Question about loading wood

[hammy85]

Whats the most efficient way to load a wood stove to get the most out of your wood. It's a drolet stove. And it'll heat my home no problem. But i want to be as efficient as possible to not go through so much wood.

Do I pack it full and damper it down to keep at proper temp?? 50% full?? What's the best way to maximize the woods energy so I don't go through so much?

TIA Happy to be here !

 

[begreen]

What model Drolet?

 

[hammy85]

What model Drolet?

Escape 1800

 

[begreen]

paging @EbS-P to the front desk for Drolet 1800 best practices.

 

[CatfishHunter]

 

[EbS-P]

How tall is the chimney? Any bends?

I have 23’ of insulated liner (insert). I need a damper to keep it under control.

Packing tight, once you have confidence you won’t over fire is the best way to keep a N/S load in the Goldilocks zone. E/W is a bit more forgiving.

But once you are confident that you have control packing it full and keeping stove top temps over 400 with good secondary combustion is the best way run efficiently. Be careful on a really hot reload. Mine can really take off.

I like measuring flue gas temps. It really lets you know instantly that your control input had the desired effect.

I have played with blocking unregulated secondary air intake and found the damper a better solution