Wood stove lighting once again

[clancey]

My porch is freezing so I am going to light my wood stove again (J.A. Roby sirius). But i have some questions...I picked up a branch of honey locust that fell in my yard from my tree and it's dry and can I put in the whole branch as well as I split this other wood as kindling with a ax (lumber jack time)--can I put that in the middle of my wood stack in the stove and use that for kindling as well...For the wood stove load do I have too much and my walls of the inside part of the stove is black on the sides do I need to clean that because I rubbed my finger on it and its black ash. Just wondering before I light the stove and take some pictures..One more question--would this be considered a NS wood loading with my stove...? Pictures of what I am talking about here...Those walls inside looks like they are peeling or something--should I clean them or scrape them? clancey

 

[Woody5506]

Everything you are asking about is fine to do, the walls are fine as well. It will just burn off. Nothing wrong with burning small branches like that in a stove just make sure they actually are dry. Honey Locust for me isn't the best at starting up but a dead branch is likely easier than a full size split.

 

[clancey]

Thanks and here I go and I will light it up as well as try to time it to see how long this amount of wood burns without replacement and when my blower turns on as well...I might even heat up a pot of soup and have some irish coffee--yes---I will take some pictures of the fire too..clancey

 

[stoveliker]

Given the buds on the branch, I'm not convinced that it is dry ..

 

[clancey]

Well that's one thing to consider--buds...you would think they would make it burn better..thanks..I have some more pictures and my soup is not hot yet...clancey

 

[marty319]

Good job miss clancy

 

[clancey]

It's on its way and now I am waiting for the soup to become hot and the temperature is 300 with the (thingy) all closed and it was open to about 1/4 of the way...My parakeets in my back room are feeling some of the heat for they are chirping happily...When it gets real big and my blower goes on I will take another picture--thanks marty and everybody..clancey

 

[panderson03]

i feel warmer already!

 

[clancey]

Ha--yes nice and warm...It took awhile and after 1 hour and 15 minutes from starting my veg. soup is hot enough--yes I hungry..Last pictures I took was five minutes ago and I will share them with you. My blower keeps going on and off and this has happen twice..Wish you all were here for I have home made veg. soup and irish coffee...Yes...enjoying the stove and radio music...and my soup.. thanks panderson03 and everybody..clancey

 

[clancey]

Ah all my flame went out and just red coals and had to open up the door and move things around to get more flame...Is this normal...its burning now but the blower is off and has not turned on again and the temperature is still at 350 with not a lot of smoke coming out the chimney outside.. Now its burning nicely again...clancey

 

[clancey]

Everything burning nicely and temperature is maintaining at 350 and the blower turned on again..I think that I like putting in the firewood from left side to right side and putting the kindling under those logs to start from the bottom up instead of putting the splits from the back to the front and lighting from the top--it seems to stay lite longer the other way left to right...easier for me to prop up one of those splits for air from the bottom...Now is this way east to west? I think that I like that way better and my glass does not get as dirty if I keep it to the back..I read that this way the splits could roll and break the window and is this a concern...I love my stove...clancey

 

[clancey]

Well stove has been burning almost six hours and so far I have used in total five splits of kiln dried 16 inch wood and my heater is off and my kitchen is maintaining 70 degrees with the back of the house about 60 degrees and its about 35 degrees outside with no wind or snow.. The fire went out one time and I moved it around and it started again but had to put some more kindling underneath the left log to get it to burn and I added another split just now on top of the wood..The temperature is 325 and burning nicely with the blower on..The room temperature gauge has a lot to be desired and it is 40 years old on the electrical outlet and reads 70 degrees in the kitchen area...pictures coming clancey..

 

[Vg3200p]

Looks like a nice clean burning fire!

 

[clancey]

Thanks it's still going and I decided to make myself a nice salad to celebrate..lol Now all I have to enter is how long it keep burning and how long it kept my porch warm..(no heat in the porch) but lots of insulation in the floor, the walls and the ceiling but it has two doors and three windows so we will see..The last piece of wood is burning now and I am just going to leave it go out now as well as timing it to see how long it took..Thank you everybody for the support and help...This burning wood makes you hungry but warm...picture..clancey

 

[wjohn]

Everything burning nicely and temperature is maintaining at 350 and the blower turned on again..I think that I like putting in the firewood from left side to right side and putting the kindling under those logs to start from the bottom up instead of putting the splits from the back to the front and lighting from the top--it seems to stay lite longer the other way left to right...easier for me to prop up one of those splits for air from the bottom...Now is this way east to west? I think that I like that way better and my glass does not get as dirty if I keep it to the back..I read that this way the splits could roll and break the window and is this a concern...I love my stove...clancey

You do have to be more careful with E-W loading. As you read, it's possible to have something roll towards the front of the stove. N-S loading doesn't eliminate this of course but it makes it less likely as you will probably only have the risk of the burnt down end of a log being able to fall back against the door or through the opening while you're tending the fire.

However there are tons of stoves designed mostly for E-W loading. I'd say it's not something to lose sleep over but just be aware of it and don't precariously balance a log on top of a pyramid of other logs, as it could roll towards the door.

 

[clancey]

Thank you wonderful suggestions and you are right and I see the valuable reason of a NS loading which I think of back of the stove to front.. Last night the porch was still warm at 9pm and the coals were cooling off with a drizzle kind of weather outside--not much just damp and cold so I decided to light another fire..enjoyed myself and listened to music..But this time although the coals were still warm kind of smoldering I had the hardest time to get it to a fire and it was just putting out a lot of smoke in the firebox which I had open a little--smoke went up the flu and that's all it did--but finally it started to light the two new logs that I put in on top of the coals and had to use newspaper to actually try to start it but finally it did...why was this so hard and could it be the dampness coming down the flu or something and getting on the wood or something?? Just wondering and I took some pictures of this and they are coming...you cannot see the smoke that much coming out of the chimney but it was pouring out...and my stove window got really dirty as well--its like it was wet or something and maybe the wood had more moisture or something--it was a mixed variety with 17% moisture where the earlier wood was kilned dried 16 inch splits that registered 12%...But the thing about this I set the two splits of new wood on top of smoldering coals--warm and that's when all the smoke started to fill the stove...Only have a few pictures of this and you cannot make out the smoke too well--but it was pouring out and it was so cold outside as well with that dampness in the air..A bad experience...lol lol clancey

 

[FPX Dude]

Looks like your window is smoky and 350 is not hot enough, that's what I use to maintain a coal bed and keep the fan running with maybe 3 splits. From your pix, I would use that small E/W stick on the bottom first to help get air, then the others N/S, and pack them together, even add another couple or so. My cruising temp is 650-700, so don't be afraid of that. After you get everything going good, shut bypass and adjust air, you should not even see a whisp of smoke coming out the stack. Fan should stay on all the time, if doing on/off then it's telling you time to reload and get another hot fire going.

 

[clancey]

Nice information --thank you....I will try all of that next time that I do a fire and see if it makes a difference...I am also going to call the fan blower company and ask them for some kind of user information for I never got any and it does go on and off usually starting about temp. 325 so I will check that out further..Was going to light a fire tonight but changed my mind because of such high wind and fire troubles in the Boulder area--smoke coming here at times and the sky looks terrible. Put my birdies inside early just in case the wind gets stronger--terrible..thanks so much..clancey

 

[brenndatomu]

500* is probably about as cool as you can run a new load and expect a nice clean burn...once you get into the 6-700* range you will find out that lil stove can really put out some heat!

 

[clancey]

Thanks having trouble getting the fire up even to 400 but last summer--or fall--cannot remember the time but when my installer was here lighting a fire for the first time to show me how--I swear it was up to 800 and of course it was warm out and the sun heated the stack outside but that fire was going but the installer was here so I did not worry so much..Maybe it was the temperature outside or something.. Since I am a new burner--timid--I am afraid to put over three 16 inch splits in at the same time and some kindling--eventually will learn some of you people's techniques and get better at this and would like to raise the temperature to at least 500--550 so we will see..Everything did really well until the temperature dropped to freezing with that dampness in the air and could it be that some of the mist got into the stack and moisturized the wood because that second load really burn't like "wet wood or something" and I am beginning to think that I grabbed from the mixed wood that had a higher moisture level like maybe 17 or 18 and plot it on top of warm coals about 2 inches worth and not burning until I moved them around but the wood after the kindling wood would just not "catch" used those fire starter"s too about four of them plus a rolled up piece of newspaper that I threw on top afraid that it might "puff up" on me so I closed the door and left it open a little for air but no go it kept going out--what a night.. Finally it caught in the left corner and started to burn..When I looked at the stack outside earlier when it would not catch--it was all smoke out there--like a dragon...I need to educate myself more on this and get more confidence as well...Right now I have the fire box loaded for next time but I think I will rearrange it to go from the back to the front so that it does not roll and hurt the window and thinking of "learning to cut" shorter pieces of wood as well..So I have a lot on my plate and I really appreciate all of your suggestions and my next start will be better--I hope..I love my wood stove and I love to see the pretty dancing flames as well as it seems to warm most of my house if I leave the french doors open even my parakeets like it because from the back room they chirp--maybe they are smelling something--who knows...Happy New Year Everybody with Plenty of Wonderful Health...clancey

 

[moresnow]

Put a good load in that thing! Betting you will get the stove temps that you want. 3-4 splits randomly layed in the stove ain't doing it.

Your experiance with the couple splits layed on coals is perfectly normal. They will sit and smolder/smoke excessively until sufficient heat is created to ignite.

Great to see your enjoying this process! Your doing well. And safely.
Your salad pic made me head to the fridge . Scrounging.....

 

[clancey]

Thanks and what I am going to do is get my stove installer over here and have him load the stove after I talk him into reading this threads posting.. and I think that I can entice him into reading this stuff with an extra 5 dollars or something--maybe but I want him to read all the comments and the issue that I am having...and let him load the stove and it is this way that I will feel more secure...Yes of course i will have to pay him for the time and it adds up but I will wait until "our bad weather is over for this week is going to be rough in a lot of places wind and maybe tornadoes and snow in other places with rain and flooding...At least that's what the weather channel is saying today but like the weather it might change--keep up to date with the weather good people.....Tomorrow here in the city will get snow and it is too late for the fires that are here now--timing was crap...Thank you so much "moresnow" and what a name you have...hoping he loads it good while I get the fire extinguisher out "just in case"...This week I am going to learn how to use my saw to see if I can make the 16 inch split wood in smaller pieces...My installer sells Osborn stoves and wanted me to buy one but i wanted the cooking plates and like the looks of my wood stove more stream lined or something--lol...so we will see how this week goes..thanks..I am turning into a "lumberjack" ..Happy New Year...clancey

 

[JamesGuido]

I am turning into a "lumberjack" ..Happy New Year...clancey

enjoy reading your posts, miss clancey....
🎉Happy New Year 🎊 to you!

 

[DuaeGuttae]

Good morning, Mrs. Clancey. I, too, have enjoyed reading your posts and am glad that you are enjoying your stove.

I wanted to pop in to reiterate a couple things so that it can perhaps help you have some nice, warm and safe fires while you have your storm this weekend.

Don’t be afraid to put more than 3 splits of wood in your stove for a load, and when you reload, consider three splits packed closely together as the minimum. The wood heat radiates from one piece to another and helps the load burn well. Think of how mittens keep your fingers warmer than gloves because the heat from your being together helps. The two pieces you put on your coal bed smoldered probably because they weren’t heating each other.

I know that you’re afraid of fire, but running your stove too cool and having smoky fires is going to be more harmful in the long run. These stoves are made to be loaded full and burned hot, and that hot burn helps consume the particles in the smoke that could condense in your chimney and cause creosote buildup. It’s that creosote buildup that could lead to problems with a chimney fire later. A chimney fire is a more likely danger than something involving the box of your stove.

Wood at 17 or 18 percent moisture really should not have a problem burning. I think fundamentally you just need to get comfortable with putting more wood in the stove at a time so that you get it burning hotter. Then when most of the wood is consumed and you have a nice coal bed, reload with another larger batch of wood. Three splits needs to be your minimum. (The exception to that is when you’re trying to burn down your coal bed, but I think we can save that discussion for another time.)

I’d also recommend that you not make your splits smaller at this time. They look like a fine size for the stove, and you don’t want to have too much small wood. What am I missing about why you want to cut it?

 

[SpaceBus]

My wife was nervous about loading up our tiny Morso to the gills, but it actually burns better that way. Most stoves are designed to be loaded all the way to the top, not so much for small loads. I know this runs counter to your every instinct about making things last longer. Wood stoves are made for dumb men to load them full and burn them hot, you aren't going to have any problems if you are attentive.