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[Wi woodburner]

Happy New year everyone...

For those running a Woodmaster 5500, where and how do you load your wood stove?

How: Size of wood, amount of wood, stacked in wood stove?

Where:  With the 2 blower fans on the 5500, where is the best spot to locate the fire in the firebox?  Middle, front, back? 2 stacks of wood?

Also, how often do you stir and empty the ashes?

Any other hints for using your 5500 would be greatly appreciated and I am sure others would like to learn as well.

Thanks for all of your help and comments...Happy Heating!

[kommandokenny]

Although I don't have a 5500 ,most of what you seek to know, you will find out, by just using the stove.
Seeing as no one else commented, I can give you some limited advice, as I was helped on this site.
I have a 4400 which is smaller than yours.1 fan.
I lay out two rows of wood in the back and two in the front .
All hard wood ,this fills the bottom of the stove and burns 12-20 hrs depending on the outside temperatures.
There are other factors of course, but I think you are after the basics to get started.
The colder it is out, the more wood you put in .
Just experiment and keep an eye on it
The ashes we rake before adding wood to the coals.
We have an auger system and I get the wife to cycle and clean the ashes out twice a week.
This all depends on how much you burn and of course, your wife.
The thing we had trouble with initially, was boil overs due to air leaks.
Make sure your door closes tight and the ash removal area is sealed up .
Our fan flapper got stuck open .
This, is I think,is common on some models.
I glued a weight to the top of the flapper and it's been fine since.
You don't want any air getting in other than from the fans.
Hope this helps you,, and glad I could post to help.
KK







T

[Wi woodburner]

Thanks for the info.  This is my first full season of burning with the 5500.  I installed last February when propane soared to over 4.00 gallon.  When you put in the two rows, how high do you stack them?  I have tried using longer pieces and having one large load in the middle of the stove but my firebox is so large it just seems like I need more wood.  I have been getting good 10-14 hour burns with temps in the teens.  This week we are expecting highs to be below zero so I am sure I will go through some wood this week.  Have you found that larger pieces burn better/longer or keep all pieces roughly the same size for better loading?

Once again, thanks for the help. 

[kommandokenny]

Your gonna have to experiment with yours.
I basically just cover the bottom of the stove with 2 layers of wood.

There are lots of variables here to consider.
Your house and length of pipe,the temp outside on and on ......
It will all come to you as you try different things.
As far as large pieces of wood goes ,i don't think it matters, large pieces may burn longer .
The wood has to be split and seasoned.
I use 80% Maple, Ash.

Cheers