do you load to max every time?

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thanks. so one thing im having a hard time on is... im still getting blasted out of the house with the heat. is part of owning a woodstove knowing that your house is going to get super hot and you just have to deal with it?

the house last night was 81F. the spouse was.. lets just say.. noooot soooo happy. the box was loaded full for a long burn, i cut back the air, got secondary burns... but how do you live in your house without ridiculous temperatures? if i do smaller fires , that makes more coals, and also... more creosote?? maybe we have too big of a stove? Jotel Carabasset. but my house is over 2200sqft. !!!

It should be relatively easy to figure out a system that works for you. It's really pretty simple in my opinion, if the house is too hot. don't burn as much wood. If the house is comfortable wait until almost all the coals are gone before putting any more wood in. That way the house starts cooling off before you get the next big pulse of heat from a fresh reload.
 
thanks. so one thing im having a hard time on is... im still getting blasted out of the house with the heat. is part of owning a woodstove knowing that your house is going to get super hot and you just have to deal with it?

the house last night was 81F. the spouse was.. lets just say.. noooot soooo happy. the box was loaded full for a long burn, i cut back the air, got secondary burns... but how do you live in your house without ridiculous temperatures? if i do smaller fires , that makes more coals, and also... more creosote?? maybe we have too big of a stove? Jotel Carabasset. but my house is over 2200sqft. !!!
There are a few things you can try.
Load smaller fires, burns just as clean as a full load, just shorter time.
Load larger splits, think 7,8+ inch splits.
Crack a window in the room you want cooler.
Buy a smaller stove. Unless you need the extra room & heat when the real cold weather rolls in, then you will be glad to have the extra stove.
Buy a cat stove and run it on low as needed.

Is the entire house that warm, or just the stove room? Moving the heat around with the help of fans might level the heated air out better. Ceiling fans are nice too.

Smaller fires will no create coals, unless the wood is not dry to start with, or you continue tossing wood in on top of existing colas as they continue to build up rather than letting them burn down. 200sf is a decent sized place, I can't see the stove overheating that large a space, unless the heat is trapped in a smaller portion. Then as said before, add some fans to push cold air to the stove which will send heated air away.

Creosote should not be an issue, unless you are burning wood that is not dry enough or smouldering the load.
Try cutting the air back as soon as you can without smouldering the fire. You will have to experiment, and some patience helps too.
 
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I'm so easily entertained that I set ugly pieces to the side and look forward to burning them on my weekend.
Heck yeah! I've got a ton of uglies though from a streak of unusually non-linear wood, so I'm having a great time this entire week trying to put a dent in the volume as I process more of this stuff.

Not sure why, but their are absolutely no coals in the morning.
Burning oak
That's probably what's happening. I burn a fair amount of manzanita, and that stuff burns hot but does leave coals if I give it the last shift in a burn. I try to make it a point to put on a piece of oak if I want the fire to coast for a long time on its way out, I put on a piece of eucalyptus (maybe pine, and I haven't tried cedar yet... current line of research here) if I want it to die out "quickly" while still taking the coals with it. Note: my eucalyptus research in this role is still young, and I am basing this off like two data points, but you get the idea. Also: the size of the split(s) being used to burn out the remaining coals shouldn't be more than what's needed to burn them down.

On topic - I burn what's needed to heat the house. If I want to take a little chill out? A big fire would roast me out of the house, so I'll have a little fire. If the house got down into the 40s while I was out? Full blast please.
 
There are a few things you can try.
Load smaller fires, burns just as clean as a full load, just shorter time.
Load larger splits, think 7,8+ inch splits.
Crack a window in the room you want cooler.
Buy a smaller stove. Unless you need the extra room & heat when the real cold weather rolls in, then you will be glad to have the extra stove.
Buy a cat stove and run it on low as needed.

Is the entire house that warm, or just the stove room? Moving the heat around with the help of fans might level the heated air out better. Ceiling fans are nice too.

Smaller fires will no create coals, unless the wood is not dry to start with, or you continue tossing wood in on top of existing colas as they continue to build up rather than letting them burn down. 200sf is a decent sized place, I can't see the stove overheating that large a space, unless the heat is trapped in a smaller portion. Then as said before, add some fans to push cold air to the stove which will send heated air away.

Creosote should not be an issue, unless you are burning wood that is not dry enough or smouldering the load.
Try cutting the air back as soon as you can without smouldering the fire. You will have to experiment, and some patience helps too.


thanks. i tried this and somehow got a 10.5 hour burn today!??? finishing off with coals. you da' man :eek:
 
thanks. i tried this and somehow got a 10.5 hour burn today!??? finishing off with coals. you da' man :eek:
That ain't shabby. A little fine tuning and wallah, you found your sweetness.
 
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