Is it my wood? Summit performance

[begreen]

That's about the same for our house, though intentional. I like it cooler at night for better sleeping.

PS: can you add your stove to your signature line when you get a chance?

 

[FPX Dude]

Had my first overnight burn success! Thanks for all the advice, packed it just a little bit tighter, and turned the air down sooner. 8.5 hrs woke up to this
View attachment 234899

Plenty left to throw on a couple splits and get it ripping again, stove was still 300f.

That looks really good. Yah, packing it tight and turning down the air before it takes off really helps, especially for doug fir. I burn Almond (ammon' as they say here), and I don't get that, I'm a restart most days!

 

[vwmike]

That's about the same for our house, though intentional. I like it cooler at night for better sleeping.

PS: can you add your stove to your signature line when you get a chance?

Good to know, mine is in the basement too so upstairs swings more while downstairs is more stable, doesn’t bother me really, if I want it hotter I just go sit on the couch by the stove!

Done, thought I did it the other day, but was in the wrong window....

 

[vwmike]

Well I’m getting a lot better at this! But also proved to myself it is the wood....
Forgot I had some sort of cherry in my wood shed, it was trimmings off some trees in my yard. Was away from the house for longer than usual yesterday loaded her up.


Left the house about 10am damper all the way shut stove top at 500. Got home late, time I got to the stove it was 9pm, and it was just under 300 stove top and tons of coals left.


Can’t wait to get back out in the bush after Xmas, I’m gonna be hunting for some better wood now that I am a little ahead of the game!

 

[blacktail]

I'm guessing you have bigleaf maple and white birch there? I'm not too far south of you and those are pretty good for native species here. They take a little longer to dry though.

 

[vwmike]

I'm guessing you have bigleaf maple and white birch there? I'm not too far south of you and those are pretty good for native species here. They take a little longer to dry though.

Ya we certainly do,’it just requires a little more hunting to find it. The fir I am burning is just so easy to get...

 

[begreen]

Doug fir is our go to fuel.

 

[vwmike]

Guess it’s all been worth it just got my natural gas bill today

 

[FPX Dude]

Guess it’s all been worth it just got my natural gas bill today

View attachment 235793

nice!

 

[heavy hammer]

As said earlier I usually have some larger splits or rounds for overnight burns, everything you are doing seems fine maybe just try some bigger pieces if possible.

 

[wooduser]

Guess it’s all been worth it just got my natural gas bill today

View attachment 235793

I like the picture, which features your pitifully small gas bill on top, and a view of your cheerfully burning wood stove peek out beneath.

 

[vwmike]

I like the picture, which features your pitifully small gas bill on top, and a view of your cheerfully burning wood stove peek out beneath.

Me too thanks!

 

[Jacklumber]

Guess it’s all been worth it just got my natural gas bill today

View attachment 235793

I had that feeling too, my bill came out at $25. For last year's gas bill, you'd need to add a zero and then multiply by 2!

 

[vwmike]

I had that feeling too, my bill came out at $25. For last year's gas bill, you'd need to add a zero and then multiply by 2!

Great feeling! The other big thing I've noticed is how comfortable the house is at 68-71, it feels so much warmer than when the furnace is on and cycling.

 

[heavy hammer]

There is nothing better than the heat from a wood stove!

 

[wooduser]

There is nothing better than the heat from a wood stove!

I know we are all biased in favor of wood stoves, but frankly wood stoves usually leave a lot to be desired as a means of heating if we are honest about it. It is spot heating that tends to be uneven around a dwelling compared to forced air or forced hot water heating. The fuel burns out an leaves the dwelling cold until the fire is rebuilt and time is given for a dwelling to heat up again ---while a gas, oil or central heating system can go on for days maintaining even heating without paying attention to it.

Needless to say, wood stoves often take a lot of labor to cut, split, dry, retrieve wood, build fires, take out ashes and so on.

I could go on, but you get the idea.

Personally, I like my wood stove for heating despite all it's limitations. I can get wood for no cash outlay, and I like building fires. Heating with wood for me is a minor adventure in my life, while switching on the gas furnace is easy but boring.

The best heat from a wood stove is when you are cold and can stand in front of it and absorb that radiant heat directly! I suspect human beings got used to that around campfires for several hundred thousand years, and we are still programmed to like it! THAT I'd say is the best kind of heat from a wood stove, whatever other limitations it may have!

 

[weatherguy]

I know we are all biased in favor of wood stoves, but frankly wood stoves usually leave a lot to be desired as a means of heating if we are honest about it. It is spot heating that tends to be uneven around a dwelling compared to forced air or forced hot water heating. The fuel burns out an leaves the dwelling cold until the fire is rebuilt and time is given for a dwelling to heat up again ---while a gas, oil or central heating system can go on for days maintaining even heating without paying attention to it.

Needless to say, wood stoves often take a lot of labor to cut, split, dry, retrieve wood, build fires, take out ashes and so on.

I could go on, but you get the idea.

Personally, I like my wood stove for heating despite all it's limitations. I can get wood for no cash outlay, and I like building fires. Heating with wood for me is a minor adventure in my life, while switching on the gas furnace is easy but boring.

The best heat from a wood stove is when you are cold and can stand in front of it and absorb that radiant heat directly! I suspect human beings got used to that around campfires for several hundred thousand years, and we are still programmed to like it! THAT I'd say is the best kind of heat from a wood stove, whatever other limitations it may have!

I think you're in the wrong place

 

[Ludlow]

The best heat from a wood stove is when you are cold and can stand in front of it and absorb that radiant heat directly! I suspect human beings got used to that around campfires for several hundred thousand years, and we are still programmed to like it!

Cats and dogs taught us!

 

[Hullspeed]

I get 5 (or less) up to 7 hours on my Lopi burning either poplar (very light) or oak (dense). I have never made 8 hours (measuring when the fan stops). I like to get it running real hot, I'll add another log if one easily fits - then I pull the inlet damper to the EPA stop for the duration. In general, I stack the box full, but I don't spend much time on it - so I'd call it casually full.

 

[begreen]

I get 5 (or less) up to 7 hours on my Lopi burning either poplar (very light) or oak (dense). I have never made 8 hours (measuring when the fan stops). I like to get it running real hot, I'll add another log if one easily fits - then I pull the inlet damper to the EPA stop for the duration. In general, I stack the box full, but I don't spend much time on it - so I'd call it casually full.

Getting it running real hot is probably reducing burn time and overheating the flue. Try shutting down the stove earlier.

 

[vwmike]

I know we are all biased in favor of wood stoves, but frankly wood stoves usually leave a lot to be desired as a means of heating if we are honest about it. It is spot heating that tends to be uneven around a dwelling compared to forced air or forced hot water heating. The fuel burns out an leaves the dwelling cold until the fire is rebuilt and time is given for a dwelling to heat up again ---while a gas, oil or central heating system can go on for days maintaining even heating without paying attention to it.

Needless to say, wood stoves often take a lot of labor to cut, split, dry, retrieve wood, build fires, take out ashes and so on.

I could go on, but you get the idea.

Personally, I like my wood stove for heating despite all it's limitations. I can get wood for no cash outlay, and I like building fires. Heating with wood for me is a minor adventure in my life, while switching on the gas furnace is easy but boring.

The best heat from a wood stove is when you are cold and can stand in front of it and absorb that radiant heat directly! I suspect human beings got used to that around campfires for several hundred thousand years, and we are still programmed to like it! THAT I'd say is the best kind of heat from a wood stove, whatever other limitations it may have!

Oh for sure. I do have a old but fully functional nat gas furnace in my house, tstat is set to come on at sixty five. It's just a strange hobby I always say. Get to spend some time in the bush with the dogs and the saw, and play with fire in the house. We also just experienced anywhere from a couple of days to a week without power in our area after a powerful windstorm, so It's very important to me to have a secondary heat source. I also have family who have the same setup but it's a nat gas wood stove look alike, works just the same but costs them more money but no time.

 

[heavy hammer]

Everyone burns for different reasons, and for different heating needs.

 

[Hullspeed]

Getting it running real hot is probably reducing burn time and overheating the flue. Try shutting down the stove earlier.

I have - and that would surely stretch the time out, but (for my stove) I find it increases the likelihood that it will smolder and smoke through part of the night (I don't get as much overall heat and I produce a lot of outside smoke). Sooo.... I'm not concerned about it. That's just the way it is for my stove. I figure there is a certain amount of energy in the logs I load it it and that limits what I can get out. In the morning, I fire it back up!

 

[begreen]

Sounds like the wood may not be fully dry inside. With dry wood smoldering is usually not an issue. Even with the air closed there is still some air admitted.

 

[Hullspeed]

Sounds like the wood may not be fully dry inside. With dry wood smoldering is usually not an issue. Even with the air closed there is still some air admitted.

It's dry wood. I don't want to mislead... If my stove is already rockin, I don't have to do anything. I throw in a cold log and it continues fine with the flow choked down. But if I'm adding a major amount of cold dry wood just before bedtime, it still takes 10+ minutes of full open air to take those logs from cold & smoking to fully lit up. I only mention this because, depending on your setup, getting less than 7 hours of good heat per load might be completely "normal".
So... part of my house is "L" shaped, so I can lay in my bed, look out a window and almost see the top of the chimney. If I don't let the fire "catch up", I'll look out and see a lot of smoke rolling out - so I'll end up going back and firing it up more. So, over the years, I've learned to just get it rolling, then choke it down, and don't worry about the fact that it will be shut down by morning. I get 5 to 6 hours of real good heat through the night.