Wood insert and heat spike?

[johnnywarm]

I know when a stand alone wood stove is given its amount of wood at night to last till the next morning, theres alot of heat for a little while then it goes down. My question is---if you fill a wood Insert to run for 10 Hours(its max) will you have the heat spike as much as a stand alone wood Stove?


The one thing i love about my pellet stove is the constant heat instead of high heat then low heat.
If i get the wood insert i would look into the bio-bricks for fuel.

John

 

[Corey]

I suspect you would have slightly more spike with a stove as it is more 'exposed' to the room and can put a little more heat out, as opposed to an insert which does direct some of its heat into the fireplace. Assuming everything else was equal combustion air control, blowers, size, etc. You can always alter the balance in one way or the other - I'm surprised none of the soapstone crowd has chimed in to talk about 'even heat'.

The spike can be minimized by carefully selecting the wood - use the densest, largest pieces you can fit in the stove - a slightly higher moisture content may help too. And also allow good air movement throughout the house to minimize temp extremes in any one room. Of course, the converse is also true - if you need quick heat to warm up the house, get some thin dry splits of pine or fir and limit the airflow to the single room that the stove/insert is in - you'll be cranking in no time.

 

[begreen]

Yes, a wood insert burns with a similar output curve to a free standing stove. Some stoves, like soapstone have a bit flatter curve, that is they warm up slower and release heat more gradually even after the fire has died down.

A pellet stove is more like a wood furnace. When switched on, it can be at full output in minutes and stays at that output until turned down or off.

edit: simul posted with Corey. He is correct. The bump, and descent of heat output can be evened out by loading larger splits at night. And some stoves by their design seem to do a better job with this issue. ie: PE Pacific and Summit

 

[johnnywarm]

Those are two GREAT answers. thank you. How about using Bio-bricks?? do you think they would burn slower since there compressed??

John

 

[BioPellet]

I know when a stand alone wood stove is given its amount of wood at night to last till the next morning, theres alot of heat for a little while then it goes down. My question is---if you fill a wood Insert to run for 10 Hours(its max) will you have the heat spike as much as a stand alone wood Stove?


The one thing i love about my pellet stove is the constant heat instead of high heat then low heat.
If i get the wood insert i would look into the bio-bricks for fuel.

John

I burn both types of stoves: a Vermont Castings Encore and a Regency 2400. The VC has a rear combustion chamber. The gases pass through the carbon of the charcoal at the back/bottom of the Pire and are further combusted in the rear refractory. The Regency uses the tubes at the top of the firebox to inject heated secondary air which ignites the woodgases and burns them like propane or NG.

They are both great with BioBricks(tm)

The VC will have a flat, high heat curve (btw the heat of the stove is proportional to the heat transfered to the room). The Regency will have a longer burn, with more energy delivered early on (assuming in both cases no adjustment is made to the air feed).

The Regency gives off more heat while the volitiles in the wood are released, and the fuel is nearer to the tubes, then less heat but over a longer period while the carbon in the charcoal is exhausted.

The VC is less selective on how it burns, since the carbon is combusted in the refractory, but a flatter curve means a shorter burn - you are not being cheated - its just how the energy is packed together.

 

[johnnywarm]

I burn both types of stoves: a Vermont Castings Encore and a Regency 2400. The VC has a rear combustion chamber. The gases pass through the carbon of the charcoal at the back/bottom of the Pire and are further combusted in the rear refractory. The Regency uses the tubes at the top of the firebox to inject heated secondary air which ignites the woodgases and burns them like propane or NG.

They are both great with BioBricks(tm)

The VC will have a flat, high heat curve (btw the heat of the stove is proportional to the heat transfered to the room). The Regency will have a longer burn, with more energy delivered early on (assuming in both cases no adjustment is made to the air feed).

The Regency gives off more heat while the volitiles in the wood are released, and the fuel is nearer to the tubes, then less heat but over a longer period while the carbon in the charcoal is exhausted.

The VC is less selective on how it burns, since the carbon is combusted in the refractory, but a flatter curve means a shorter burn - you are not being cheated - its just how the energy is packed together.[/quote]


Thank you. Its alot to understand about the two different types of stoves. I will look it up.

Are you in Berlin Ct?

 

[johnnywarm]

I burn both types of stoves: a Vermont Castings Encore quote]

Is this a catalytic stove? can an insert be Catalytic??

John

 

[johnnywarm]

I burn both types of stoves: a Vermont Castings Encore and a Regency 2400. .[/quote]


Does the regency 2400 have a blower built into it

John

 

[Gooserider]

I burn both types of stoves: a Vermont Castings Encore quote]

Is this a catalytic stove? can an insert be Catalytic??

John

VC can be confusing as many of their stoves come in both a Catalytic and a Non-Cat version, and unless the poster says, you can't tell which from just the model name. Currently it is one or the other, though when Elk and I made our trip to VC a while back they dropped some very vague hints about a combined technology stove, though they said it was nowhere close to production, in part because of production costs.

I'm not sure which stove BP has, I also wish he would say.

While I haven't tried them, I've seen reports that BioPellets burn well in most stoves, though some manufacturers consider them "non-approved" fuels. However they do have a higher energy density than regular wood, so you need to be careful about how many you put in the stove at a time, and how they are loaded (they need to be stacked tightly like bricks, not just tossed in randomly) or you have a serious risk of runaway and / or overfiring.


This is well described on the BioPellet website, and is not intended as any kind of negative comment on the product, just a cautionary note to use it properly.

Gooserider

 

[johnnywarm]

I burn both types of stoves: a Vermont Castings Encore quote]

Is this a catalytic stove? can an insert be Catalytic??

John

VC can be confusing as many of their stoves come in both a Catalytic and a Non-Cat version, and unless the poster says, you can't tell which from just the model name. Currently it is one or the other, though when Elk and I made our trip to VC a while back they dropped some very vague hints about a combined technology stove, though they said it was nowhere close to production, in part because of production costs.

I'm not sure which stove BP has, I also wish he would say.

While I haven't tried them, I've seen reports that BioPellet burn well in most stoves, though some manufacturers consider them "non-approved" fuels. However they do have a higher energy density than regular wood, so you need to be careful about how many you put in the stove at a time, and how they are loaded (they need to be stacked tightly like bricks, not just tossed in randomly) or you have a serious risk of runaway and / or overfiring.


This is well described on the BioPellet website, and is not intended as any kind of negative comment on the product, just a cautionary note to use it properly.

Gooserider

Thank you gooserider very informative.

John