Wood burning soooo fast

[vixster]

I was told it was a hard wood the wood was delivered. At the time it was heavy. It's been drying for 1.5 years. I was told oak or maple. Now it's not so heavy. The darn wood burns so fast. In 1 to 2 hours it goes from splits to coals. Either way, if I stuff the box or do twosies. I get great heat but goes so fast. Why do you think? Is this common? I wait till box get up to 500 degrees before shutting down.. Also, should I post here or in Wood Stove forum? Thanks in advance.

 

[DexterDay]

Wood loses weight when it's loses moisture.

The coaling stage is a long part of the burn. What stove top temps do you have after 6 hrs? Or do you let it go that long before reloading?

Also, reloading to quick causes a coal build up. Which means less wood per reload.

 

[vixster]

Wood loses weight when it's loses moisture.

The coaling stage is a long part of the burn. What stove top temps do you have after 6 hrs? Or do you let it go that long before reloading?

Also, reloading to quick causes a coal build up. Which means less wood per reload.

I don't really have coal build up. I would say after six hours, temps would be 100/250.. I know the wood is dry because it "flames on" so nicely. 500 deg I begin to shut down, in less then 20min I shut down almost all the way. Just a little bit open, just a hair. The wood seems to disintegrate so fast.

 

[jackatc1]

Oak or Maple, I would guess soft maple, yes it is considerd hard wood.

 

[DexterDay]

Oak or Maple, I would guess soft maple.

X2. Silver Maple..

Can you post a pic of the wood?

 

[Jon1270]

I was told it was a hard wood the wood was delivered.

"Hardwood" is typically used as a synonym for "deciduous," i.e. the tree has leaves and goes through a dormant period every year, as opposed to conifers which have needles and are green year-round, which are commonly called "softwoods." The wood from your average deciduous tree is harder than that from your average conifer, but the categories both cover a wide range of densities and there's a lot of overlap. Thus there are some "hardwoods" that are softer than some "softwoods."

Oak is predictably hard / dense / high-BTU firewood, but some maples can be quite soft and light.

 

[blades]

Yep hardwoods is an all inclusive definition for anything with green leaves vs needles. Some "hardwood" that start heavy end light when dry: Silver maple, willow,cottonwood, certain types of Elm, Box Elder, there are others, burn quick, low on the btu scale.

 

[onetracker]

i wonder if it's not basswood....

reason i say that is cuz i got a few rounds of it mixed in with a load years ago when i used to get wood delivered. in the round i thought it was oak or something...it was seriously heavy. but...turned out to be basswood..light as a feather when it dried.

 

[Ralphie Boy]

Sounds like soft maple to me but I'm not for sure cause I can't quite see it from here Got pictures Like the others say, the term 'hard wood' includes everything with leaves, even yellow poplar.

 

[WhitePine]

Like the others say, the term 'hard wood' includes everything with leaves, even yellow poplar.

Nice. That shuteye emoticon just warms the cockles of my heart, since I have almost a cord of the stuff drying. And it's your State Tree, too. For shame.

 

[Wood Duck]

Maybe it is the wood, but maybe you could do something differently to make the fire last longer. I get more than two hours from a load of wood even with a small stove and even when I am using lightweight woods. Try allowing less air into the stove after the wood is strongly burning. You want enough air to keep a good secondary burn going at the top of the firebox to maintain a clean and efficicent burn, but any more than that and you're sending more heat up the chimney than necessary.

I think a topic like this one could have gone either in the Wood Shed or in the Hearth Room forum. There is a lot of overlap between the forums.

 

[Ralphie Boy]

Nice. That shuteye emoticon just warms the cockles of my heart, since I have almost a cord of the stuff drying. And it's your State Tree, too. For shame. [/quote

I burnt about 3/4 of a cord earlier this season myself. I won't go more than a few short miles for it. It does season fast, burns fast, and leaves a lot of ash. I would still take it, if it was close and there wasn't a pile of oak, maple or hackberry sitting beside it. There is a lot of better shoulder season wood like silver and red maple available here without having to murder our state tree.

 

[jackatc1]

i wonder if it's not basswood....

reason i say that is cuz i got a few rounds of it mixed in with a load years ago when i used to get wood delivered. in the round i thought it was oak or something...it was seriously heavy. but...turned out to be basswood..light as a feather when it dried.

Many times basswood on first glance is mistaken for ash.

 

[WhitePine]

I burnt about 3/4 of a cord earlier this season myself. I won't go more than a few short miles for it. It does season fast, burns fast, and leaves a lot of ash. I would still take it, if it was close and there wasn't a pile of oak, maple or hackberry sitting beside it. There is a lot of better shoulder season wood like silver and red maple available here without having to murder our state tree.

LOL. Mine came down in a windstorm right across one of my roads. Figured I might as well burn it since I had to cut it up anyway. Same storm dropped a black cherry right on top of the poplar. Unfortunately, the cherry was a lot smaller than the poplar.

 

[Backwoods Savage]

I was told it was a hard wood the wood was delivered. At the time it was heavy. It's been drying for 1.5 years. I was told oak or maple. Now it's not so heavy. The darn wood burns so fast. In 1 to 2 hours it goes from splits to coals. Either way, if I stuff the box or do twosies. I get great heat but goes so fast. Why do you think? Is this common? I wait till box get up to 500 degrees before shutting down.. Also, should I post here or in Wood Stove forum? Thanks in advance.

I see no good reason to wait until the stove is to 500 degrees before dialing down the draft. This appears to be one of the big things with most folks and I do not understand it. By doing that I can see why your wood burns so fast. Start dialing down a lot sooner. You don't have to close the draft but for sure cut it to maybe 25% when the stove top gets to 250 or 300 maximum. Otherwise you are simply heating your chimney instead of keeping the heat in the stove and in the house.

 

[bogydave]

Must be good dry fire wood. That a real good thing.
Not sure on the controls your stove has.
Dennis has the right idea, turn it down a bit sooner.
Dry wood won't cause any problems burned lower & slower.

 

[BrotherBart]

I see no good reason to wait until the stove is to 500 degrees before dialing down the draft. This appears to be one of the big things with most folks and I do not understand it. By doing that I can see why your wood burns so fast. Start dialing down a lot sooner. You don't have to close the draft but for sure cut it to maybe 25% when the stove top gets to 250 or 300 maximum. Otherwise you are simply heating your chimney instead of keeping the heat in the stove and in the house.

Go try that in a non-cat Dennis and end up with a smokey mess of a burn. While you don't need to leave it wide open after getting to around 400 you sure need to get that firebox hot enough to support secondary combustion above the load. Just like you need the gases going up through that cat of yours to be around 500 degrees. Two different animals

 

[Paulywalnut]

I don't think any oak feels light. Even 4 years dry.
Like others have said, maple of some sort.

 

[MasterMech]

Go try that in a non-cat Dennis and end up with a smokey mess of a burn. While you don't need to leave it wide open after getting to around 400 you sure need to get that firebox hot enough to support secondary combustion above the load. Just like you need the gases going up through that cat of yours to be around 500 degrees. Two different animals

BB's right-on. I dial back to half or a little more once I have the firebox full of rolling flame (usually @ 250-300, depends on the wood) and really start pulling it in @ 400. If the wood is dry, you should be able to keep it over 400, with good secondary combustion, by feeding it a couple splits every so often.

If you need the long burn and won't be around to tend it, then load it up, get it up to temp (400+), close the air and fageddaboutit.

I don't really have coal build up.

That right there tells me it's probably not Oak. IME, shutting down at 500+ with a good load of Oak will result in a peak temp of 600+ and it will stay over 500 for quite some time until the wood is just coals and the secondaries die down.

 

[Backwoods Savage]

Go try that in a non-cat Dennis and end up with a smokey mess of a burn. While you don't need to leave it wide open after getting to around 400 you sure need to get that firebox hot enough to support secondary combustion above the load. Just like you need the gases going up through that cat of yours to be around 500 degrees. Two different animals

No problem as I've ran a non-cat stove.

 

[BrotherBart]

No problem as I've ran a non-cat stove.

Cool. Which one?

 

[Backwoods Savage]

Last one, other than our old stoves was a Heritage.

 

[BrotherBart]

Ah OK. You had said before you looked at the Heritage but "shied away from the Hearthstone line". Didn't know you had heated with one.

 

[rdust]

Ah OK. You had said before you looked at the Heritage but "shied away from the Hearthstone line". Didn't know you had heated with one.

I don't think any of us did!

 

[Backwoods Savage]

fwiw, it was not my stove but I helped someone out. I also showed a dealer how to run the stupid stove.... There were others too.