Quad Isle Royale tip?

[northernadks]

Hey everyone. I got my brand new mohagany Quadrafire Isle Royale about a week ago. First off let me just says this stove is a beast and kicks the junk out of the cold nights. I'll start off by saying I am not new to burning wood and I've been reading this forum for a couple years and finally joined. I'm the type of person who likes to take the time to learn and do things right. So, dry and clean firewood are definitely a non-issue when your talking to me because we all know that's the first step in stove performance. I cut, stack, and dry all my own firewood. I live in upstate New York inside the Adirondack national park. Together my father-in-law and I own about 100 acres. That's where all the wood comes from. I burn a mix of hardwood containing cherry, birch, red maple, sugar maple, ash, beech, etc..

My question is what have you found is the best way to stack wood in the stove for long, high-temp burns for those negative winter nights? Any opinions whether north to south or east to west is better? How tight? If you could provide pictures to give me a clear idea what you think is the best way though experience I'd greatly appreciate it.

Thank you in advance for your advice and time.

 

[northwinds]

Hey everyone. I got my brand new mohagany Quadrafire Isle Royale about a week ago. First off let me just says this stove is a beast and kicks the junk out of the cold nights. I'll start off by saying I am not new to burning wood and I've been reading this forum for a couple years and finally joined. I'm the type of person who likes to take the time to learn and do things right. So, dry and clean firewood are definitely a non-issue when your talking to me because we all know that's the first step in stove performance. I cut, stack, and dry all my own firewood. I live in upstate New York inside the Adirondack national park. Together my father-in-law and I own about 100 acres. That's where all the wood comes from. I burn a mix of hardwood containing cherry, birch, red maple, sugar maple, ash, beech, etc..

My question is what have you found is the best way to stack wood in the stove for long, high-temp burns for those negative winter nights? Any opinions whether north to south or east to west is better? How tight? If you could provide pictures to give me a clear idea what you think is the best way though experience I'd greatly appreciate it.

Thank you in advance for your advice and time.

I think it burns a little hotter north/south, and a little longer east/west. If you really want it hot, you can go a layer of north/south and a layer of east/west, but that results in shorter burns on my setup. I load as tight as I can. As you know the very far back of the firebox is not as wide as the front, so I pick out a piece that will snugly fit in there if I'm going east west.

I normally don't fill it all the way up because I work from home, and 3/4 loads work best for me at 3 loads/8 hours per day, so I leave some room at the top between the tubes and the load.

The best tip I can give you is about something you haven't asked about. If you do load north south, go easy with pushing the wood towards the back of the stove where the firebrick is. I've only cracked a couple of firebrick from rough loading over the last 7 years of owning the stove, but cracking a firebrick is annoying, especially the ones with the holes in the rear middle.

 

[Jags]

Everything that Northwinds just said. I find that I am cranking the primary air down sooner with the N/S loads because the temps seem to whiplash up faster in that config.

 

[northernadks]

Thanks north winds and jags for the quick response. I agree that's what I've noticed. I normally burn north to south for colder weather. I feel it's easier to fit it and still leave some room so that the load doesn't get to insulated and breathes nicely for sustained Temps longer. Normally ill burn a small load prior to overnight so that its preheated and i can cut back on the primary sooner. I had a smaller stove so my firewood is split a little smaller than I'd like for this season but I've got next season ready for this stove since I planned ahead on this stove. I was supposed to wait till next season to purchase but the negative digits were whooping my old stoves butt.

Thanks again.