I've got a Vigas 60.. the firebox is about 30 long and 25 or so wide. When I first started cutting... I was lax about length and mostly cut 18 to 20 inch stuff. I've since got into a good routine about getting 23 to 24 inch splits.
My wonder is this.. After I have a bed of coals going... What about loading the box full with the splits perpendicular to the nozzles. Call it parallel with the door. I seem to open the door anyway about 3/4 the way thru the burn and stir up / recover the nozzle... and reload.
I guess I'm just not seeing how everything is supposed to keep falling into the middle better if the stacks are parallel with the nozzle. With my 18" wood.. I seem to have funny piles with wood either touching the back or the front.. Lots of air space. If I turned it the other way, it could be stuffed full as the splits would just have a few inches on each side of them.
Probably doesn't matter a bit.. But I am enjoying burning. I've realized that if I crank the boiler up on the computer to +2... my marginal wood burns much better. Since I'm batch burning, and keeping my stack temps in the low 3s... Mark says i'm in the sweet spot for the boiler.
JP
My wonder is this.. After I have a bed of coals going... What about loading the box full with the splits perpendicular to the nozzles. Call it parallel with the door. I seem to open the door anyway about 3/4 the way thru the burn and stir up / recover the nozzle... and reload.
I guess I'm just not seeing how everything is supposed to keep falling into the middle better if the stacks are parallel with the nozzle. With my 18" wood.. I seem to have funny piles with wood either touching the back or the front.. Lots of air space. If I turned it the other way, it could be stuffed full as the splits would just have a few inches on each side of them.
Probably doesn't matter a bit.. But I am enjoying burning. I've realized that if I crank the boiler up on the computer to +2... my marginal wood burns much better. Since I'm batch burning, and keeping my stack temps in the low 3s... Mark says i'm in the sweet spot for the boiler.
JP