fire going centered on the air. Small but hot.

ETA
I let it burn out last night. Gonna rain and be warm for the next days and I an going to tung oil the top on the island in the kitchen. Figured less dust is better than holding a low burn.

 

[ozarkoak]

I agree Ozark. For mid temp cruising I keep a 3-4 split fire going centered on the air. Small but hot.

ETA
I let it burn out last night. Gonna rain and be warm for the next days and I an going to tung oil the top on the island in the kitchen. Figured less dust is better than holding a low burn.

Stove was so cold this morning. Tiny coal bed, actually had to use the bellow to get it to fire up. Also took some time to get the box hot enough to fire the secondaries. Kind of a waste of wood in that aspect. But it is what it is.

 

[Sawset]

70 inside, 37 outside. Perfect time for a small boxelder fire to carry me over until the overnight reload. Weenie coal bed I strung out as long as I could, threw two tiny sleepers down, and 3 splits of boxelder. I'll get a bit of warmth and string along the firebox until 11.

Boxelder is about the only thing I just push aside in the weeds or burnpile. Maybe I should reconsider it. Sometimes there's a need for something with less output than all oak all the time.

 

[Pinesmoke]

Stove was so cold this morning. Tiny coal bed, actually had to use the bellow to get it to fire up. Also took some time to get the box hot enough to fire the secondaries. Kind of a waste of wood in that aspect. But it is what it is.

I have so much pine up here I don't see it as a waste just burning the debris but I here ya.

 

[Wildflush]

Mild today so reload only a few splits of mid BTU cherry on a small dry split oak to get it going. House nice at 71.

Not trying to get the STT 650 like I did this morning.