"Soapstone stove owners" How long and what temps do you cruise at?

[Bobbin]

I lit the stove at 4PM this afternoon, using 4-5 small splits (oak and maple). I engaged the combustor 10 minutes later (read 325 degrees over the combustor) and damped it down as I customarily do. The stove attained 500 degrees + in 15 minutes, continuing to rise to a high of 650 before beginning to drop back down. It's now 6 PM and the temperature has just dropped below 500. So, with a small fire it operated for an hour and half above 500. The rooms now quite cozy we've both shed the sweaters we customarily wear when we go to work.

I will bring in the night's wood now and will not restoke until after we've had dinner or we'll be blown out of the room and uncomfortable. Would one of you please tell me what OAK stands for? "outside air something"?

 

[Todd]

OAK= Outside Air Kit

I reloaded my stove with 4 large splits of Black Locust on top of a large bed of red coals at 3pm with stove top at 250, at 3:30 stove top 500 with air set at 3/4, stayed there til 5:30, it's just under 400 now with the front two splits down to coals and the back two still intact.

 

[pinewoodburner]

OAK= Outside Air Kit

I reloaded my stove with 4 large splits of Black Locust on top of a large bed of red coals at 3pm with stove top at 250, at 3:30 stove top 500 with air set at 3/4, stayed there til 5:30, it's just under 400 now with the front two splits down to coals and the back two still intact.

Try some other wood if you can. I tried some pine tonight instead of the oak, two large splits and some little pieces. Put on a bed of coals at 4:40, stove was 240. Engaged cat at 5 and by 5:30. stove at 470, cut air to 3/4. Went out at 6, stove at 540, at 8:30, stove at 450. I am getting a hotter and longer burn from the pine so I think the rack of oak I just started on in not fully seasoned. I guess the rest of this year I will be burning the stacks of pine. Good thing is that tonight is the last cold night for us for a while.

 

[Todd]

Yeah, i'm beginning to think it's the wood even tho it's dry 15-20% Black Locust, for some reason it just doesn't burn well. It's just about gone and then I have soft Maple. I think I'll mix and match and see what happens. When I was burning Oak I never had this problem it always burned hotter and longer.

 

[bcnu]

So far dropping the damper all the way made a big difference. 525 is a new record.

Interesting. My second year with the Homestead and I rarely get it above 400. Have been up to 425 to 450 a couple of times this winter but it take some effort. Wood is dry - mostly fir some oak and ash. Burned poplar in early fall. My draft is good - could it be too good? Inside masonary chimney fully lined with 17" from strovetop to chimney top. Whats the best indication of too jmuch draft?

 

[FireWalker]

Yeah, i'm beginning to think it's the wood even tho it's dry 15-20% Black Locust, for some reason it just doesn't burn well. It's just about gone and then I have soft Maple. I think I'll mix and match and see what happens. When I was burning Oak I never had this problem it always burned hotter and longer.

Burning tons of locust here and I have found the stove burns best (500-600) with a mix of other stuff (hardwoods). Someone a while back went on about using locust but stated that if you drop a big split on hot coals, it's like throwing a steel pipe in there, takes forever to get going. I am into some really beautiful really straight thick barked red oak that is the absolute best wood a man could ask for. I don't have a lot of it but when I raked and loaded my stove this cold morning (-8), I crammed in the front door 3 big locust split centered on the door opening and 3 smaller pieces at the ends (N-S) then I had room for two wide flat pieces of nice oak on top (E-W). This filling technique gives me the best long hot burns. The wood on the bottom burns and the wood on top (running opposite direction) blocks the flames and generates amazing clean burn flames. Once this fire is raging I shut the primary damper OFF! This pegs my rutland thermometer at the end of the white zone (clean burn) for at least 4 hours. Left overnight, like last night when I did this same load I awoke to a full bed of coals and a 300 degree stovetop. I spend more than a little time picking different size pieces from my wood pile that will allow me the ability to make a load like this for really cold days and nights.

 

[WNY PAT]

On cold start, my Classic slowly climbs up to 550 to 600, generally holds there for an hour and a half or so and then gradually slows down to about 300 before I reload. The whole process typically takes about 4 or 5 hours and there will be a "sunburn inducing" pile of coals left to restart. On restart, it'll take maybe 15 minutes to be back to 350 when I close the bypass down... then I usually get 6 hours or so of decent heat output (500 - 600 range) depending on wood and how I set the damper).... but it'll still be a 250 on the stovetop 8 or 9 hours later but a smaller amount of coals to work with and a bit longer to restart.

 

[bcnu]

I can see that I will need to begin separating my wood by type and split sizes for next winter's burn. And I thought this wood burning life was going to be sooo easy. :wow:

 

[FireWalker]

I can see that I will need to begin separating my wood by type and split sizes for next winter's burn. And I thought this wood burning life was going to be sooo easy. :wow:

After a while your brain just takes over and without thinking about it your hands just do the right thing. No seperating required, just pick off the pile what you think will need. If anything, this falls in the how do I split my wood catagory because if you split them all the same you can't do what I talking about. When I split wood I intentionally make a good verity of split sizes.

Another point worth bring up is, if you have different types of wood when you are splitting, mix them up as you finish stack your splits as it's nice all winter to have some birch or pine spread thru the pile so you can grab a stick as needed. Sound complicated dosn't it, you will get the hang of it eventually and when you finally think you have it licked, it will be time to switch to pellets because you are to old to mess with sticks.

 

[FireWalker]

I can see that I will need to begin separating my wood by type and split sizes for next winter's burn. And I thought this wood burning life was going to be sooo easy. :wow:

It also helps to have a firebox that holds 80lbs of hardwood................. :cheese:

 

[Backwoods Savage]

Yeah, i'm beginning to think it's the wood even tho it's dry 15-20% Black Locust, for some reason it just doesn't burn well. It's just about gone and then I have soft Maple. I think I'll mix and match and see what happens. When I was burning Oak I never had this problem it always burned hotter and longer.

Todd, the soft maple will get you a hot burn for sure! You might try like we do. Every load I put a soft maple on the bottom front or sometimes even use two maples and then fill with ash, or in your case, with locust.

Also, I got to thinking about your problem Todd. I did not think this possible, but one time I took the cat out and cleaned it and later I noticed the stove just didn't seem to give the same heat and the cat never got really bright red. So on a whim, I opened the top and to my horror, the cat was not quite all the way towards the front, therefore allowing some of the smoke to bypass the cat. A quick simple move and all was well. Perhaps you should check....just in case.

 

[Todd]

Yeah, i'm beginning to think it's the wood even tho it's dry 15-20% Black Locust, for some reason it just doesn't burn well. It's just about gone and then I have soft Maple. I think I'll mix and match and see what happens. When I was burning Oak I never had this problem it always burned hotter and longer.

Todd, the soft maple will get you a hot burn for sure! You might try like we do. Every load I put a soft maple on the bottom front or sometimes even use two maples and then fill with ash, or in your case, with locust.

Also, I got to thinking about your problem Todd. I did not think this possible, but one time I took the cat out and cleaned it and later I noticed the stove just didn't seem to give the same heat and the cat never got really bright red. So on a whim, I opened the top and to my horror, the cat was not quite all the way towards the front, therefore allowing some of the smoke to bypass the cat. A quick simple move and all was well. Perhaps you should check....just in case.

I took your advice and stuck some silver maple in front and piled the locust in back and it did make a difference. I'm towards the back of my wood pile so I can get at more maple and mix it in. This Locust just seems to be really hard to get going, sometimes I reload and have to leave the damper open for 20-30 minutes to get a full load of this stuff going. I was probably engaging too soon. Warm weather on the way, time to burn some softer woods.

I also checked my cat, it's in place, clean and I even put the bolts back in to make sure it stays put. I know it's probably not needed but being an old sailor I just feel better if everything is battened down.

 

[badger1968]

So far dropping the damper all the way made a big difference. 525 is a new record.

Great picture. I'm a big Chamberlain fan. I'm glad you got that thing up to 525.

As for the question posed, I generally get the Homestead up to 500 in about 1 to 1.5 hour(s) with a quick, hot, small split (about 7 smallish splits), full-air open, fire to burn any crud out of the flue. Then I add some big splits, char them, and cut back the air to 1/2 after five minutes to get that nice secondary. After that it depends on how cold it is. It does take some work to maintain 500 (at least it does for me). It seems the Homestead tends to "cruise" at 400--that is, its easy to keep it at 400 by throwing in a split every now and then. I tend to load it up (not stuff it) at around ten, char it, and cut it back. Usually the oil heat clicks on at 3-4 am when the thermostat hits 62. When I get up at 7 or so, the stovetop is about 100 and there are decent coals--but not good enough to start a good clean burn (the coals will start a fire, but you've got to work it, and it will smoke).