Can I Get Some Help With My Woodstove Please?

[Denim Deb]

I noticed that one of the woods you're burning is birch. Birch will burn much quicker than the other woods you're burning. If I have any birch or poplar, it's normally used only for starting the fire, or if I don't need to be burning all day long, like in the spring and fall.

I know my stove is supposed to burn for 8 hours, but I don't ever recall it really burning for that long. However, I can make a good fire, stuff the stove, go to bed and come down in the morning and have no problem getting the fire going from the coals I have left.

As for length, it may take some time to figure out exactly what size logs you actually need. I have a stick that I use as a guide. I may be able to get away w/logs that are a tad longer if I put them in at an angle, but anything much longer than that, forget it! I try and use the longest logs I can since it's easier to fill it if the logs are the right length. I also have wood split into various thickness. If I were to try and just put whole logs in, I couldn't fit as much, plus they'd be hard to get in. So, I mix it up. And, it does a fairly good job of heating the house to a comfortable warmth for me. (Not for my hubby. He sets the heat on 75! It's too hot for me in the living room quite often.)

 

[~gd]

Okay, I'll try and address the several posts that you folks have added (all of which I appreciate very much).

First of all, it's a small stove lined with bricks, with baffles at the top interior. There is no ash pan, I simply have to scoop them out from the interior. I do not have a "chimney", so much as one stove pipe that goes directly to the ceiling, then changes into a double insulated pipe which goes out my roof. The stove is located on the lower side of my gable roof, so the pipe was made higher than the peak, which from my understanding is correct. As I said before, there is no "flue" or any other control anywhere on the pipe or the stove, except for the air intake knob on the lower front of the stove. I do have the optional blower that attaches to the back of the unit that comes on when it hits around 300 degrees and works thermostatically.

I never use pine. Some people I know do, but my father was a woodcutter back in the day and told me not to, so I just don't. I only use mixed hardwoods, oak, birch, maple, hickory, etc. I have a VERY seasoned pile from last year, but when the delivery guy dumped this years' wood right in the middle of my lawn, I had no choice but to take it from the new pile, since I couldn't get it all moved by myself. So what I am using is "less seasoned" if that makes sense, but not green.

Below is a link to the model of my stove. Notice it says it will burn for 8 hours. It will NOT. It's never burned for 8 hours ever. I need to constantly add wood. Also, it says it can take 16" logs. I started using the stove at the end of last winter (when I first got it) and discovered 16" logs are a joke. It's too small of a stove. The wood guy suggested 12", which I am using this year, and works much better as far as fit and air flow. The stove is very small.

I put the largest logs I have (wood guy calls them "overnighters") in at night, with a full and good coal bed, and it's always out by morning. Just total ash, with a couple of tiny sparks if I'm lucky, not even enough to re-light it.

Here's the link for my model. Any other thoughts??

http://www.lopistoves.com/product_guide/detail.aspx?id=242

Read it again, it says 8 hours MAXIMUM and gives several conditions that will result in a less than 8 hour burn.

 

[dacjohns]

I'm having a hard time wrapping my mind around the don't use the circulating fan because it speeds up consumption.

I think the fan she has is external to the stove and is the same as if you placed a fan near the stove to move the air around the room. I don't think it has anything to do with the fire box and blowing air into the combustion chamber.

 

[WindyHill]

You will go through way more wood with the circulating fan on, I find. Try it a few nights with that part unplugged. The radiant heat from the stove will still heat the house, but slower.


The trick to getting long burn times out of the smaller stoves is to remove as much air space as possible in the firebox before you go to bed. This means having a large variety of shapes and sizes of wood to choose from. Your goal is to make the firebox the most like a solid brick of wood built on top of a bed of coals as possible.

You will want the circulating fan OFF. The amount of damper you will need open will depend on how good your door seal is. On a new stove with a very good door seal, you will need to open the damper a very sight amount (could be as small as an 1/8" or less even). On an older stove with an older door seal, or a few leaks in other places, you may have good luck with dampening it right off.


Good Luck!

Dear Ryan, Will you marry me?

Seriously though, as much as I appreciate all the input I've been getting, I did exactly what Ryan said last night and woke up to a wonderful bed of coals and a warm house for the first time ever!!!

Now, I kind of botched the concept of a scientific experiment, because I changed TWO factors, both of which Ryan suggested, so of course now I don't know if it was one or the other, or BOTH things that did the trick.

Here's what I did. First I turned off the fan, like he said. Like Dacjohn, I wondered how this could possibly have anything to do with it, since it is mounted on the lower back of the unit and blows up behind the unit to help blow the heat into the room. However, although I can't explain why, I immediately noticed the flames slow down (not die, but slow), like I see other peoples' fires do. How that affected the inside of the firebox I have NO CLUE, but it clearly did.

The next thing I did is what Ryan also said above: Try to take up as much space as possible, trying to make a giant "brick" of sorts with the wood on top of the bed of coals. Before I would throw in a couple of my largest "overnight" logs, but this time I stuffed in smaller pieces around it as much as I could fit. Then I closed the damper almost completely.

The result was like magic. I sat there for a while before going to sleep, watching it. It was a slow moving, but maintaining fire. So I went to bed. At one point I woke up early in the morning (before I would normally get up) and saw a very deep and thick bed of coals. That was several hours after I had gone to bed, and it would normally be out by then. Amazed and thrilled, I loaded it up tight again with a lot of wood and went back to bed. Then I overslept and woke up late. Low and behold, a thick bed of red coals and a semi warm house. Just added a log and Presto! Fire again.

I have never been able to close the air control all the way like that without snuffing out the fire. I was amazed. Like I said, I'm a little curious now whether it was shutting off the fan, or the stuffing it so full of wood that did it, although I suspect both.

I know it defies logic how the fan could slow the interior box fire by being shut off, but I saw it with my own eyes. Maybe Ryan can explain why this works?? All I know is I was THRILLED to wake up warm. It was -5 below here last night, and I woke up this morning and it was 65 in my house, instead of the usual 49-ish.

NOW: I have TWO more questions: Should I just leave the air control closed all day? It's burning lightly and slowly, but it's comfortable in here, so should I just leave it that way all day? Also, should I continue to pack it that FULL of wood during the days, or is that only at bedtime?

Thanks everyone, and especially Ryan! Those two tips you gave worked like magic!

 

[freemotion]

You need to have a raging fire at least once a day to help keep creosote down. So use less wood, but open 'er up and let 'er rip! I usually do this in the morning to get the house nice and warm, and again in the late afternoon or evening to warm up after chores and to get the house quite warm in preparation for the low fire of overnight.

Works great. Sometimes I get up in the morning wondering why dh turned the thermostat up before leaving for work, and I go to turn it down and find that he has not touched it. It is all the wonderful wood stove.

It's great to be warm, isn't it?

 

[dacjohns]

Interesting. Maybe the fan location causes it to blow air into the air intake which is slightly open even when "closed".

For your daytime fire. Experiment and see what works. If you are going to be away then treat it like you do the fire at night.

 

[WindyHill]

Just an update: I've been doing as Ryan suggested and it has been working perfectly. Wake up to a hot bed of coals in the morning, the house is not freezing, and all I need to do is add logs. Just thought I'd let everyone know how well it's been working.

Thanks again to all and especially to Ryan!

 

[TanksHill]

Great job Ryan you seem to have solved the FP problem.

By the way Welcome!!!!!