East/West and North/South loading.

I know this topic has probably been asked a thousand times. I have a country wood stove I purchased. Probably 15 years ago. I was new to wood burning at the time and there is a lot to learn when starting out. My stove was designed for East/ west loading, The stove will take a 22 inch log. If you want to load north / south 15 inch log is max. I love burning north/ south. I wish all fireboxes was made to do either. What do you guys like. I hope someday to maybe get a stove that is setup for north south loading.

 

I load from a side door. E-W works for me.

What do like about N-S burning?

 

My primary goal when using my saw & maul is to leave with the same number of fingers and toes I showed up with, so I seldom if ever wind up with uniformly cut pieces of wood. I'm in an "anything goes" wood supply situation, so N/S, E/W, zigzag, perpendicular... on start ups I think I pay more attention to the airflow between the sticks but when reloading on coals I don't have the same concerns.
The stove we have has a fairly small door in the front and a bit of a longer chamber compared to how narrow it is so I think most people would consider this a "N/S" loading stove, but again, if it's dry it goes in regardless of shape / length / orientation.

 

I like the way N/S burns better...but that doesn't work out so well on my lil Drolet 1400i stove as that means 11" long splits...whereas it will take 17" E/W...so I compromise and do the bottom layer N/S and the rest E/W...that work well enough, and I don't have to have a huge pile of mini splits...sometimes even just use "shorts/uglies" on the bottom layer

 

Made me chuckle. Always a great goal, that many people don't think about!

 

My 13NC is designed for EW burning. It's a small firebox, only 1.8cu.ft., but it pumps out good heat.

I scrounge a lot wind up with a lot of "chunks", "uglies", and "cookies" which I season between my rows of splits on my pallets.

That said; I can get a least 1/3rd more wood into my 13 with NS loading with the chunks, uglies, and cookies than a can with my normal 16-18" split!!! That's because I don't have to worry about any wood shifting and falling onto the glass with NS loading.

And I'm not gonna cut everything at 9" to fit into my stove NS..................nor am I gonna buy a chop saw to cut my regular splits in half to load NS!!!

Just typing.

 

My stove has a couple of cast iron pegs/andirons that keep logs from rolling on to the glass.

You can make out one of the two on the right side. The left one is obscured a bit.


So, it's E/W for me

 

N/S for me.

 

My stove will take up to a 20 1/2" split running east-west, but only a 14" running north-south. Most of my firewood is cut either 16 or 18 inches, although as of this year I started cutting a couple piles at 14"specifically for N/S burns. I prefer N/S loading when I'm doing a reload on a hot bed of coals, but not when I'm starting a fire in a cold stove. In that case I do something similar to what brenndatomu does, and kind of cross stack the splits in there to give myself plenty of airflow to get things going. I do enjoy the N/S stove tetris game, since I can pack the stove for a really long burn that way. East-west burns in my experience leave me with a lot of charred chunks towards the back of the stove, that I have to burn down with pine/spruce. N/S seems to burn more efficiently, allowing more air to reach the fuel at the back of the stove.

 

I load north south through front door of Ideal steel. Hold over 16” that way

maybe longer ones on top as shape of firebox is higher in front than back

 

Same here, I sometimes get really short splits I usually stack them last when stacking. I'll use them to load up a few times N/S. I feel like for my stove air gets circulating a bit better and I don't have to worry about anything rolling against the glass.

 

Lincoln log for new fires (best way IMHO), north south otherwise, found out on a reload in my IS if I rake the coals forward and put one piece east west on the bottom in the back it has eliminated any back puffing problems plus the stove is more controllable due (i think) to the extra air under the wood.

 

Does this make any sense? My stove can take a 25" piece (door to back)N/S. Air is introduced right above the door, so if I load N/S, that incoming air can help flame travel down the open space between splits. If I load E/W, the 2 splits in front of the door "block" that air stream and open flame does not easily/quickly flow to the back of the firebox. So this in effect would(and does) slow down the burn. Sure, it's not some magical method that creates more btu's, but in some instances, I believe it can help extend burn times when you can't reduce air flow beyond a certain point.

 

Yeah most wood furnaces are designed for N/S loading...my Kuuma is 22" deep, but only 15" wide, and all the (primary) air comes in front/bottom.
I can't think of a single E/W loading furnace...unless you include downdraft gasifier boilers...many of those you can load either way, but many seem to prefer loading those E/W from what I hear (helps stop bridging over the nozzle)

 

Makes all sort of sense to me, do you rake your coals over to the side or leave them in front?

 

My firebox has slots for ash to drop to a pan.

 

What brand of stove is that?

 

Englander 28-3500.

 

N/S makes for longer hotter burns times in my Century. I can get 17” splits in on N/S but 16”are best, 21” on E/W but not as much wood fits in. I use E/W for quicker fires in shoulder season burns or if I happen to be home during the days.