neversummer said:
Hi everyone, picked up my Woodstock Fireview from the freight company and am beginning the process of splitting the wood that I have managed to acquire, but have a few questions.
- Split sizes: How big is too big? I see some of you splitting your wood fairly small, and others of you seem to leave it twice as big. I am going for the long, slow burn which heats the house while I am away at work (figure 8-9 hours of burn minimum). As such, I've been leaving my splits fairly "wide". I feel as if some of them could be split again, but then I think this would make them too small.... whats the solution? Is one big log more or less beneficial than 2 or 3 smaller?
- Stacking: I see threads where someone says they are getting a cord, then it amounts to more or less depending upon how you stack it. What is the "proper" stacking method, to be sure I am not getting had by a wood guy?
Thanks.
-NS
Welcome to the forum NS.
Congratulations on the purchase of one of the finest stoves on the market. Treat it right with good dry wood and you'll find it treats you right too. Feed it bad fuel though and like other stoves, it will not be so pretty as you'll be fighting the fire and also cleaning the chimney often and also the glass. Good wood will not blacken the glass.
So what about split sizes and stacking? Here are a couple pictures for your consideration:
(broken image removed)
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My apologies for that sad looking feller in the second picture but included that picture because you will be able to tell better the size of the splits.
I have found that with the Fireview I do split most of the wood a tad smaller than what we did for our older stove. That is because of the size of the firebox. If you split the wood so that most are rectangles or squares then size is not quite as important but still important. Why put wood in for a long burn but not have it filled up because your splits are too large to fit one more in?
I like to use 2 or 3 larger splits or even better, a few rounds for building a long burning fire. We fit those in on the bottom rear of the firebox. At present, those are ash but would be oak if we had some. In the bottom front we like to put in one or two smaller splits of a faster and hotter burning wood and for that we use soft maple. This gets the fire going quickly while the larger stuff will hold the fire longer. After putting those in the front and rear, we then just fit in whatever we can; sort of like a jigsaw puzzle of fitting the most in for the space you have.
On the stacking, if you don't have time for the wood to dry, then I suggest you stack in single rows rather than what is in the pictures. Stack it so that the wood is off the ground. This allows some air under the wood to help with the drying. For sure, if you have fresh cut oak, I'd split that as small as possible if you have to use it this coming winter. Oak gives up its moisture very reluctantly and we do not burn it until it has been split and stacked for 3 years!
On the stacking, we usually stack it about 4 1/2' high and that will shrink down to 4' or less in height by fall. We don't worry too much about the height of the wood off the ground as 3-4" is enough for us. If you have wet ground then I'd get it 6" or more off the ground.
Again I will caution you on your fuel. Feed the stove good fuel, like you would use good fuel in your car, and it will serve you well. However, the number one mistake of new wood burners is that they do not have dry wood; even the people who buy supposed good dry wood from wood sellers. Wood simply needs time to dry and that drying does not start until the wood has been split.
You will find out soon with the Fireview if your wood is good or not. Black glass immediately tells you that your wood is not dry enough. Also, because this is your first year, we suggest you check your chimney at least once per month. If it is dirty, clean it. Once you get good wood and have learned the stove (that is quick to learn) then you won't have to be so diligent with the chimney. For example, we've had our Fireview for 4 full winters now and the chimney was cleaned one time and we got about a cup of soot from it and no creosote. Of course most of the wood we've burned has been from 5-7 years in the stack except for last winter which we burned all ash that was split and stacked in April of 2009 and that burned well but I still prefer it in the stack longer. This coming winter we'll be burning from that same stack that was done in 2009.
Good luck.