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[LittleJohn]

Not sure if anyone else has experimented with loading their boiler differently durign these "Shoulder" season.  I know most people will just load there boilers with less wood during the shoulder season, and get by.

I have recently tried a new method, that seems to work for me.  So here is the basic theory/practice, behind my madness.  Instead laying the wood lengthwise on the bottom of the firebox, as you should durign the main heating season.  I stand the blocks of wood on end in the firebox; so in theory I am just burning the end of the block not the entire side, if it were laid down. 

I relaize that this may affect my burn/ideal/recovering time in OWB, but in general my calles for heat are rather long (7k total sf of inslab) can take DAYS to heat up if I don't start it on time

[Roger2561]

Not sure if anyone else has experimented with loading their boiler differently durign these "Shoulder" season.  I know most people will just load there boilers with less wood during the shoulder season, and get by.

I have recently tried a new method, that seems to work for me.  So here is the basic theory/practice, behind my madness.  Instead laying the wood lengthwise on the bottom of the firebox, as you should durign the main heating season.  I stand the blocks of wood on end in the firebox; so in theory I am just burning the end of the block not the entire side, if it were laid down. 

I relaize that this may affect my burn/ideal/recovering time in OWB, but in general my calles for heat are rather long (7k total sf of inslab) can take DAYS to heat up if I don't start it on time

LittleJohn - I was going to ask how this works with the Eclassics but I see you heat with one.  Have you tried it?  Does it work okay for you?  I've been putting in 3 moderately sized pieces of firewood during these shoulder months.  Roger   

[LittleJohn]

It works, I was trying with light loads and different configurations; but in the shoulder season calls for heat during the day are pretty minimal (solar gain is enough most days) I need just enough coal to hang around so I don't need to relight a fire, so at night I will built/stoke for a bigger fire to heat slab back up.

With the eClassic, it has the thermostatic bypass and even is fire goes out I can pull heat off down to about 140f, with water temps less than 100f required for slab I can pull heat out of OWB long after fire has gone out.  Just realize it may take longer for boiler to get back to 180+ when u relight fire.

[Roger2561]

So, you're saying daytime you put firewood on end and at night you lay it down?

[trz]

What the heck does 'shoulder' season mean?

[slimjim]

Very interesting littlejohn, trz, the shoulder season is when you really don't need lots of heat but still have cool nights (Spring and Fall).

[Roger2561]

It was 29 degrees this morning where I live in NH so the heat is needed early in the morning hours.  I completely forgot to put the wood on end this morning to give it a try.  How much do you put in the firebox to last the day?  I realize you have the Eclassic 2400 which somewhat larger than my Eclassic 1400 so the amount of wood in the firebox would be different but trying to get an idea how much I should try.  Thanks, Roger

[LittleJohn]

I generally put in less than 1/4 of what a full load would be.  I found that if I put the same amount of wood in flat, it would all burn up and leave little to no coal at end of day.  By placing on end it seems that there is enough "Fresh" wood, not all coals to keep the fire going through out the day and keep up with the minimal calls for heat.

NOTE: I also have outdoor resets on my mixing valves, so as the outdoor temps get hotter I actaully put lower temps into the slab -> saving energy (in theory) and reducing the chance of the system overshooting it temperature settings.

I also watch the weather and sometimes I can left the fire go out for a few days, and still be able to pull heat from water jacket

[slimjim]

Professor Hill up here in Maine built a boiler many years ago that burned wood vertically that got great reviews, You may be onto something there LittleJohn!