How do you define "burn time"

[ohlongarmisle]

A few years back, I bought a Vermont Castings Encore Flexburn stove. It was not my first choice, but it was the best stove I could buy on Amazon as one of my clients had given me a few thousand dollars in Amazon gift cards. First, I have to say I'm happy with it - it can keep my whole house warm even when it gets down to -15. In the Winter this stove is pretty much going all day, every day. I live on 15 acres of wooded property and have much more Oak, Ash, Black Cherry and other woods that I can process. In its specs, Vermont Castings says this stove has a 12 hour burn time and I see other stoves advertise even longer burn times.

But if I pack this stove full of perfectly cut, seasoned Oak with the catalyst hot and a glowing bed of coals, I probably could barely get 6-8 hours of actual "burn time" where there's flames in the stove. Yet it will easily stay fairly hot for 10-12 hours, but at a slowly declining rate. So if I stabilize the burn at 425 surface temperature, it's fairly likely the surface temp will still be at close to 400 when I wake up 8 hours later, yet most of the wood will be gone, with just a layer of hot coals left. Also, I've had enough hot coals last 18 hours to light another fire without kindling,

So what is "burn time" - is it the time from when you load the stove for a long burn until the surface temp drops to the point where you would reload it again? Or is it when the wood is gone and the flame is out?

Don't know if this helps but a little over a week ago -45 for 3 days, a full load of locust ,osage and apple burned a solid 10 hours with the combustor thermometer in the active range home never dropped below 74 degrees.Blaze king parlor, little coal bed upon reloads due in theory to well seasoned wood, and stoves efficiency. new loads fired up rapidly with the remaining coal beds.I ran the king with the air control in the 5,O clock position, not quite full throttle.

 

[Eman85]

I have a cat stove and when operating with the cat activated in order to control the cat I have to burn it low. If I open the air for more heat the cat takes off quickly. When it was at 0* it made it hard to effectively heat the house with the cat engaged. If I didn't engage the cat I can get a lot more heat but obviously use more wood, no free lunch.
Burn time I would rate as from first useable heat until last useable heat and still able to reload. I can get longer burn times with the cat engaged, but I can get 8+ hours without the cat. When it's in the 30's-40's using the cat makes the heat more useable and doesn't overheat the stove room or the rest of the house, especially for sleeping.

 

[appointed EPA deviant]

Its not an attack, and your still not getting it.. The efficiency of the stove is what its manufactured to.. If a stove is rated for 80% then that is what it is, that's not going to change unless one is altering the stove.. My example is quite obvious.. It doesn't matter if its 7 or -15 degrees.. nobody is going to run the stove on low.. the stove is run based on heat demand. The example of me running my stove in my home is a great example.. My home is 2x6 construction, open floor concept, heat travels freely throughout the home. My stove is sized perfectly for my home and its 70 degrees inside and everyone comfortable when its 7 degrees out, my stove is not struggling to keep up and is running at the efficiency it was designed for at the time of purchase.. If my home was in a colder climate Id have to size my stove up. Again your not getting that the advantage of the cat stove is to be able turn it down during mild weather.
Iv seen you posts regarding cat stoves.. Your upset that many here including myself aren't slaves to the stove. Your issue is exactly what you posted in your response to me.. Your to tied up with your stove.. "hauling and stoking". Thats an issue with you and your setup.. Your custom made ( AKA A home built) stove is on the low efficiency side, you home probably isn't holding heat very well either.. so it sucks to be you I guess. Because your tied up with your heat needs. This doesn't mean you need to bash others or a specific type of a stove, that found away to heat with wood and not have to be so wrapped up in it.
If your struggling and it sounds that way, there is alot of information here as well as really smart people.. enjoy.. do some research and reading... help yourself out.. life doesn't have to be that hard..

ok, I give. Enough crapping in this thread.....LOL
PM me . LOL

 

[appointed EPA deviant]

I have a cat stove and when operating with the cat activated in order to control the cat I have to burn it low. If I open the air for more heat the cat takes off quickly. When it was at 0* it made it hard to effectively heat the house with the cat engaged. If I didn't engage the cat I can get a lot more heat but obviously use more wood, no free lunch.
Burn time I would rate as from first useable heat until last useable heat and still able to reload. I can get longer burn times with the cat engaged, but I can get 8+ hours without the cat. When it's in the 30's-40's using the cat makes the heat more useable and doesn't overheat the stove room or the rest of the house, especially for sleeping.

Thanks for your honest assessment.

 

[appointed EPA deviant]

Don't know if this helps but a little over a week ago -45 for 3 days, a full load of locust ,osage and apple burned a solid 10 hours with the combustor thermometer in the active range home never dropped below 74 degrees.Blaze king parlor, little coal bed upon reloads due in theory to well seasoned wood, and stoves efficiency. new loads fired up rapidly with the remaining coal beds.I ran the king with the air control in the 5,O clock position, not quite full throttle.

-45 in Ohio?