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[justinb]

I started the fire on my new Heatmaster 10000mfe last Sunday.  Everything has been working fine until today.  This morning the fan was running, but the fire was out.  I started a new fire, and it was up to temperature in 15 minutes.  I have the temp set at 170 with a 10 degree differential.  I went home for lunch, and the fire was again out with the fan running???

The past week has been warm so the fire probably hasn't been burning for long periods of time.  Do I just need to develop a better hot coal bed?  I started a new fire at lunch with smaller pieces of wood.  I also increased my temperature to 175 with a 5 degree differential to try and get more frequent burns.  I also opened the windows and increased my house thermostat to 72 degrees.  What else can I do??

[CountryBoyJohn]

You hit the nail on the head.  It will take SEVERAL days to get your coal bed established.  Don't empty your ash pan for a while (2 weeks).  Keep feeding lots of smaller pieces.  Check on it as frequently as you can.  I try to start my fire on a Saturday morning so I can nurse the fire along for 2 full days.  The warm days do make it more difficult. 

My fire went out 7 days after I started.  Gotta keep the pieces small and build build build that coal bed.  Welcome to the learning curve!! 

[fryedaddy]

It's always harder to start fires in the shoulder months. Keeping your first fire going is a challenge as well.

Soon you will be debating the size wood, type wood, coal and other was to make what you have more efficient.

I think we all try to make what we have last longer during burning season.

[AirForcePOL]

I just lit mine last Friday so I'm going on right at a week with my new stove.  I havn't had any issues with keeping a fire going so far.  I split my pieces pretty small and have made sure to always keep wood in the stove.  My coal bed is starting to build up pretty good.  I havne't used my shaker grates yet as I don't want to lose any of the coals that I have built up in the stove.  I have my temp set at 185 with a 15 degree differential and it seems to work pretty good.  I feel that the larger differential helps because when the stove calls for heat, the fire is burning a little bit longer to get the water back up to temp which in return makes more coals.  Maybe I'm worng on that?  Also, what is your cumbustion air set at on the back of the stove?  Yoder had posted in another thread that on the E models you need to have it set at 100% all the time. 

[CountryBoyJohn]

Mr. AirforcePOL, you're right on track.  Larger differential gets longer burns and gets the fire up into the "newer" wood and deepens your coal bed.  You are also right on the money with the grates.  Don't touch them!! 

I, and 4 other 10,000E owners run 100% open.  I haven't seen any opinions from the smaller stoves. 

[MattyNH]

I guess my question is what kind of wood are you burning? Reason why I ask..If your burring pine..It does not hold the hot coals...I fired up my boiler last sunday.. I don't quit have a huge demand on my boiler yet..So my fire is still a "baby" where i have no coal bed..Only wood i burn mainly is hardwood..I have throw a piece or so of pine on top

[fireboss]

I only burn pine and I can go a few days in between cycles  maybe because my blower is in the front?

[justinb]

I've been doing much better now that I'm burning smaller, split pieces of wood.  I was loading up with large pieces of oak, and the demand from the house just wasn't there.  It was chilly here all weekend, and I achieved good burns.  Looks like I'll have to baby it with smaller pieces of wood until it really gets cold.

[LittleJohn]

SHOULDER SEASONS are the WORST

I will try to fire once a day, and not worry about fire going out as long as I am comfortable WIFE is comfortable 

How do you run any system when you have frost and hi's in the 40's one day and 2 days later weather man says it will be 70's   

[Sloppy_Snood]

Reo Speedwagon - Keep the Fire Burnin' (1982)

[lindnova]

I light mine once in October and almost never have to relight.  Once you get used to how they operate it should be easy. 

Dry wood is important especially while forming the coal bed.  I try to burn well seasoned dry wood.  Some of my rounds are large and probably have 25-30% moisture and I split a lot of it (large splits 1-2 years to dry) to get it to dry to 20% moisture.  I get better burns, less smoke and more heat from it.

It sounds funny, but I burn mostly elm or good coaling woods in the shoulder season to keep coals;  I mix in some box elder or pine on the colder fall days.  If I burn straight box elder or pine I need to load more full to keep the coals going which seems to waste more up the stack.  I burn the light woods that don't coal either the warmer winter days or very cold days that I am home to feed regularly.  Nothing like a subzero weekend to burn box elder all day and oak at night.

The only reason I burn box elder is I always have so much when clearing field tree lines every year and I hate to waste it all.  I don't go out of my way for it.  It is marginal wood in the outdoor furnace, but I usually burn 2 cords of it a year.

With some experience one figures out when to load the hardwood for long burns, junk wood for short burns or hardwood to keep the coals going.

[victor6deep]

I like to mix good seasoned oak or cherry with some green cherry.