North south loads in east west insert

[Slimdusty]

Offseason, load the stove EW as you’d normally load it. Then take it out and load it NS. If you have extra space at the top, you know the answer. You’ve lost the energy stored in the saw kerfs, but you may be able to put a lot more wood in.

I don’t think I’d experiment when I needed heat.

The plus is shorter wood should dry faster.

This will be a covert exercise in my house while my wife is away. If she saw me stuffing the stove full of wood, taking it out to weigh it, then cutting it up only to put back into the stove in a different configuration, take it out and weigh it again, in the middle of summer…. She is supportive of my interests but this might be too much for her

 

[EatenByLimestone]

If she’s home, get a little chip paint brush for $1.50 at Home Depot and make a production of dusting each one between loading, removing, weighing, etc!

 

[Slimdusty]

If she’s home, get a little chip paint brush for $1.50 at Home Depot and make a production of dusting each one between loading, removing, weighing, etc!

Hilarious but no thank you!

 

[fvhowler]

Pretty much E/W for me. Rake a groove in your coals/ash at the air inlet before loading. This works for me, I get good all night burns. I've never felt handicapped by E/W.

 

[Douglas3Stoves]

Always N/S. Even though I have to cut my wood to 14". Easier to stack in the stove, no logs rolling against the glass, and the fire catches more quickly. Which is helpful when I have to leave for work or when going to bed.