What Is In Your Stove Right Now?

[moor]

High around 40 today and nonstop rain. Been like this for a couple days. I cut a lot of dead standing ash so Im burning through the punky stuff from last year before it gets too cold. Once it gets cold Ive got a lot of sugar maple on deck.

 

[zmender]

Half load of ash shorts, STT cruising at solid 450F for past hour.

I'll need to test moisture on a few more pieces of the ash tomorrow... these splits are catching very quickly and burning very hot for 22% MC.

 

[thewoodlands]

The basement temp was 75 with the temps up here between 70 & 72 before the overnight load which is four splits of ash and four of pine. I'll shut the fan off before I call it a night.

The outside temp tonight is 39.4.

 

[Wisco Shepherd]

Had my first stove fire ever with my Kuma, started small to cure paint (boy that stunk for an hour) then some bigger pine splits. I'm hooked.

 

[zmender]

Had some coals left over this morning... tossed in some kindling to coax some heat back into the pile of tired coals and reloaded ash uglies on top. This will be plenty for today's weather (58F and rain), next reload will probably be early evening.

 

[Gearhead660]

Had a nice frost this morning. Insert chewing on some locust circa 2018 with a dash of elm.

 

[Garbanzo62]

Burning some pine at the moment. Will mix in some ash later in the evening and for overnight.

 

[thewoodlands]

We had an outside temp of 35.4 this morning, before the first fire the basement temp was 71 (wood stove location) with the temps up here 69 & 70.

This morning I loaded up the stove with pine while having our second cup of coffee. When I came in from working outside, the stove received another load of pine, the house temps at the moment are 71 to 73 with the basement temp at 79 the last I looked.

 

[zmender]

Heading to 30s tonight. Living room is still 72F but want to get ahead of the cold. Loaded with about 1/2 - 2/3 load with ash shorts and uglies.

One thing I need to be careful is that when it's cold out, draft is much stronger -> I need to close more primary for same BTU output.

 

[Ashful]

Initial draft is going to vary a lot with outside temperature. But once warmed, I'd be real surprised if you're seeing much difference in draft due to outside temperature variation. Your flue gasses are likely running 400-800F for a non-cat, a bit lower for a cat. What's a 15-30F shift in outside weather, relative to that?

I've been running two stoves for 12 years, and while I fight low draft on cold chimneys, I've never noticed any difference in net burn time for a given setting.

 

[Wildflush]

Was 38 outside at 6 am. Upstairs temp 67 downstairs 65. Did a half load of oak, maple and some cut offs to pack the sides. STT 575 got house to 71. Will let coals burn down. Collected some very large pinecones on my property. Only used one with some sticks top down and it took off quickly. Love pinecones as a fire starter. Heading to high 40’s so thinking of switching to heat pump later. Having a tight house it does not take much to get too hot inside.

 

[Garbanzo62]

High around 40 today and nonstop rain. Been like this for a couple days. I cut a lot of dead standing ash so Im burning through the punky stuff from last year before it gets too cold. Once it gets cold Ive got a lot of sugar maple on deck.

After seeing you post, I checked the bin holding all of the punky chunks that came off of splitting my dead standing ash. The handful I checked (biggest most solid pieces) were 17 % or less. Burning them during the day mixed in with pine logs

 

[zmender]

Initial draft is going to vary a lot with outside temperature. But once warmed, I'd be real surprised if you're seeing much difference in draft due to outside temperature variation. Your flue gasses are likely running 400-800F for a non-cat, a bit lower for a cat. What's a 15-30F shift in outside weather, relative to that?

I've been running two stoves for 12 years, and while I fight low draft on cold chimneys, I've never noticed any difference in net burn time for a given setting.

I used this calculator: https://www.engineeringtoolbox.com/natural-draught-ventilation-d_122.html#:~:text=The temperature difference between the,the outside and inside air.

The indoor / outdoor pressure differential changes from 3.0e-4 psi to 9.3e-4 psi when outdoor temp is reduced from 15C to 5C, 3x increase. Now this obviously doesn't account for the flue temperature, which I don't know how to incorporate.

 

[zmender]

High will in the mid 50s today, and it's sunny. Half load of ash + 2 biobricks to chase the morning chill. In the afternoon I'll either burn down the coals or keep a very small decorative fire going.

 

[ozarkoak]

We fight "inversion" here several times a year. If its bad enough our house can fill with smoke until the stack gets hot. That is easily my largest frustration with wood burning. Usually happens in early spring or fall.

 

[Wildflush]

If it is a very cold morning I can feel the cold air inside the top of my firebox. I need to reverse draft with a hairdryer for two minutes less I will get smoke spillage. I also crack a window next to the stove. Learned this the hard way last season.

 

[ozarkoak]

Normally our inversion days are high 30's to mid 40's, rain or mist, so high humidity. On the coldest days we have zero issue with draft but on inversion days the stack needs to get really hot to get a draft started. Last year it only happened twice and only one time bad. Starting top down fires seems to be a huge help in getting the stack warmed up quickly.

 

[Wildflush]

Normally our inversion days are high 30's to mid 40's, rain or mist, so high humidity. On the coldest days we have zero issue with draft but on inversion days the stack needs to get really hot to get a draft started. Last year it only happened twice and only one time bad. Starting top down fires seems to be a huge help in getting the stack warmed up quickly.

Top down fires warm the flue quickly helping to establish draft.

 

[Garbanzo62]

When I first got my insert I followed the MFG instructions (bottom up fire). Then I saw a post on here about top down starts. Since then it has been Top Down all the way. Significantly Less Smoke in the bos. The only thing that qualifies as a bottom up fire is if you count the reloads.

 

[Ashful]

I used this calculator: https://www.engineeringtoolbox.com/natural-draught-ventilation-d_122.html#:~:text=The temperature difference between the,the outside and inside air.

The indoor / outdoor pressure differential changes from 3.0e-4 psi to 9.3e-4 psi when outdoor temp is reduced from 15C to 5C, 3x increase. Now this obviously doesn't account for the flue temperature, which I don't know how to incorporate.

View attachment 317748

Again, that only indicates initial (and static!) draft, prior to heating the flue. It doesn't give any indication of what's happening under dynamic conditions (moving air) in a warmed chimney. I actually have a manometer on my chimney, and watch it rise accordingly, with both temperature and air control setting.

Using that calculator, raise indoor temperature to 300C, and then vary outside by 10C. You will find that draft will vary only ~7% for this 10C (~18F) change in temperature. This doesn't require much of a change in stove settings, for a given burn time target.

The 3 to 9 E-4 psi you're calling out is in the neighborhood of 0.01"WC. That's just barely enough to get a fire going, but not enough to maintain reburn when turning down for a long burn. The warming of the chimney increases draft, which is key to the whole operating working properly.

 

[Diabel]

Had a nice frost this morning. Insert chewing on some locust circa 2018 with a dash of elm.
View attachment 317709

Gates of hell😳😳😳😳😳

 

[thewoodlands]

We had 25.2 this morning, the temps up here were between 66 & 69 with the basement at 70. The temps up here tonight are between 70 & 72.

 

[Wildflush]

38 outside now. Relit stove full with maple, red oak splits, cherry and oak shorts and some dead ash rounds from a limb. Stove cruising at 625 STT with good secondaries. Going to 35 tonight so getting the house warm for the night.

 

[NickW]

Couple inches of snow on the ground. Burning down a half load of shoulder season wood from this afternoon to prepare for the overnight load. Going down to 17F tonight. First full load of hardwood last night, will pack it tonight.

Comment for @zmender... 22% ash will usually burn decently and white ash is really a good wood, definitely better than black. Don't try burning 22% oak.

 

[zmender]

Again, that only indicates initial (and static!) draft, prior to heating the flue. It doesn't give any indication of what's happening under dynamic conditions (moving air) in a warmed chimney. I actually have a manometer on my chimney, and watch it rise accordingly, with both temperature and air control setting.

Using that calculator, raise indoor temperature to 300C, and then vary outside by 10C. You will find that draft will vary only ~7% for this 10C (~18F) change in temperature. This doesn't require much of a change in stove settings, for a given burn time target.

The 3 to 9 E-4 psi you're calling out is in the neighborhood of 0.01"WC. That's just barely enough to get a fire going, but not enough to maintain reburn when turning down for a long burn. The warming of the chimney increases draft, which is key to the whole operating working properly.

Insightful ^^

My previous assumption was 20C indoor temperature. However, your assumption of 300C makes more logical sense - since it's the interior temperature of a stove.