Single Piece of Wood at a Time vs Packing it In

[BrotherBart]

When I am at home I burn two at a time. Seems to use more wood but I can manage the temperature better.

A question along these lines comes up as I read these threads...When throwing just 1 or 2 logs in are you burning with primary air all the way open or can you shut it down? Non cat stoves/inserts.

With hot coals to lay them on two E/W splits with a small gap between them allow me to almost immediately close the primary down to a 1/4 and most of the burn takes off on top of the wood. The coals need to be just large enough to allow air to pass under the front split.

 

[velvetfoot]

It did seem like a nice flame coming off a single log.
You do have to remember to turn off the fan.
I did have an interesting experience with an ember being blown into the room.

I don't have any problems with my setup at all.
In fact, it kept us warm during the outage, although not a toasty as when the power is on.
Just thinking while the snow came down.