With the air control on todays stoves you can hold fire well with smaller pieces. Smaller pieces mean more surface area burning, This means more complete combustion cleaner burn and more heat produced per pound of wood.Bigger logs/splits = longer burn times
Bigger pieces might give longer burn if your stove is leaky. If the stove is tight size should not matter. In fact you can put more pounds of wood in the stove with smaller wood.(Smaller wood drys better) Less open space. Think or the sand and stone demo. The smaller wood will burn more completly giving more BTUs per pound of wood. If your stove will not hold over night on small stuff check for leaks. Check that door gasket with a dollar bill. If its a cast unit check all joint fro the claen wash marks where the air is coming in. good gasket sealed joints will let you get the most out of your stove.Redd has is right. Larger splits or rounds will always outlast a load of smaller pcs.
Just have to make sure they are dry and ready to burn, otherwise you are in for a long night of low temps and smoldering mess.
Is there any reason, if a freestanding stove will fit, I can't push it as far back into the opening as i can? This is a full masonry fireplace.
Most new stoves can be cleaned with the liner attached. Remove baffle assembly or opoen bypass damper and brush flue. Some of the stoves Harmun ect you will nedd to pull the combustion chamber apart to clean it others with baffle plate and tubes you cal usually pull one or to tubes and remove the baffle. Shovel dirt out and replace parts you are good to go.Another big Insert CON for me is cleaning the flue. A fireplace mounted stove usually has a convenient cleanout "T". I'm not sure how it works with an insert, but it seems it cannot be as easy.
Larger splits give less air space between the splits than a load of smaller splits will do. There are many enough on here that know and use this practice as tried and true. Has nothing to do with air leaks, and everything to do with air space between the splits. The only way your going to get the same burn with a load of smaller splits as you will with a bunch of smaller ones, is if the smaller splits fit damn near perfectly tight together which ain't never gonna happen with split cord wood.Bigger pieces might give longer burn if your stove is leaky. If the stove is tight size should not matter. In fact you can put more pounds of wood in the stove with smaller wood.(Smaller wood drys better) Less open space. Think or the sand and stone demo. The smaller wood will burn more completely giving more BTUs per pound of wood. If your stove will not hold over night on small stuff check for leaks. Check that door gasket with a dollar bill. If its a cast unit check all joint fro the clean wash marks where the air is coming in. good gasket sealed joints will let you get the most out of your stove.
With the air control on todays stoves you can hold fire well with smaller pieces. This is a true statement
Smaller pieces mean more surface area burning, Also a true statement
This means more complete combustion cleaner burn and more heat produced per pound of wood.This statement has no basis in reality. At all.
Here is mine.
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