4 hours?

[Yavne]

Hello guys,

We installed a wood stove (Drolet Escape 1800) a number of months ago. So this is our first season, we're learning how to use it, and this forum helps us a lot.
I liked "Starting a fire" thread a lot, it was very helpful for someone like me. I tried to do the same this morning, but it lasted 4 hours only

I started the fire around 9am, the temperature outside was 21F. All hardwood. Temperature at the room was 65F.
I put 8 pieces of wood, expected it to last at least 6 hours.

I reduced the air to about 50% after 15-20 minutes, and closed it completely after about another 15 minutes.
After three hours temperature in the room was 77F.
During these four hours the fire was pretty strong.

This is what was left after 4 hours later. The picture isn't very clear, but most of the wood was gone.

It seems to me that this amount of wood should last longer. Any suggestion?

Thank you!

 

[Woodcutter Tom]

I am interested in reading what people write about this. I have the smaller Escape 1500. 1.9cu ft firebox. It is new to me so I am still trying to figure it out.

Did you write down the stove top temperature and the flue temps during this burn? I would like to know them.

Going from 65 to 77 degrees is amazing to me. How big is the room and where are you measuring your room temperature.

 

[bholler]

Hello guys,

We installed a wood stove (Drolet Escape 1800) a number of months ago. So this is our first season, we're learning how to use it, and this forum helps us a lot.
I liked "Starting a fire" thread a lot, it was very helpful for someone like me. I tried to do the same this morning, but it lasted 4 hours only

I started the fire around 9am, the temperature outside was 21F. All hardwood. Temperature at the room was 65F.
I put 8 pieces of wood, expected it to last at least 6 hours.

View attachment 269560

I reduced the air to about 50% after 15-20 minutes, and closed it completely after about another 15 minutes.
After three hours temperature in the room was 77F.
During these four hours the fire was pretty strong.

This is what was left after 4 hours later. The picture isn't very clear, but most of the wood was gone.

View attachment 269564

It seems to me that this amount of wood should last longer. Any suggestion?

Thank you!

That looks like you probably have another 2 hours left in that load

 

[avsmusic1]

agree with bholler - part of it is definition of burn time you appear to have fuel left and i'm betting it was plenty hot still
Looks like they advertise an 8hr burn on that so if that ran another 2 you're at ~6 and didn't fully pack the firebox. The advertised burn times aren't reliable anyway and are more often more marketing than anything else

 

[Grizzerbear]

That seems about right to me for a roughly 3/4 full load. I have roughly the same size stove. Like b holler said those coals will keep that stove hot for a good long while.

 

[EatenByLimestone]

I don't know. I'd blame the dog. He's definitely up to something.

 

[begreen]

That's not too bad. You can try closing the air down a little quicker next time. Once the fire has started burning well I'd also have added a thick split in the hole where the top-down kindling was.

 

[EatenByLimestone]

I start turning the air down when it starts lapping at the baffle reliably and the second aries start to do their thing.

 

[Highbeam]

Most of the fuel is still in the box. Top down fire means there never was much wood above the centerline. I would be thrilled to have that much fuel left after 4 hours in my noncat.

 

[Riteway]

I have the insert version of that stove...your results are similar to what I experience. Looks like those coals should get you at least an hour or two before you'd need to reload.

 

[BrianVA]

I agree with comments above, there looks to be at least 2 more hours of good quality heat left in that firebox. Meaning you could get a 6 hour burn on a cold start. I'd say that's pretty good. So you might try waiting longer to reload.

When you do reload, rake all of the hot coals to the front, and use your bigger splits. You should get an even longer burn time on the reload.

 

[Yavne]

That looks like you probably have another 2 hours left in that load

Thank you guys! At what point should I add more wood? I guess if I was adding another batch after six hours, I was starting pretty much from the beginning, no?

 

[avsmusic1]

Thank you guys! At what point should I add more wood? I guess if I was adding another batch after six hours, I was starting pretty much from the beginning, no?

My bet would be that if you reloaded at 6hrs it would ignite on it's own from the embers. Everything should still be nice and warm and you won't need to do much other than load it up. That's what I'd be shooting for

 

[Grizzerbear]

If the house is still warm I would let it go until you need more heat. When the house temp is down where you feel you need more heat is when I would reload regardless of whether it's on a load of coals or a cold start. Just know if you reload on a big load of coals your wood will take off extremely fast if it is seasoned properly so be prepared to adjust the air intake accordingly.

Edit: Do you have a flue thermometer and/or stove top thermometer?

 

[jatoxico]

At what point should I add more wood?

Add more wood when you need more heat. A restart on a stove that was recently at full temp will get back to temp quicker and the fire will catch faster too so be ready to shut air sooner. Depending on the amount of coals you may not need to open air full at all.

If you need to add wood over a big load of coals do it but you may find you have excessive coals after a few loads. In that case throw some small sticks/kindling on the coals to burn them down before next full load. A few small sticks on a coal bed throws pretty good heat for a short time.

 

[Yavne]

If the house is still warm I would let it go until you need more heat. When the house temp is down where you feel you need more heat is when I would reload regardless of whether it's on a load of coals or a cold start. Just know if you reload on a big load of coals your wood will take off extremely fast if it is seasoned properly so be prepared to adjust the air intake accordingly.

Edit: Do you have a flue thermometer and/or stove top thermometer?

I have magnetic thermometer, but as far as I remember it's for single sided pipe Yesterday after first few hours it was showing about 400F, and about 600F during the second batch (air completely closed). Isn't it too high?

I put it on the bottom of the pipe. Is there better way to see the temperature without drilling the pipe?

Thank you!

 

[BigJ273]

Looks pretty normal to me

 

[Mech e]

I have the same stove. Put that thermometer centered on the top surface of the stove, an inch or so in front of the air diverter duct. We start with a loaded up stove in the morning (burning almond) and after about 6 hours or so the thermometer will read 350-400. We toss in a large split every 3-4 hours after that and the stove will maintain a clean burn with a STT of 400 or so. This maintains our living area temp at a nice even 74-75 F. At around 10PM I will toss in another large split and when I get up at 6AM I can rake the coals and easily get a nice fire going again with a fully loaded stove.

 

[bholler]

I have magnetic thermometer, but as far as I remember it's for single sided pipe Yesterday after first few hours it was showing about 400F, and about 600F during the second batch (air completely closed). Isn't it too high?

I put it on the bottom of the pipe. Is there better way to see the temperature without drilling the pipe?

View attachment 269614

Thank you!

Yes that is way way way to high for a magnetic thermometer on double wall pipe.

 

[Grizzerbear]

I have magnetic thermometer, but as far as I remember it's for single sided pipe Yesterday after first few hours it was showing about 400F, and about 600F during the second batch (air completely closed). Isn't it too high?

I put it on the bottom of the pipe. Is there better way to see the temperature without drilling the pipe?

View attachment 269614

Thank you!

Magnetic thermos aren't made for accurate double wall reading period. I don't know what your thermo readings would equate to for actual temps inside the stovepipe but they have to be way too hot. I would drill the hole and put a probe thermo in their for a actual close estimate or a auber for exact readings. I can understand drilling a hole in a perfect pipe doesn't seem logical but It's really not that big of a deal as it may seem and it's safe if that is your concern.