Hey guys, I’ve been running my Empyre elite XT200 now for about a week. Everything is going pretty well except I am having problems with bridging and my fire going out. How do you guys load your box to avoid this? We are pretty limited here to our selection of wood so I am burning spruce. I have had a few nights where it didn’t bridge and burned 13 hours or so but more times than not I wake up and it has bridged on me. Any tips would be awesome! Thanks!
I only can offer what I my experiences have shown me. My guess is your stove is a gasser not a conventional stove, right? I have a Central Boiler gasser and most gassers operate under the same the principle. A couple of things come to mind;
1) Maybe the wood is a bit too damp and the coal bed is concentrated in the middle of the firebox (This happened to me the year I operated mine) In order to have a nice even fire the coals need to be spread out and approx. 2 to 3 inches deep and the wood needs to be well seasoned.
2) Perhaps the logs are to long in length where only the center is burning not the entire thing. You may have to shorten the length of your logs.
3) Maybe you're putting to much fire wood in the fire box. I put just enough in mine to last 12 hours, especially during these warm days.
4) Make sure the logs aren't bunched together too tight. Allow for air to get between them. This will help maintain the coal bed.
I hope this helps. Keep us posted on how things are going. Roger