Outdoor Wood Furnace Info
All-Purpose OWF Discussions => General Outdoor Furnace Discussion => Topic started by: DaveWertz on January 03, 2014, 08:41:18 PM
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How much does the size of wood you burn affect your stoves recovery time? This afternoon it was 6 outside. I was burning my kiln dried blocks which burn hot and seem to take less blower time to get going again. Well the house was at a comfy 72 to 73 in the house.
Tonight its down to about 3 to maybe 0 and I decided to throw in 3 big rounds that ranged from 18inches round to im gonna say 33inches was the biggest. The house is now at 68. Could the size of the wood you use affect the recovery time on your stove creating less heat to your home? Tonight was a good night to try it and so far it seems to be the case.
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I would say it depends on the quality of your coal bed. If you are basically empty and throw in big chunks, I would say yes, it would take longer to get 2 or 3 big rounds to start cooking vs. a bunch of smaller pieces. I would say if you are going to throw in big pieces, toss them in a couple hours sooner than you normally would.
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Well with the normal block wood I use there is usually always a bed of coals. With these rounds there were good coals when I put it in but I went and checked it out it didnt seems like many coals at all. I threw some blocks in there to get coals back in there.
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Yes , full rounds are mentioned in many threads as problem burning. Not on every stove, but many have stated. How's the burn look to you?
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Yeah I always have 4 or 5 smaller pieces on the bottom if I use big rounds.
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Dave, I have the same problem too with big rounds in my H4. I don't burn them often, I usually will split them in half just so that they can get going easier, but they don't last as long as they would if they were big rounds. That big round is a BIG ice cube at these temps. I mix in some smaller stuff with the bigger stuff. Helps get the bigger stuff going.
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Sprinter the burn didnt look even at all. Honda racer I wont make that mistake again. The stove had trouble keeping up lastnight. The house got down to 64! It is currently 68 and climbing with an outside temp of 6. I believe the huge chucks I threw in made it harder to get the fire going back again and just couldnt produce the heat fast enough to get to my house.
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Like several others mentioned, I will usually throw a big round in only if the is smaller stuff underneath and on the sides of it. I've been burning a load of seasoned hedge I got from a friend the last couple of days. The pieces are a lot smaller than anything I usually burn but the recovery times are great!
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Im gonna take a good look at the aqua stat also. I have it bumped to 185 for this single digit weather. I didnt see another dial to adjust the low side temp. I really dont think there is one. Its I believe the orginal honeywell.
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We don't split our wood, we cut large oak and burn "rounds" all the time, they are seasoned though and I cut them short (for handling, drying and burning), we usually call them "pills" because of their usual shape and they seem to work fine, we've been doing this for years, since we cut from our own land we have many small pieces, limbs and oddball assortment that we fit in among the bigger pieces. Obviously the bigger pieces have to be seasoned longer but we don't have a splitter and that just seems like handling the wood more to us. -35F predicted for tomorrow, will be burning some pills for sure, stay warm all.
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He said pills.......
I am surprised tho at how many stoves are sensitive to wood size and load amount. It's not like the old dumb burners where you loaded it anyway you wanted and as long as you had a good coal bed it was fine.
Now the uneven burn, what up with that? Knot in the wood? Or fire box design?
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ito...never thought of putting my old home made on the "pill" before...i dont like to split them rounds either. i usually cut them about 16 inches and roll them in...but i like the "pill" idea...if i go out for more wood this winter and come across a big trunk im gonna give it a whirl...thanks for the idea
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Caution, I've tried those pills and they don't do well in our gassers, anybody else try it with a gasser?
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i think our stoves are like cars, trucks, tractors and girls they all run a little diffrent start diffrent but the end gole is get them hot :thumbup: :thumbup:
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I usually throw a good mixture in when burning big rounds. I throw in some split wood then some big wood on top. Also a good idea to watch the temps at night and if it is going to get real cold then do not throw in just big rounds. Maybe do that during the day when you can keep your eye on your stove more
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I have a Pacific Western own that I just put in last fall. I have a variety of wood to burn in it.
Oak slabs from a sawmill, small little pieces burn like heck.
16 to 20" Poplar splits last summer, dry as a fart and lots of quick heat but short lasting.
16 to 20" Hardwood splits from tree tops ash, maple, walnut etc. Burns real hot, stove holds lots but not real long burn times.
6 to 10" dia x 48" long cherry logs, These are great, throw them in, lots of heat and long burns.
Old hydro poles 10"x 48" long (not treated) These also were great but I only have a few left. Stack them in last fall and I was getting 2 or 3 day burns out of them.
Next year I will be cutting longer lengths of stuff and very little splitting. I still have 10 cords of split hardwood to get quick heat if needed. If only I had a source of cheap coal.
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Is the little notch the indicator for the low recovery temp. This is a honeywell aqua stat?
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Dave, if thats the aquastat that I think it is, the metal dial is your cut out temp and the smaller white dial is the differential or temp cut in below cut out.
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Slim the white is the diff. I couldnt get a pic with the metal dial because the little white dial "diff" sits behind it.
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OK Dave the metal dial is setpoint, the boiler should shut off at setpoint, the diff or white dial is cut in temp, example setpoint of 185 with 10 degree diff, boiler runs up to 185 and shuts off, it will come back on at 175
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Gotcha. Thats what I set it at tonight as we are having high winds and dipping down to negative numbers.
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this year is the first year that i have burnt big rounds, just beacuse i cleaned up my pile.. i have nice split and stacked wood that is seasoned and if i loaded the box up with rounds i had a hard time keeping it going so i would then put dmaller splits on the bottom and then a few big rounds. i have a log splitter but my brother has it so i cut all of my rounds into 6' rounds and then split them they seemed to burn better than big rounds.. but now i am into season splits with great results good burn times and great recovery times, now if i had new windows and doors i would be in great shape lol
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I normally mix large rounds with split wood on cold nights.
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I hear ya walker! I got all new windows threwout the entire house even in the basement and attic. It did help. Tomorrow im having a contractor come and give me an estimate on cellulose blown insulation. Im excited to help keep thehewat in and cold out!
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If I can't get my hand across the block, when its green, I split it; kind of a hold over from the old day with indoor wood stove. Cause if I couldn't pick it up with one hand green it would not fit in the stove and the wife could not pick up the blocks.
By the way, "my hand size guide" means that anything over about 9" gets be split
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If I can't get my hand across the block, when its green, I split it; kind of a hold over from the old day with indoor wood stove. Cause if I couldn't pick it up with one hand green it would not fit in the stove and the wife could not pick up the blocks.
By the way, "my hand size guide" means that anything over about 9" gets be split
Starting this year I starting splitting down to "hand size" at 56 years old my back was feeling the bigger stuff, it takes a few seconds to split a block and a backache for me is all night...
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:thumbup:
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for sure big round blocks last long but they won't burn as intense especially if the stove is natural draft.
i always wack em in half.i know they don't last as long but it don't take all day to get going
and it ewasy to keep up to temp.instead of filling the stive up full just load smaller loads a little more often
just my opinion :thumbup:
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I also noticed since I started splitting almost everything my wood hasn't bridged and went out once.
I don't know if that is an issue with anything but Hardys but I used to have my fire die down and all but go out from bridging..
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I have seen where big logs would not fall down,,and therefore my stove went cold,,,they got caught half way down and did not hit the ashes....
learned my lesson,,,only 1 big one with few smaller ones..\
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On the opposite end of the scale, slab wood from a sawmill burns fairly quick and does not hold much fire, great for the first and last month of the heating season when you dont need a large amount of heat but you still want a warm house.