Is it best to let a load of wood burn down to coals and then refill the whole firebox or to always have pieces in different stages of combustion....which means opening the door often.....I have a small firebox to boot!
Wood reloading technique
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I suppose it's dependent upon the stove and wood that you're burning... but for the most part it's better to go for the load it up and get a quality burn out of it, down to coals mostly. Don't want it to get too cool in the firebox before you reload though. Opening and closing the door is losing heat so it's not ideal...
But ... you being in Seattle you may not need the flat out heat many of us are looking for. Really boils down to how much heat you need and the stove and wood you're working with. The real goal is to burn it properly, meaning very little smoke out the stack... loading more often means keeping the air flowing on the fire a bit more, thus going through a bit more wood.
But ... you being in Seattle you may not need the flat out heat many of us are looking for. Really boils down to how much heat you need and the stove and wood you're working with. The real goal is to burn it properly, meaning very little smoke out the stack... loading more often means keeping the air flowing on the fire a bit more, thus going through a bit more wood.
It depends! :lol:
I like to reload as soon as the wood starts to break into coals and a new log will compress them. But I'm not above reloading earlier or later. It depends on the temp outside and the temp inside more than anything. You will get a feel for it.
Matt
I like to reload as soon as the wood starts to break into coals and a new log will compress them. But I'm not above reloading earlier or later. It depends on the temp outside and the temp inside more than anything. You will get a feel for it.
Matt
clearblue16 said:
Yep.
There ain't no "wrong" way. Just different methods. If I am around, I have a tendency to "play" with the stove. If I'm not, load er up and tune it down.
I like to burn the coals down a ways before reloading if possible. About the time the logs are all red but not yet broken apart we'll turn the draft open about half way. When they have all broken up then we'll open full. Before opening fully though we'll rake through the coals and push most towards the front. We'll again push towards the front after the draft has been open fully for a while.
The next time we open the door we'll either empty ashes or fill with wood. But we do not always fill the firebox completely. This time of year for sure we won't put in more than 3 pieces of wood. Most of that is junk wood during the day. The good wood gets burned at night.
The next time we open the door we'll either empty ashes or fill with wood. But we do not always fill the firebox completely. This time of year for sure we won't put in more than 3 pieces of wood. Most of that is junk wood during the day. The good wood gets burned at night.
I am around most of the day and, like others have said, much depends on temps. inside and outside and how busy I am. If it is cold I go for filling the firebox a full as possible and letting it go for however long it takes for the coaling stage to be well underway. I will rake coals forward and give it a bit more air depending on room temp. and let them continue to burn down.
When room temp. drops below my comfort level I will rake what is left of the coals forward and load up again. When reloading I find start up is a lot easier if insert top temp. is in the mid 300's so that is a factor too when reloading....
If I am going to go out I will usually wait to reload until I get home which sometimes means that the temp. drops below the 300* level...oh well.
Another thing I do at times if I have a lot of coals and room temp. is ok but I know that I do want to reload later with a big load I just pile all the coals up front and throw on a piece of pine to keep temps. up and to help burn the coals down so that I have room for a big load when I am ready to do that.
Since I have no absolute formula I try to make sure I have more wood than I think I will need for the season seasoned so I don't worry too much about how much I am burning to keep warm. THis year we were plenty warm and had lots of wood left over which was a bonus.
All this can be summed up by saying - I pretty much play it by ear. :roll:
When room temp. drops below my comfort level I will rake what is left of the coals forward and load up again. When reloading I find start up is a lot easier if insert top temp. is in the mid 300's so that is a factor too when reloading....
If I am going to go out I will usually wait to reload until I get home which sometimes means that the temp. drops below the 300* level...oh well.
Another thing I do at times if I have a lot of coals and room temp. is ok but I know that I do want to reload later with a big load I just pile all the coals up front and throw on a piece of pine to keep temps. up and to help burn the coals down so that I have room for a big load when I am ready to do that.
Since I have no absolute formula I try to make sure I have more wood than I think I will need for the season seasoned so I don't worry too much about how much I am burning to keep warm. THis year we were plenty warm and had lots of wood left over which was a bonus.
All this can be summed up by saying - I pretty much play it by ear. :roll:
I (almost) never add less than three new splits of wood. If you can't put three splits on the fire then you either didn't let the previous load burn down enough or you don't really need to be burning. During most of the heating season I will burn full loads and wait for each load to burn down. The glide time between when the firewood is reduced to coals and when you can't restart a fire is determined by outside temp and heat demand.
Yowsa! Could you elaborate on this? That is, how does adding wood in the middle of a fire "disrupt the stochiometric balance"? What happens if the stochiometric balance is disrupted? What is the stochiometric balance?CZARCAR said:
Thanks,
Dan
ControlFreak said:
Allow me to try:
The little fritter thing connected to the fluffy bunny that has wood getz siteable. changing everything and jamming its wood into the coalz bed. Methinx.
Whoops, too many capitol letters.
I only burn wood when I am around the house and awake (except the small residual fire that burns down overnight - mostly coals). I like to monitor the temps in the pipe and stove top and add wood as needed to keep it in the temp range I think produces optimal heat and less creosote. The problem with that is coal production, but I find that they burn down quickly when I leave the air intake wide open for awhile before adding more wood. I have to say that, although the coals produce less stove top and pipe temps, they sure are HOT!. I have trouble getting close enough to stir them up. I keep a layer of ash in the stove to help prevent excessive heat exposure to the stove bottom, but I wonder how hot it must get and if it isn't good to have a deep coal bed.
my method, which I learned here.. once the fire is going strong, 3 splits at a time, 2 bottom, one in the middle of those 2 on top. and let them burn. once it's down to coals or just chunks, I open the air for 10 minutes, then add 3 more. I try to avoid putting more wood on when there's still wood burning. This works best for us.
clearblue16 said:
Sometimes I feel like a nut and sometimes I don't . . . well what I mean to say is that generally I let the wood burn down to coals before restoking the fire, but occasionally when I'm looking to keep the heat output high, I'm in a rush to get to work or want to go to bed, etc. I add wood while the fire is still going . . . but I always stay around for 10-15 minutes afterwards to make sure nothing hinky happens temperature-wise with the addition of more fuel while the fire is already going at a good clip.
Quite frankly czarczar, I don't care what your weather in ME is like. The original poster is from Seattle and so am I, we burn at least 6 months per year and I even nearly went 9 months last year. Let's keep this relevant and in relatively complete sentences.
ControlFreak said:
Lol my thoughts exactly... Sounds a bit like messing up the tuning of your flux capacitors, or wearing out your Jupiter rings.
CZARCAR said:
CZAR,
I do want to thank you for this discussion. From Wikipedia: "Stoichiometry is often used to balance chemical equations." So what you're saying is that if you have a full load fire going, and then you add wood in the middle of that fire, that you run the risk of disrupting the stochiometric balance in the fire. What you're saying is that your fire could go nuclear and start splitting atoms into other elements. Sounds like a good way to get some extra heat! I'm going to have to track down where to find this video. I don't want to blow up the whole town.
Seriously now, many times I have added wood in the middle of a fire and experienced the temporary disruption of secondary burn due to the load that the fresh wood puts on it. When it comes right down to it, it depends upon whether you're willing to put up with a little smoke for a few minutes to gain an extension to your deadline for when you need to reload, or to keep the stove running at peak heat output for a bit longer.
Dan
CZARCAR said:
The overhead tubes have only a small part in providing oxygen for the wood load underneath. The primary air is exactly that "PRIMARY" air. This can be adjusted to render the rest of the argument moot.
CZARCAR said:
I don't loose secondary burn when I reload a couple of splits on an established fire. So maybe that means that your "cold" air isn't that cold and the temp difference won't actually shut down the stochiometric balance. So ya might want to consider that there is more than one variable that could yield a different outcome than stating a "possible" outcome or result as a scientific "constant".
CZARCAR said:
The secondary air is supplied by the pipes that are the pivot points for tilting the burn tubes out of the way. I personally don't use the top load feature.
CZARCAR said:
Yep, now of course, this is during relatively hard firing. If I allow it to get almost to the coal stage and the stove top is below ~550, it will loose secondary for a short time, but will pick it back up in pretty short order.
CZARCAR said:
I don't believe so, at least not to any great degree. I would say that the primary air is far more important in cranking it back up, hence the theory "open primary air" on reloads. If the secondary air "sinking" to the fuel load would do this adequately, there would be no reason for the readjustment of the primary. IF secondary air had that much volume, it would produce a stove that is uncontrollable.
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