Fire burning procedures: Add one log at a time or many? How much do I close the draft and when?

[Backwoods Savage]

Backwoods Savage, you've got a cat stove so it's easy for you to just throw in one piece, let it smoulder and have the cat clear up the mess. A non-cat doesn't work like that; it needs heat in the firebox or it's not in the zone.

bokehman, I'm not sure where you got the idea that I just throw in one piece of wood at a time and then let it smoulder! That definitely is not how we use a stove!

 

[bokehman]

bokehman, I'm not sure where you got the idea that I just throw in one piece of wood at a time and then let it smoulder! That definitely is not how we use a stove!

Savage, the point I was making was that a cat stove doesn't need as much heat in the firebox to work right. non-cat needs 1100ºF plus. What's a cat need? 500ºF? Even so you are not running as efficiently loading one log at a time. Each time you add fuel you have to open the bypass and the primary and are wasting a lot of energy up the flue. You can either do that 5 times with 1 piece, or 1 time with 5 pieces.