I reject your assumption that he cannot maintain a level of comfort in October and substitute my own that he is fixating on stove temp.Rockey said:
How to keep high stove temps without coals building up too much?
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Brian VT said:
I do the same. Coals burn up fast being against air intakes and reignites the new load of wood! Works great.
I have burnt some wood that goes to coals quickly and just sits there, other woob burns to ash with seemingly no transition to coals. If it is really bothersome, try another type of wood. But regardless of what you are burning, I can't imagine it cant keep up at this type of year. but obviously, house size and insulation are big effects.
As for clinkers, I have made quite a few last year! Its annoying, I feel like it hampers the fire. i am trying to remember what I was burning then. I think it was birtch or maybe ash. I really dont remember. But it happens, no big deal i guess.
As for clinkers, I have made quite a few last year! Its annoying, I feel like it hampers the fire. i am trying to remember what I was burning then. I think it was birtch or maybe ash. I really dont remember. But it happens, no big deal i guess.
Our hot coal strategy is with every reload rake the coals forward and just put 1 log on to burn wide open. Don't confuse coals with ash though...every morning we remove about 4 shovels of ash from the front of the stove. While coals will melt away when raked over that doghouse air intake ashes could choke it up cause they're inert.
Then again if you burn locust there's no work around for coals...we'd burn that when we left the house and we grateful to come home to some hot coals for a quick restart.
Then again if you burn locust there's no work around for coals...we'd burn that when we left the house and we grateful to come home to some hot coals for a quick restart.
I'll jump in with my two cents. We have a Fireview and ran into the exact same issue. I was reloading too often because I wanted to keep the stovetop temps above 400 F during really cold spells. The firebox was filling up with too many coals that were not throwing enough heat and I could not fit more fresh splits. I called Woodstock and got the following answers:
1. Burn really good hardwoods with High BTUs (Oak and Locust) - although these woods do produce alot of coals, they burn hot longer
2. Make absolutely sure the wood was really well seasoned - unseasoned or damp wood makes more useless coals
3. Burn with a higher air setting (#1 to #2)
4. Towards the end of the burn cycle (stovetop getting below 300 F ) open the draft to #4, disengage the catalyst, rake the coals to the front of the stove, and place 2-3 thinly cut splits (less than 1 inch thick) on top of the coals. Burn till the splits are gone and the coals will be quickly reduced.
Its important to note that its tuff to short circuit the normal burn cycle of wood without getting coals. The wood wants to go through all of the burning stages and the corresponding temperature profiles (charring, gasification, coaling,ashes). Its the price we woodburners pay, but its worth it.
This repeats a lot of the stuff already written by others, but I thought it worth saying. :vampire:
1. Burn really good hardwoods with High BTUs (Oak and Locust) - although these woods do produce alot of coals, they burn hot longer
2. Make absolutely sure the wood was really well seasoned - unseasoned or damp wood makes more useless coals
3. Burn with a higher air setting (#1 to #2)
4. Towards the end of the burn cycle (stovetop getting below 300 F ) open the draft to #4, disengage the catalyst, rake the coals to the front of the stove, and place 2-3 thinly cut splits (less than 1 inch thick) on top of the coals. Burn till the splits are gone and the coals will be quickly reduced.
Its important to note that its tuff to short circuit the normal burn cycle of wood without getting coals. The wood wants to go through all of the burning stages and the corresponding temperature profiles (charring, gasification, coaling,ashes). Its the price we woodburners pay, but its worth it.
This repeats a lot of the stuff already written by others, but I thought it worth saying. :vampire:
Thanks to all who wrote in. I have been away from being able to read the posts at length. I will try to do as many have said and be more patient.
Two posts stuck out... and I wanted to respond. Both had valid points about why the coaling has been happening. There was some discussion about fixating on stovetop temps and about being unable to heat in October. I think both are partially right. I haven't turned my heat on yet in the house (I have 2 furnaces and a boiler if I really need them). So I've been trying to heat the whole house with the stove. I know it's not in a great spot (way at the rear of my house), and is also not sized to heat the entire house. I haven't tried to heat the whole house in the dead of winter, but I can and should be able to in October. I was just impatient about keeping middle range temps that will keep the house even. I've always tried to keep even temps, but have to acknowledge that some temperature swings inside the house are a natural part of heating with wood. (Should have learned that in the 13 years I've been burning, but, sometimes I forget)
Over the past two days, I've been more patient and have had nothing but ashes when I came home from work, or woke up in the morning. The house was a little colder than I would have liked, but no more coals. (EDIT) Having had a stove that dropped ash out the bottom of the firebox and left coals to burn, was a luxury. I'm getting used to the new stove and will have it figured out soon!
Thanks again for your help!
Two posts stuck out... and I wanted to respond. Both had valid points about why the coaling has been happening. There was some discussion about fixating on stovetop temps and about being unable to heat in October. I think both are partially right. I haven't turned my heat on yet in the house (I have 2 furnaces and a boiler if I really need them). So I've been trying to heat the whole house with the stove. I know it's not in a great spot (way at the rear of my house), and is also not sized to heat the entire house. I haven't tried to heat the whole house in the dead of winter, but I can and should be able to in October. I was just impatient about keeping middle range temps that will keep the house even. I've always tried to keep even temps, but have to acknowledge that some temperature swings inside the house are a natural part of heating with wood. (Should have learned that in the 13 years I've been burning, but, sometimes I forget)
Over the past two days, I've been more patient and have had nothing but ashes when I came home from work, or woke up in the morning. The house was a little colder than I would have liked, but no more coals. (EDIT) Having had a stove that dropped ash out the bottom of the firebox and left coals to burn, was a luxury. I'm getting used to the new stove and will have it figured out soon!
Thanks again for your help!
Sorry, I didn't realize you only had a space heater and that it cannot comfortably heat the whole house, even in October. I have yet to build a fire as it's not cold enough here yet to run the stove for any length of time.
While I'm awake to tend the stove, mine can comfortably (by my standard, not the wife's) heat my entire house even down to -40 but I do have to really work at it to not get a buildup of coals and do let the temps fall to the low 70's. That said, sometimes I give up the fight (with the wife) and let the furnace come on for a few minutes while I let some of the coals burn down.
While I'm awake to tend the stove, mine can comfortably (by my standard, not the wife's) heat my entire house even down to -40 but I do have to really work at it to not get a buildup of coals and do let the temps fall to the low 70's. That said, sometimes I give up the fight (with the wife) and let the furnace come on for a few minutes while I let some of the coals burn down.
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