Maintain those temps, boys

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Ironworker

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The key to heating your home efficiently with wood is to maintain the temperature as oppose to waiting till it starts cooling before throwing on another split. Got it!
 
Well I wouldn't speak in absolutes on that .You do that on many EPA stoves before the cycle is complete you'll end up with a heavy coal bed that provides little heat . Over coaling can be a big problem in cold months where you keep throwing wood in the firebox before the charge is burnt down
 
Well I wouldn't speak in absolutes on that .You do that on many EPA stoves before the cycle is complete you'll end up with a heavy coal bed that provides little heat . Over coaling can be a big problem in cold months where you keep throwing wood in the firebox before the charge is burnt down
Maybe I worded it wrong, I am referring to room temps and not stove temps.
 
We let the wood furnace cycle. It drops a couple of degrees over the burn, but doesn't take but a few minutes to bring it back up to temperature. As noted, I do this to avoid a large coal bed, but also to extend the burn. Mind you, letting it burn down a couple degrees usually involves temperatures at 72 to 73. The only time it drops is at the tail end of the burn, otherwise our thermostat keeps the house at a steady temp.
 
Well I wouldn't speak in absolutes on that .You do that on many EPA stoves before the cycle is complete you'll end up with a heavy coal bed that provides little heat . Over coaling can be a big problem in cold months where you keep throwing wood in the firebox before the charge is burnt down

Yeah when it drops below 0 degrees, coaling is a problem. I just leave the door wide open and come back after an hour or 2. Throws heat out and burns them coals down.
 
Yeah when it drops below 0 degrees, coaling is a problem. I just leave the door wide open and come back after an hour or 2. Throws heat out and burns them coals down.
Well Just don't forget or leave the house like that . That could be bad
 
My box has a coal grate... combustion air is fed under the grate and up through the coal bed.
In my box a deep coal bed is beneficial... not a detriment, or a problem.
When it drops below 0° the idea is to build and maintain a deep coal bed in my box, not avoid one.

(shrug) Makin' firewood should be the hard part, burnin' it should be the easy part. Open door, toss wood in, slam door, walk away, repeat in 8-16 hours depending... empty ash pan couple times a week.
*
 
Not always.

If your unit is smoldering while maintaining, and you keep it that way by throwing more wood in, that's not too efficient. That likely comes down to dry wood & loading right though - which can be tricky this time of the year.

I let the temp drop a couple degrees during the day if nobody else is home & not using those parts of the house, then put the wood to it later. Better burns burning wide open, and the house takes all the heat.
 
My old house fairly consistently loses about 6* overnight. Working with my (new to me) cat stove, if I can keep the probe temps up between 1000 and 1300*, I can gain about 2* an hour in ambient air temp. My goal is to have the house as warm as possible so that in the morning I can come down to a good bed of coals and a house thats warmer than 65*. We are having our first cold snap really up my way so this past weekend has been a bit of an experiment, with how low I can throttle the stove down (for a 7+ hour burn) while still slowing the heat lost over night. Of course if I was willing to load it every 4 hours, I could keep it over 72* in the house all night long, but with the settings for a long burn I have been trying, I can come down in 7.5 hours or so to a nice bed of coals, but the cat probe temp has dropped to around 300*- still blowing "warm" air, but not raising the inside temps of the house at all.
 
Well I wouldn't speak in absolutes on that .You do that on many EPA stoves before the cycle is complete you'll end up with a heavy coal bed that provides little heat . Over coaling can be a big problem in cold months where you keep throwing wood in the firebox before the charge is burnt down
One nice trick I've learned is to pull all the coals to the front(North South loading stove) and put a piece no wider than the stove across the coals, then leave the air wide open. The coals will burn down as the airflow will be mainly going under the wood placed on top. The stove will not get to hot, as long as you are only adding one piece at a time. This only works if you are home to take the time to do it.
I had thought of making a shovel to remove the large coals and use them in the spring shoulder season, but after using this technique I have no need.
 
One nice trick I've learned is to pull all the coals to the front(North South loading stove) and put a piece no wider than the stove across the coals, then leave the air wide open. The coals will burn down as the airflow will be mainly going under the wood placed on top. The stove will not get to hot, as long as you are only adding one piece at a time. This only works if you are home to take the time to do it.
I had thought of making a shovel to remove the large coals and use them in the spring shoulder season, but after using this technique I have no need.
I have a grate with an ash door...if theres too much coaling, I just open the ash door and it burns em down quick and also burns very hot...basically turns it into a forge:blob2:
 
My stove doesn't have those options. But I'm very pleased with it after 6yrs of use.
I'm starting to get an idea of how to run it:).
 

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I have a grate with an ash door...if theres too much coaling, I just open the ash door and it burns em down quick and also burns very hot...basically turns it into a forge:blob2:


My new furnace is like that , having an ash drawer with w handle in a separate lower chamber and a small grate is s wonderful benefit especially combined with the advantages of reburn technology that these new EPA units have . I do just as you and turbo charge the coals with below air to burn off the coal bed
 
Screenshot_2015-11-25-14-55-59.png Mine is an EPA stove also and I love it. 3.5-4.5 cords a yr, and it's my main source of heat.
I use a pellet stove when the temps get real low or when we get home after a vacation to get the house back up to temp.
I only use about 3-4 bags a yr. I love seeing the propane truck pull up next door, I just smile and wave.
 
When we're home we burn one or two splits at a time with the air full open, not to mention that small hot fires also keep the flue clean and yea EPA stoves are the way to go, very efficient and easy to keep hot with minimal effort.
 
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