Can I Get Some Help With My Woodstove Please?

[WindyHill]

Brand new stove? Owners manual? You should have one. Maybe there is another control you don't know about.

If it is a name brand stove you should be able to find a manual on the internet if you have the one that should have come with it.

Even though wood stoves are basically the same they can differ in how they operate. I need more information before I can give you any better advice.

I have an owner's manual for it but it doesn't clearly describe how to use the air control. It just says to close it partially to maintain a "slow burn". No other details.

Definitely no other controls I don't know about. It's a very simple stove.

I can get a good coal bed going before bed, load it with wood and in the morning the wood is gone and the coals are out. I MIGHT get a couple of tiny cinders, that's it.

Not sure what other info I should give?

would the type of wood and how well it's seasoned have any impact on how long it'll last for you?

It's mixed seasoned hardwoods, birch, maple, oak, etc.

 

[homesteadmomma]

Brand new stove? Owners manual? You should have one. Maybe there is another control you don't know about.

If it is a name brand stove you should be able to find a manual on the internet if you have the one that should have come with it.

Even though wood stoves are basically the same they can differ in how they operate. I need more information before I can give you any better advice.

I have an owner's manual for it but it doesn't clearly describe how to use the air control. It just says to close it partially to maintain a "slow burn". No other details.

Definitely no other controls I don't know about. It's a very simple stove.

I can get a good coal bed going before bed, load it with wood and in the morning the wood is gone and the coals are out. I MIGHT get a couple of tiny cinders, that's it.

Not sure what other info I should give?

would the type of wood and how well it's seasoned have any impact on how long it'll last for you?

The type of wood is important, very important to my husband and his logging family. In their eyes if it aint Tamarack or Red Fir it aint worth getting. I grew up with my family burning what ever we could get our hands on. We picked up a lot of scrap wood on construction sites.

 

[FarmerJamie]

I have an owner's manual for it but it doesn't clearly describe how to use the air control. It just says to close it partially to maintain a "slow burn". No other details.

Definitely no other controls I don't know about. It's a very simple stove.

I can get a good coal bed going before bed, load it with wood and in the morning the wood is gone and the coals are out. I MIGHT get a couple of tiny cinders, that's it.

Not sure what other info I should give?

would the type of wood and how well it's seasoned have any impact on how long it'll last for you?

The type of wood is important, very important to my husband and his logging family. In their eyes if it aint Tamarack or Red Fir it aint worth getting. I grew up with my family burning what ever we could get our hands on. We picked up a lot of scrap wood on construction sites.

Yeah, we "burn what we have" too, I asked, 'cause I thought that might be of some help.

 

[rebecca100]

Well seaoned wood will definately burn faster than wet(fresh cut). I use wet at night. I also use larger pieces and try to find a good big round piece that will burn slow. We don't have a damper in ours either, but it would help. Leaving the draft open will really cause you to burn more wood. It is like having the thermostat on high all the time. You only want it completely open when you want a rip roaring fire and when first building a fire. I have used wood heat since dh and I first married when I was 18. I had never used a woodstove in my life before that. It took a LOT of cold nights and cold mornings for me to learn how it was done. Now one of our fav. things to do is but on a pot of beans to cook on the wood heater in the morning for them to be done for supper.




Edited to add:

Around here about the only firewood you get is either hickory or oak. And I almost always use wet since dh has to cut the wood we use.

 

[SKR8PN]

Just one rule on wood your heating with.....NO PINE!!!

Back to the wood stove control issue......Get you fire burning good with a decent bed of coals. Cut the air back to ALMOST nothing. If you cut it off all the way it WILL put the fire out. On the other hand, if you give the fire to much air, it will burn right through and burn out.

 

[Beekissed]

It would help tremendously if we had a pic or namebrand/make/model of your stove. Any stove should be able to be loaded and dampered down for the night for sustained heating....there has to be a knack to yours, even if that means only allowing the tiniest airflow through your backdraft control but not enough to allow your wood to burn out during the night.

 

[freemotion]

The stove brand is not the only issue....the height and location of your chimney, the outdoor air temp, and the presence of downdrafts will all impact how you use your stove. Each set up has its own personality. We are having to re-learn "Woodstove 101" with our new stove.....it is SO much more efficient than the old one, but there are certain outdoor weather conditions that make it smoke enough that I've considered hanging some pork over it at times!

Does yours have an ash door? I find that opening/closing the ash door also gives me more options.

I can't close down my stove until there is a very good bed of coals. If there are downdrafts, (we live next to a hill and our chimney is short, only going through one story of the house) I have to be extra cautious about loading it up and then shutting it down for bed. I have to burn one log REALLY hot, then add the night's wood, get that going semi-hot, then shut the whole thing down. Let it cool a bit, then open it slightly. Then I can go to bed.

If you can find a big oak or maple log with a big knot, that will often burn longer and last through the night.

 

[Up-the-Creek]

Some stoves are just hard to get to burn all night. I have had a few that was easy, and some no matter what, the next morning it would be out. If the stove has a small firebox that makes it more difficult,...the thing is to have a good bed of hot coals and bank it with some unseasoned wood. Green wood will burn much slower. Shut the drafts down, not all the way, because it needs air to burn. Oh,.. and using larger pieces of wood helps.

 

[quercus21]

We have the same problem. I would consider our stove as a "chunk" stove. Up to 12" pieces is the largest we can put in it. It's air tight and burns for awhile with a good bed of coals and the damper turned down. I have even packed it with locust (it has fire bricks) and still woke up to only a few hot coals in the morning.

What type of stove do you have? What size of wood can you put in it? Does it have fire bricks?

 

[dacjohns]

As you can see there are many ways which are also stove dependant. It might take you a couple of seasons to learn your stove. I'm on my third winter and we finally getting the hang of our stove.

The type, size, and amount of wood will also affect how long your fire burns. It takes time and experience, what works for one person's stove and location may not work for you.

SKR8PN said no pine. As I said, what works or doesn't work for one person doesn't mean it won't work for you. Sometimes pine is the only thing available. I burned pine and juniper in New Mexico with no problem. It does have to be cured though. Conifers can create a lot of creosote which can be extrememly dangerous. Burning green oak and hickory can also create creosote.

Red fir and tamarack work great if that's what is available, more in the northwest. Oak and hickory aren't usually that common where fir and tamarack grow.

Do some internet research on firewoods; compare BTUs, ease of splitting, sparks, etc. Basically burn what is available and make sure it is cured, one year optimally.