Building a fire in a wood stove
 

I've turned off the the furnace to avoid burning $5-a-gallon oil and am using the wood stove only. This has always stumped me about building a fire in a wood stove: My wood is about 14" long, but my stove is less than 14" deep. Thus I can't build a criss-cross "Boy Scout" fire to let air into the pile. I try to criss-cross the pieces diagonally, but usually they eventually collapse so that they're all lined up lengthwise with insufficient air between the pieces. Although I request shorter wood, wood sellers don't like to take the time to cut it short so a lot of pieces are 16". Any tips for building a fire when the wood is longer than the depth of the stove?

Do you use a fireplace grate? If so you could pyramid a few and roll paper under grate to light. I personally like the criss cross with smaller pieces to start. Also I spilt the wood into smaller pieces then what is delivered. Most are just two large for a easy start. Plus, you could purchase “fat wood” to start a fire and toss the others on top


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Coal?
 

I have a small firebox Franco-Belge boiler. Start a wood fire, then transfer to coal. I also used to have a wood stove look-alike that burned coal. Only had to feed either one 2x daily instead of every four hours. Hard to find coal these days. A stove that only takes 18" wood is unusual--there must be another easy option. OPnce the fire is established, can you feed in larger wood?

^

The Fat Wood is oily so it burns longer than paper... and a kindling cradle will allow air to get in and around the primary hardwood. Once the first piece turns to embers/near embers, the fire should be easy to maintain.

No fireplace grate. If you order wood you're stuck with the length you get. If I were cutting my own wood, I would cut half of it to 12" and the other half to 16". Then I'd be able to do a square cross-cross, which is stable and easy to add wood to. Shorter wood is easier to split, too. I've TRIPLE split this wood because it was very large when it was delivered.

I use Diamond Strike-a-Fire. Burns for a few minutes, smokeless. It's gotten expensive with inflation.

POSSIBLE SOLUTION: This guy starts with two logs in a V instead of criss-crossing them. That would be more stable. He also makes the point about the usefulness of 12" wood in a smaller stove.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YNidEAavLlo

P.S. Here's my tip for starting a fire on a very cold day with a cold chimney, when you have a strong downdraft. In those conditions holding flaming twisted newspaper up the pipe isn't going to work. Place a lit oil lantern in the stove and close the door. In about 20 minutes the air will be rising up the chimney. This has saved my life many a time during a power outage. A hair dryer can also help, and opening a window a crack will help too.

His stove isn't that small... and he is building a kindling cradle.

I have a small stove in the garage.

I've been using wood stoves for 15 years and have never made a "campfire" design. Unless I have a strange batch of short wood, I start by loading east/west with a full load, the front of which—where the air comes in—is the lightest/dryest/smallest. I use 1/8th of a Super Cedar and leave the door cracked for a minute or two (if it's borderline warm outside and need to create a draft, I might open a window, but it's very rare).

The only change to this is if I have small wood and can load north/south. This is definitely quicker to get going, but I'm limited to 14" or so depth, which would exponentially raise my processing and fetching time.

A note: if you can't get a good draft without jumping through hoops—and you plan to use the stove fairly regularly—look into installing an outside air kit.

One more note: these days, unless getting legitimately seasoned wood at under ~$300/cord, the equation for wood vs. other heat sources isn't always awesome. Obvi, if you already have wood—or 100% scrounge like me—it's (essentially) free.

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100% scrounge is the way to go. I burn building scrap all the time. Everyone must remember to get their chimney cleaned every few years


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There is a wealth of information on this forum: http://www.hearth.com/talk/
where there are subforums for all kinds of things related to burning wood. Do a search on starting a fire and read through the opinions and experience. You'll see discussions of "top-down" vs "bottom-up" starting. I never had luck with top-down, which likely means I wasn't building the starting pile properly. But I always get a bottom-up pile going well, so that's what I use.

As others do, I scrounge all my wood, cutting, splitting, stacking,etc. For starting purposes, I also scrounge dry blowdown stuff from the woods, after a lengthy dry period, collecting multiple boxes of kindling ranging in size from spaghetti to perhaps an inch. I also save a box of paper-thin birch bark when I see it lying around or peel it off any birch logs I cut up.

My stove is small, too; it will take a 16" piece "north-south," and a little longer diagonally if the split width isn't too big. When I split rounds, I like to get a variety of widths, so that I'll have smaller pieces for starting. So what I do is to place a couple of pieces maybe thumb-width N-S, a couple of smaller pieces across that, fill inside with small strips of birch or other easily kindled stuff, then build up with progressively larger kindling and finally some not-too-big splits. Before lighting, I have to be sure the clothes dryer and range hood are not running. The house is very tight. I do have an insulated directly-connected outside air duct to the bottom rear of the stove, but anything exhausting air from the house will cause backdrafting when I try to light the fire. I usually leave the stove door ajar for a short interval to enhance the startup burn. Once the flue is full of hot flue gas, and the draft well-established, I can close the stove door and let the dryer or range hood be used; the stove will pull air through the outside connection.

I don't fill the firebox with a lot of wood, even after the burn is well-established. I don't burn for primary heat; we use the stove to warm up the lower level in the evening for watching TV. We could turn up the thermostat for that zone, but we like to watch the fire. It must be leftover cave-man DNA still in us. If we burned for primary heat, our use of the stove might well be different.

The comments on proper seasoning of wood are right. Some hardwoods, especially oak, take at least a couple of years to dry to under about 19-20% moisture content, and that's stacked under cover, not getting rained on regularly, and open at the sides for airflow. On hearth.com you'll see threads on stacking and drying. You can buy a moisture meter, which you can press into the face of a freshly-split piece to get a readout on water content.

Split wood from a vendor that is advertised as "seasoned" may be anything. Back in early 2011, we had been using our supply of dry wood for heating both the cottage and the new house (before the new heating system was installed). We nearly ran out of wood, so I had a load of "seasoned" wood delivered. Around a third was dry and burned well. Another third was so-so, but would burn if mixed with wood that was dry. The rest - well, any wetter and I could have taken a bath in it; I set it aside to dry for a couple of years.

One other thought: be sure to run the stove sufficiently hot so that the glass on the door stays clear during the burn. You should be able to wipe any soot from the inside of the glass the next day, using just a scrap of dampened paper towel. If you get creosote blackening the glass, and it's not easily removed, you aren't running the stove hot enough, which may mean the wood is too wet. If creosote is darkening the door glass, it also is depositing on the inside of the chimney over time, and that could lead to a fire down the road if not cleaned regularly.

Where do you get building scrap, and is in hardwood or pine?

Dick, thank you for this detailed reply. I see you have the same challenge as I do with the size of your stove. I guess loading diagonally is the only solution. I use "bottom up" loading in the sense that I start by placing two larger logs in the bottom. I find that that creates 3" or so of air space at the bottom. Otherwise, the pile of kindling tends to collapse and smother the fire. I never knew a clothes dryer could create a draft! I open a window on the theory that it will improve both draft and air quality. My chimney is probably a bit short, and it's on the down side of a hill.

I do dumpster dive. Also, lumber yards sell off scarps cheap. Most is pine


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I'm confused. Is your stove only 14-16" both ways? Attached is a pic to clarify N/S/E/W as I think Dick has it backwards in his summary.

Unless you have too-long wood for both orientations, you should be choosing one. Short pieces for quick starts/shorter burns = N/S, normal pieces for normal/extended burns = E/W.

If your fires aren't starting easily, you either have unseasoned (too moist) wood or not enough air. The air problem could be a damper/draft issue or clogged stove inlet.

Essentially, if things are "right," you shouldn't have to jump through hoops to pile the wood in a way that there's a lot of space/air.https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...421f726ef0.jpg

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My wood fits east-west. It doesn't fit north-south. Your photos illustrate the problem: no air! There's no way my stove would burn a good fire loaded like that. My fires start fine. Adding more wood is difficult because the pieces only fit one way, which makes it hard to get air in the pile.

So that's my point: there's no such thing as getting "air into the pile." Unless it's a weird stove, your air inlet is towards the front and/or front top of the stove. The purpose of that design is to pack the firebox tight with wood so it burns from top/front to down/back.

What, exactly, is the problem you're having?

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Splitting large chunks of wood by hand
 

I watched this video yesterday: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w-Rc-4cwJ1Y

It shows how to split very large chunks of wood by hand by placing the axe on the outside edge and striking it with a mallet, rather than hitting it with an axe or maul in the center. I tried this method today and it worked! However, for me, at least, it was nowhere near as easy as this guy shows in the video. I was splitting maple that's been drying for 3 years (plus it was dead when it was cut down). Some of the grain was pretty ornery and it took forever to split it. Also, my axe took a beating and got stuck often.

(I know you can also split large chunks by cutting off small wedges around the outside. I'll try that next time to compare.)

If you're gonna be splitting by hand, grab a Fiskars X25.

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Are you sure about that? I read somewhere that modern stoves are harder to get a hot fire going and maintain it. The air inlet is at the back near the bottom, plus in the tubes with holes in them on the underside of the top of the stove. My stove absolutely cannot be "packed tight."

What's my problem? As I said in my original post, "I try to criss-cross the pieces diagonally, but usually they eventually collapse so that they're all lined up lengthwise with insufficient air between the pieces." And then the fire dies down. Eventually I do get a hot fire going, it's just that the wood pile is precarious.

Here's a photo of my wood stove. It's a CFM (made in Canada) bought at Home Depot around 2005.

Ok, so if you look at your stove, the air control slide is in the front at the bottom—right inside the front door is the "dog house," which is where the air comes in. The burner tubes at the top only "recycle" combustible air.

With that stove, you absolutely should be able to pack it full and have it burn front to back. If not, you've got a poor draft and/or blockage.

If you don't want to get into problem-solving/learning to burn properly (not a criticism, just clarifying), then I would split some small wedges and put them between your stacked logs to "let the air in."

PS That's an Englander 13 (essentially identical: https://www.acmestoveco.com/product/...3-nc-pedestal/), which I also own. It's a notoriously difficult stove to master given the size, especially if the venting/drafting system is imperfect.

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I know the Fiskars have great reviews. Yesterday I bought a little Fiskars X7 hatchet for splitting kindling based on excellent reviews. I didn't find it effective at all. There's something odd about the shape of the blade---it barely penetrates the wood and bounces back. I sharpened an old hatchet I got for $5 at a yard sale and it works way better than the Fiskars. According to a YouTube review, a Fiskars axe is great for chopping but not as good for splitting. I sharpened my old axe too and it works pretty well, but I assume that axes are better these days (?). I'm going to return the X7.

Very informative video, Fiskars vs Gerber vs Estwing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gi3NkYGpZi8

Those are hatchets, not to be confused with axes or splitting axes. Maple gets really stringy with age, but the Fiskars splitting axes are as good as I've ever used.

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Yes, I know the differences between a hatchet, axe, and maul. I have one of each.

Can you elaborate on that?

Your pictures show what I was describing. The first two small pieces of kindling go in front to back ("N-S"), other kindling on top so as to provide air space to get the blaze going, and larger splits on top of that pile, diagonally, N-S, and E-W to provide stability as the kindling burns through and the pile settles. But I'm not putting in a full firebox load, as in your pictures. Also, my firebox (inside the bricks) is just over 17" deep (N-S) by just over 13" wide (E-W). It's a Quadrafire 2100 Millenium. Also, mine has the primary air low in front and the secondary tubes up top in the middle. After I get the stove up to temperature, I close the primary air control and the stove is running on "secondaries." The heat of the process makes the wood undergo pyrolysis, and the gases combine with the superheated air from the tubes, igniting the mixture.

So, because it's a fairly small box, it's tough to find the right balance for the air adjustment (front slide) that keeps the fire hot and cruising without burning through too quickly.

Do you have a temperature gauge on the flue? That's pretty important to figure out when to close the air and when to keep it open, etc.

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Here are photos of the load I'm putting in now (not my Englander, but it's not really different). Five pieces: two up against the back, one in the middle, two up front with the top one pushed back almost to the rear top. In the middle is 1/8 of a Super Cedar starter (the starter, in the first pic, will go on top of the single middle log, which is essentially where the knot is in the photo). Nothing else. This will take about five minutes to get going with the air totally open and front door cracked. I'll then shut the door and wait for the temp to get to around 400 when I'll shut the air down to 50%.

My wood is 3+ year-old birch/maple/oak/pine.

It'll burn for 3-4 hours and bring my 1,200 ft² top floor from 63 to roughly 70 for the rest of the night. It's currently 45° out.https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...6f456d356d.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...219078d0dc.jpg

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Well . . . clearly I'm doing it differently. I keep a low (in height) but hot fire. Once it gets going good I burn at most 4 logs at a time, about 4-5 inches in diameter, and I add a log every 20 minutes. I don't have a thermometer. Perhaps I should. I never close the damper at all. I've only used the wood stove during power outages for the last 10 years or so, since the cost of oil was reasonable. So I'm relearning things. I plan to use it now for the remainder of the season, in hopes that oil will be cheaper next season.

You burn pine logs? Or you only use pine for kindling?

A slow fire clogs your chimney. When we burned wood, I let it roar first thing in the morning when I started up the coals to keep the chimney clean.

Ok, so you're wasting a lot of wood. These aren't like fireplaces that are "fully running" all the time and just keep adding wood (though even fireplaces have damper and flue adjustments to slow burn/retain heat).

These are made to load up (not always totally) and, when up to temp/going well, dampened to run long hours. At most, you should be filling that every three hours. A good, tight load should go 6+. Getting more than that with that stove is almost impossible given the box size, but there should definitely be enough coals in the morning to restart easily if loading fairly late the night before.

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You sure on those measurements? The schematic online shows that the front door is 13", which means you must have at least 16" inside and probably closer to 17". There's very few (new) stoves that don't take at least 16" logs.

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Can anyone else comment on this? I've been heating with wood for 25 years and never heard that you're supposed to load the wood stove full and let it burn for 3 hours. I really don't think it's possible for a stove this small to burn for 3 hours.

For real? I have no idea how you've gotten 25 years with a wood stove without knowing this stuff.

Here's a 15-year-old post from—hello!—me on the forum suggested above. Again, this isn't your exact stove but essentially the same.

https://www.hearth.com/talk/threads/...-please.44782/https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...6924125660.jpg

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HAHA! Yes, for real. Why? Well we've established that I'm generally incompetent with anything involving a house, car, investments . . . . One of these days we'll find something I'm good at. I don't believe you about stuffing the stove full and not reloading for 3 hours. Not this particular stove. Waiting for confirmation from others.

Here's that same load of wood three hours later, only about 1/2 burned because I was able to close it right down. It's 70 in the house, and look at those secondaries!

https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...6e3a6269fc.jpg

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I burn pine if that is what I have


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In theory, the pine should put out more BTUs than the hardwood...
It just burns hotter for a shorter time.

Fact.


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Here's the most complete source summarizing everything I've tried to simplify for you...from one of the best wood stove manufacturers. The single only difference is going to be the amount of wood one stove holds over another and the resulting burn times. For my Englander, 3-6 hours is the minimum expectation; for my Hearthstone, 4 (starting pine)-8 (banked oak) is the range. Some of the newer catalytic stoves get up to 12 hours of heat in a load cycle, which is ridiculous.

https://www.jotul.com/how-tos/how-bu...tain-wood-fire

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OK, I read that whole article; thanks for the link. I think this is what we're discussing: "Fuel load geometry: Small pieces of firewood arranged loosely in a crisscross pattern burn quickly because the combustion air can reach all the pieces at once. Larger pieces placed compactly burn more slowly because there are fewer spaces where the air can penetrate the load. Never add just one or two pieces of wood to a fire. Three or more pieces are needed to form a sheltered pocket of glowing coals that reflect heat toward each other and sustain the fire."

I started burning wood a few days ago. Now that I have more practice, I'm not having any trouble lighting the fire or keeping it going. Since I'm at home and my office is near the woodstove, I just add 1 to 3 pieces of wood, depending on their size, whenever the fire is getting low. By "low" I mean there are still flames and glowing coals, but there's room for more logs. I add a log about every 20 minutes. Temperature in the house is 64, which is exactly where I like it. What's wrong with this method, if I'm home and can tend the fire?

The key to starting a fire is kndling and you can quickly and easily make a pile from your cordwood using a Kindling Cracker. I've heated with wood for much of my life and this is one of the best tools I've ever bought for the task! I heat from the basement and this tool and a hatchet are sitting just a few feet away from my stove. A super easy, super fast, and super convenient way to build your fire.
It is also a lot easily to fit longer wood in a smaller stove if it has been reduced in diameter

The wood stove that I "enjoyed" for many years was a Vermont Castings Intrepid II.

It had a catalytic converter and a temperature controlled air intake device.

It cooked my firewood.

To start it, the cat was bypassed via an internal damper.

Once a good fire was established the damper lever was turned to route the smoke through the cat.

Then the wood would glow bright red with little to no flame.

The air intake, which controlled how hot the fire would burn, had a metal coil that would expand and contract with temperature changes.

When you set the air intake opening to the desired gap the coil would keep it there.

This resulted in a good long burn requiring no additional attention.

My only gripe was that the stove needed wood measuring 16" or less.

I used to cut my own so I targeted 14".

Remember that wood heats you twice... at least.

Nothing.
The longer burn times are for overnight, when no one is there to tend the fire.
Less of an issue when the wood stove is used as a secondary.
The oil-fired boiler kick in should the house temperature get below whatever you set at the thermostat.

Only thing is to be careful that the wood stove does not heat the thermostat to the point of ''fooling'' it and allow for remote rooms to get too cold (not as much a problem this time of year - but during deep winter it could cause some pipes to freeze).

Take the station wagon out to some rural wooded dirt roads. Park. Walk through the woods and collect the dead twigs and small branches on ground. Fill up station wagon. Done.

Granted. This might be trespassing. But all may be happy that the forest floor is being cleaned up.

Simple solution to a simple problem.

You left out the tick inspection. :D

When I was actively cutting firewood in CT I took zero tick preventative measures and never saw a single tick.

Now it seems that a casual walk on a woods trail will get you a hitchhiker or three. :(

You can clearly make it work, but if you're not adjusting the stove at all, you're burning more wood than necessary (reducing the overall cost benefit of wood over oil), wasting time (not a big deal, I suppose), increasing particulate matter, and, probably most potentially negative, maybe not getting the stack hot enough to burn efficiently which could lead to creosote buildup and increased fire risk.

These new stoves are designed to be run in a specific way to get the most out of them, but you do you!

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What's the current thinking about pine and creosote? I heard years ago that you could mix 1/3 pine with hardwood.

Have my chimney cleaned every other year and never a issue. I also tell them I burn pine, I burn a lot of pine. Burns quick, a bit of a pain because you are feeding it more often.


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Points well taken, thank you. Upon your advice, I closed the damper 2/3 of the way and that worked fine. Every time I get the chimney cleaned the guy says, "No creosote. It didn't really need cleaning." My interpretation: lots of air in the stove = hot fire = no creosote.

= inefficient burn.

The key is finding the right balance of burn rate/efficiency, heat, and cleanliness (creosote, ash, window).

NB: I would not have gone as deep into this if you hadn't shown your...frugality...previously!

On pine: it's fast to heat up, light to carry, easy to process, and seasons much faster than anything else. BUT...it burns very quickly and can increase creosote if not seasoned well. It's the scrounger's dream as everyone gives it away and straight/knot-free logs are a dime a dozen.

I burn almost 100% pine in the shoulder seasons and then use it to start the stove before switching to birch/maple/oak in the coldest months.

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I don't think the mix matters as much as incomplete combustion.

Dry pine should burn hot, and create less creosote.

The large build up would be due to allowing the flue to be heated, then cooled, over and over with each new fire.

Cleaning the flue at the beginning, and possibly end, of every season should control the majority of that.

Yes, I'm frugal, so I don't want to waste wood. Can you explain your argument about efficiency more? How is a hot fire inefficient?

Also, does very dry pine create NO creosote, or less creosote, or what?

It's not an argument, it's fact—if you reduce the amount of air being fed into the stove, you will reduce the speed at which it burns. I mean, you're feeding a new piece every 20 minutes (plus your initial load) and I ran my stove for almost 5 hours on 5 total pieces. The burn tube and air inlet (and catalytic) designs are for increased efficiency—otherwise, it's a fireplace.

Unseasoned pine can create more creosote (and ash) because the moisture and sap reduces the temperature of the burn while also preventing complete burning.

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If the pieces are the same size... she may be introducing more air.

I switched from a large stove to a smaller stove because the larger stove would overheat the shop unless I nearly smoldered it. The large unit was designed to be an overnighter that could hold a larger charge. The small one might hold three pieces... but that is a big might.

Very dry wood creates less.

This has been a good thread, lots of info and after many posts, nobody has hijacked it. Thinkxingu has been particularly thorough.
Way back, there was talk about splitting wood with an ax and hitting the ax with a mallet. Eventually, that will spread the eye on the ax and the head will fly off. A loose head is mostly good only for cutting off toes. A "camper's ax" is OK for splitting wood for a campfire, but not in quantities for residential heating. Better to use a maul and steel wedges of various sizes. Easier is a wedge fixed to a vertical post that is driven with a sledge hammer.

It sounds like the OP, feeding every 20 minutes, wanted a pretty fire, not a long lasting fire. If the price of oil remains stable, learning to conserve wood and feeding every4 hours will take over.
If wood will be the dominant fuel for 2022-23 winter, better buy now, split and age it yourself. If you like 14" lengths, it should age easily. Given enough time, 14", smaller diameter should age OK without splitting.

I like pine in the fireplace and outdoors, not so much in a wood stove except for kindling. For starting, consider buying an artificial log and cutting off a 1"-2" thick piece. If your wood is dry and split, that should get you started with no fuss.

Exactly what happened when I used a hatchet to pound on the ax the other day, though the head didn't actually fly off.

Ha! Good point! Hence I'm trying to learn more about this. I have not yet grasped the balance between a fire's need for air and burning too quickly, and how to maintain the right temperature in the house. At the moment it's too hot in my house and the humidity is 16%, which again led to shorting out my computer with static electricity.

For people like myself who aren't retired, we have to weigh having free heat from our own property against the time lost from our work to cut, split, and haul wood.

cut, split, haul
 

I used to do that 30+ years ago when I was working because I was physically able. My neighbor and I split a grapple load. Having retired a while back I don't have the urge to cut split and haul wood, even though I (could) have the time.
Glad your toes are OK.

I am retired and not burning wood for heat.

If I did I might save some money but I am more concerned about my "body capital" account than my bank account.

How do I wish to use the remaining capabilities of my body?


I'd rather reel in a fish than split a log. :D

Gardening and splitting wood is reasonable exercise if done with care.

If I had my druthers, I'd have a gas fireplace with remote control, but processing firewood with the greatest chainsaw ever made and a 27-ton hydraulic splitter is good exercise that warms me thrice for free (other than fuel and basic maintenance, of course).

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So what's the greatest chainsaw ever made?

The Stihl MS-361.

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That's OK but I get better results with the 881.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=75iOaMW-pTE

Hahahaha! That thing's ridiculous.

The chainsaw is among the absolute best tools—talk about making a tough job much easier.

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The kids toy 881? This from my brother in-law lumberjack.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dsiP-blQslI

Alan who has but a baby MS 250.

For days when I don't feel like gassing up the 881 I use this: https://www.homedepot.com/p/Homelite...3104/202723256

A price even FLL would approve and safe for the old folks.

Actually, those electric saws can be more dangerous than standard gas ones. Because the torque is so high, even chainsaw chaps aren't enough protection sometimes.

I do agree that it's a price FLL might appreciate!

*Note to forum members: admin removed a few posts with barbs on this thread, but Sailin and I have a playful relationship—we share a quirky back-and-forth in the background—so please know these jabs and needles are in jest.

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Amusing, but Alan will tell you, any 14 year old islander can beat those guys running a chain on the end of an old VW engine.

What's this about torque? That little mini mite, the Homelite 14", is very tame. My problem with a gas chainsaw, aside from the gas and maintenance, was its weight. I once cut my leg with it because I was tired at the end of the day and I let it fall the wrong way at the end of a cut. No such problem with the little Homelite. Light as a feather. Also comes in 16" for $99 at Home Depot.

(OK, do your manspeak now and tell me all about torque.)

Is it manspeak if you ask the question?!

Here you go, lest you ask for "confirmation from others": https://www.chainsawjournal.com/torque-vs-horsepower/

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Oh! Oh! Hooked a big fish! Fun! Well, it's manspeak if the question is rhetorical. Still, I will read that article with interest. I may even subscribe to Chainsaw Journal, to replace Down East Magazine as I'm tired of the ads for multi-million-dollar ocean-front properties.

I am still waiting for others to confirm that they burn one log per hour.

Um... :laugh:

Huge.

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With a cat and controlling the air, it is possible to make the fuel load last a long time.
The cat increases the efficiency - so more heat - and generally those stoves are really tight, so they don't draw air from the room.

I love my kindling cracker!

Stove temperature; humidity
 

Two questions:

(1) How about this stovepipe thermometer: https://www.amazon.com/WoodSaver-Sto.../dp/B0011BBAH4

(2) Is it OK to put a large aluminum pot on the stove for humidity, providing that it doesn't run dry? Can the metal get thin and possibly crack over time?

The temperature meter should help keep the flue in the proper range.
As long as water stays in the pot... not sure that anything bad would happen.

Because the stove is most likely not a cat with external supply air... you will only get it so efficient.

Because you are starting a new fire repeatedly, the flue will drop outside the optimum range and into the creosote range as you warm it up and let it cool down.

Yes
 

1. Yes, but I prefer having one with the degree marks. I have 2 on the stack about 8-10 inches apart with the lower one about 36 inches up the pipe. I do compare the two, and there really isn't much difference between the two. Call it redundancy.

2. I use cast iron sitting on a trivet on my stove. I used to buy the $80 ones but they got a build up of mineral deposits that really marred the appearance. We switched over to an inexpensive one and I get the same deposits. Each year we have taken a wire brush to the deposits and then put some some polish on it. We usually change them at 3-4 years. Cheaper is easier on the mind to replace.

Never used aluminum pots. Go on Amazon for the cast iron or to your local fireplace and woodstove retailer.

Dave

Yes, cast iron. But don't add cold water if it boils dry. Remove it, let it cool, than add water and reset. It's April. Save this thread for next fall.

Something like this is what they are talking about...
https://www.tractorsupply.com/tsc/pr...All%20Products

By next fall oil will be $2 a gallon and I won't need to heat with wood. :D

But if you can get wood inexpensively, it'll always be a good source of heat, especially for those days you wanna get a bit warmer than the 47° you keep your house at!

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Actually this
 

Actually this is like what I have.

FireBeauty Woodstove Steamer Stove Humidifier Cast Iron Lattice Top Rust Resistant 2.3 Quart Capacity (horse) https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08FJHP3PW...NMYREM6GSR2PXJ

Dave

Better safe than sorry.
I have several solar projects in the works for areas that do not have shading issues...

Busy busy busy
 

Congratulations on passing the 1000 mark in less than a year. You're a busy guy.

More bored.

Now that I've had a month to practice heating with wood, here's what I've learned. I think I was splitting the wood too small and burning it too hot, hence the rapid consumption of fuel. I switched to burning larger pieces---8" instead of 4"---and I close the damper about 2/3 once a hot bed of embers is established. So Thinkxingu was correct about all this! (But not, I think, about the number of large logs I can fit in my stove for burning all night.)

Since I have no idea what the price of oil will be by the fall, I think I will try to replenish my wood pile from my own woods. That will save money on fuel and also clean up the woods. At the very least, I can set the thermostat to 50 day and night, and supplement with wood so that the thermostat would only come on on a cold night, and never during the day.

Some tricks I learned: I prefer to split kindling the lazy person's way, sitting down. I got a 12" x 12" log that happened to have a vertical notch in it. The notch will hold any oddly shaped piece of wood, like the ones that were cut at an angle---the poor person's Kindling Cracker.

To cut larger (8"-10") but short (24") logs with a chainsaw (it's hard to hold those), I made a contraption like a miter box and nailed it to the top of a 15" high chopping log. Even a small electric chainsaw can cut through larger logs just by cutting and turning the log in the miter box. The miter box can also hold one or more long branches for sawing.

This is mostly tedious and messy work, not to mention dangerous, although splitting kindling is pretty satisfying. I read the mini split thread with envy and dream about solar heat also. Anything but oil.

Sounds good, but don't forget that the wood you process now will not be ready to burn by fall—maybe next spring, if it's pine. Alternatively, if it can get full sun without anything holding in moisture, you'll be able to combine it with older wood.

Oh, and you're welcome.

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The solar that I am looking at is more about hot water...
But Gary (ex-Boeing engineer) has been working on it and compiling the effort for decades. He was a strong contributor to the Mother Earth News forum over the years as we worked out the differences between theory and real world outcomes. He keeps his information on the www.builditsolar.com site.

Fwiw
 

FWIW, I have been burning wood for over 25 years. I have a large asphalt driveway that gets sun from mid-morning to about dinner time. I have had on the driveway anywhere from 5-6 cords of wood when I was burning 24/7 to about 3 cord when I'm burning from morning until bedtime, like now. The wood is on the driveway in June, usually not later than the 15th.The wood gets stacked under cover in late September. Our chimney has been cleaned annually by the same sweep for most of those 25 years. He always mentions how efficient our wood quality is, mainly red & white oak, maple, some birch and ash, for the minimal creosote buildup. The wood is green in the spring.
I use 2-3 sticks of fatwood to start the fire and am able to get a hot burn going, 400+° stack temp. We do tend the fire, damping it down as necessary to prevent over burn high temps and then opening the air more as it starts burning down.
We have a Hearthstone Madison stove with two eco style fans on the top of the stove to push hot air into the middle of the room and a 52 in circulating fan set to blow up in the winter.
I'll be getting ready to split wood over the next two months or so. In a perfect world, I would say a year to season wood, but my driveway acts almost like a kiln. My former supplier often said he wished all his customers had a driveway like mine.
Happy burning :)

Dave

There's certainly speedier ways than others to season! Fortunately, I've got a 4+ cord wood rack and only use ~1-1.5/year, so I'm always working with a clean and dry supply.

That's what I've gotta do to 100% scrounge—in 15 years, I've never paid for wood. Free heat!

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I fondly remember my wood scrounging days.

One year I had an arrangement with a guy who had his land logged.

The "tops" remained and my job was to cut the firewood diameter stuff into 8' lengths.

For each pick up bed load I brought to the land owner I got to keep one as well.

Lately, each time I head to Concord via I93 I see the logs left from the highway tree cutting crew and start to reminisce.

Then my back says NFW, keep driving!

Where does I93 have trees within the State corridor?

The last I knew the entire State corridor width had to be stripped of trees and planted through the federal highway grant system.

Shut up John. It is not our job to turn in poachers, if that is what's happening. If not, leave it alone anyway.

I don't recall. Next time I ride by I'll get the coordinates for you.

You'll have to be quick though, there will be plenty of potential witnesses. :D

I have forested land.

If you have to be quick, it probably isn't State land... and you may be stealing from a private landowner.

I have a lot of wood on my property that's already seasoned, including a large maple that fell 3 years ago. Just need to figure out how to get it cut and split.

If it's not cut and split, it's not seasoned. And if it's been tight against the ground for three years, it may be rotting.

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