Load of Ash. Will be exclusively Ash for a while. Once I get my next wood bin build I am going to drop one or two dead standing from the wetlands on my property
What Is In Your Stove Right Now?
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Caw
Minister of Fire
I'm in a similar boat. I need to add another bay to the new storage area before I can procure more logs. It's too cold this week though and the entire area is covered with ice encrusted snow. It'll be at least 1-2 weeks before I'll have access.
Nothing wrong with going full ash! My ash is actually a little on the old side which is disappointing. I meant to burn this rack last year but it was so warm we never got to it. It's still burning decently but some pieces on the bottom are a tad heavy from punk progression. It was long standing dead and has been racked for 4 years.
I've got a serious coal mountain forming. I'll be opening the air and powering through bark this morning.
Loaded up last night at 12:30AM got down to 17 last night. Still 70 inside right now have not loaded for the day yet, its supposed to get up near 40 today. I'm basically going to just keep a coal bed going until tonight's load. Next few days are highs in the 20's lows in the singles but after that it looks like nothing below freezing for a week or so. That makes me happy.
Yeah I had a good amount that I needed to set aside. The problem with Dead Standing is you always get some portion that is decomposing and it becomes like a sponge. If it is dry it can be like balsa wood, but if it gets wet it just sucks up the moisture. Usually it is the stuff on the bottom part of the stack where there is less wind and the rain can get to it easier. Same tree, same stack CSS same time, one piece could be 14% another 37%. The stuff I am burning now you could make baseball bats out of.
Taking sometime to heat things up this morning. Teens last night. House 64 this morning with NG furnace kicking in. Morning load got the main floor to 69. Reloading within the hour with oak and cherry. 400 STT still too warm.
We had an outside temp of 14.2 this morning, before the first fire, the basement was 73, the sleeper was 68 and the living area temps were 67 & 68.
After burning down some coals from the overnight load, I put on four smaller splits of beech this morning.
After burning down some coals from the overnight load, I put on four smaller splits of beech this morning.
stoveliker
Minister of Fire
I added some maple and pine uglies. Maybe not enough for reaching the night reload, we'll see. 28 outside, 69 inside upstairs. 34 forecast high today.
Caw
Minister of Fire
I have never burned maple before. I bet its a nice wood though. Most everything we get here is oak and hickory. I have some wild cherry in next years stack I'm excited to try. We lost some peach trees last winter to a snow storm and was looking forward to try that this winter but some type of wood beetle or something seemed to love it more and turned almost all of it into sawdust in one summer.
Caw
Minister of Fire
Maple is great. Soft maple (silver, Norway, red) burns similar to black cherry. Hot and fast, not a ton of coals, but LOTS of ash. So much ash. Like clean your stove out every other day levels of ash. Sugar maple burns more similar to oak and ash. I've burned nothing but maple a few winters which is fine it's just a tad messy. I like to combine it with oak for best results. The maple carries the load early and gets the oak going.
stoveliker
Minister of Fire
Yes, maple gives more ashes. Fluffy stuff. But how often you have to empty them depends on the stove. I've been heating my home a week with maple now and I don't need.to empty them. The deeper the belly the better.
I just burn what's oldest first. This year started with pitch pine, now maple, next some oak and a little cherry, then all oak.
A 3 cu ft box allows to get overnight burns whatever the weather is regardless of the wood species.
I just burn what's oldest first. This year started with pitch pine, now maple, next some oak and a little cherry, then all oak.
A 3 cu ft box allows to get overnight burns whatever the weather is regardless of the wood species.
Caw
Minister of Fire
stoveliker
Minister of Fire
No that was not my point.
My point was to confirm it creates more ashes than some other wood, but that that should not be a deterrent depending on your stove. With some stoves it's not a problem. Sure it means cleaning out more often than when I burned pine earlier in the season, but not to the point that it is a deterrent to burn maple.
My point was to confirm it creates more ashes than some other wood, but that that should not be a deterrent depending on your stove. With some stoves it's not a problem. Sure it means cleaning out more often than when I burned pine earlier in the season, but not to the point that it is a deterrent to burn maple.
Caw
Minister of Fire
Oak for the rest of the season most likely for me. Got 3/4 birch if I need to but I haven't burned a ton this year as it. This week I'm loading more often with the cold we have.
All the ash I burned through I can say it CAN be too dry, it just doesn't run like 1 summer in the rack.
I got home a couple hours back, before the snow ice and general 400 miles of sick. T got the place to 67 degrees, I'm proud of her. She left me coal, piles of coals...... 3cft box and I kid you not, half full of coal.
Single pine splits and a lot of stirring stuff around and the stove nowhere near full cruise but clearing up. HVAC guys still not here. I talked to him and he had 5 places down with 0 heat, I told him don't worry about us, we're good.
Stay warm guys.
That's right. We're wood burners! Hardy folks who can deal with stuff if we have to.
Low 20’s tonight. Reload of 2x oak splits and 1x maple E/W and a large oak ugly diagonally across the top. Took off fast and got secondary combustion quickly. 575 STT and climbing.
Just threw a couple of pieces of pine and aspen in to get us through a movie to the overnight load later. Flue's at 727, stt climbing...
Got up to 40 today still 73 inside from the load I put in at 7:30AM stove top fan still has some RPM and STT still reading 215. Supposed to be a low of 15 tonight. Guess what I did? I loaded the stove with 6 splits of red oak and will be in my underwear in a hour or two. Dogs will be looking at me like they are dying. I live in the woods so I really dont care about a little smoke so I'll just let her bake for awhile no hurry to get her cruising.
Drats ... Opened the door for a picture and she fired up. Owell
Drats ... Opened the door for a picture and she fired up. Owell
stoveliker
Minister of Fire
28 F outside, 70 upstairs. I reloaded with maple. Pieces were annoying (and I remember that from stacking them) because they have twisted grain; the split surface sometimes rotates by 90 degrees going from one side to the other side of the length. So there's a lot of open space in the firebox.
We gotta do we gotta do. I've been happy for years that all I have to do is throw wood at the fire and all is good.
I burn when I'm here but right now it's all there is. Different feeling than just not on other fuels, not bad just different.
BTW
Coals down and oak in. Heating her back up.
7 degrees and calm, movie over, firing up the coals, loading it up with mostly premium. Winds pick up again tomorrow with highs around 10 but wind-chill staying below 0.
Gearhead660
Minister of Fire
Some pine this evening to burn down coals and give some heat before stuffing them with elm for the overnight burn.
Cold weather is starting to head the other way now. Should be above 0° C by mid week. Stove worked well while eating full loads to keep us warm. Wife was worried tonight when the FP30 was only coals. I just filled it up with another load of white oak.
