A friend asked this on another forum. “The problem I'm having is with coals. When I load up the empty firebox in the morning I get great heat out of the resulting roaring fire. Eventually of course, the logs burn down and the heat output lowers some and I then add more logs and the output rises again. Rinse and repeat. But after about 5 hours of this, eventually the level of red hot coals builds up quite high in the fire box thus physically limiting the amount of room available to add in more logs so therefore I get a reduction in heat output despite the box containing a large amount of coals.”
Many will recommend pine to burn down those coals. A single peice at a time. I think ultimately he needs to make his split sizes smaller.
Good advice...pine, or any fast burning/low coaling wood will do. Also, might go without saying here, but if he is a new burner he may not know that he can rake those coals into a nice pile toward the front of the stove, then open the air up some, they'll burn down some, while making some heat (not as much as reloading, but more than just letting them linger in the ashes) Also, if he is burning a high coaling wood, like Oak, mixing in something less dense on each load can help too.
What type of wood is he burning? Is he really burning logs? How many times is he reloading in a 5 hour period? I'd reccomend more air and or smaller splits. Also as was already suggested mix wood types.
I used to just open the stove door, let the heat radiate until the coals dissipated some. This was only on an extended burn from early morning til late afternoon and overnight. Never knew the pine trick then.
Most manufacturers specifically say not to...pretty easy to overheat stove internals/etc that way, it can turn a pile of semi hot coals into literal forge temps quickly.
Once the coals build up, load it a few times with only a stick or two and open the air up a little bit more. Or like mentioned, burn some softer wood mixed in
When we bought our Fireview stove that is one of the first things I noticed. We do not have a backup heat source so when it get really cold we just kept putting wood in, and like your friend, we got a massive amount of hot coals. I asked around but found none of the solutions worked for me. The trick of adding 1 or 2 small pieces of fast burning wood worked a little but not enough. So I began experimenting. I finally came up with a good working solution. I watched the fire and just before the wood became all coals I then opened the draft all the way. Bingo. Simple solution that works. The trick is to learn at what point to open the draft but it is easy and you will learn quick. Good luck to your friend and it is nice seeing you on the forum again David.
This is what I end up doing when burning a bunch of oak or ash. If I have soft maple to mix in, I never get a big coal buildup.
I have an exterior block chimney. I used to have coal build up issues. At the beginning of the 24/25 season I sealed the clean out door. Draft increased, as did heat output. Coals burned down better and stovepipe stayed cleaner. I unsealed it this summer to inspect/clean and resealed in the fall.
It felt so good to crash in front of it, especially after a day of working out in the cold. The cat and I would fall asleep on the hardwood floor.
"My opinion", I only put in 1 large split about every 2 hours. Usually a Monster Oak split. Just slow down your, (rate of burn), This is only during the day. in the evening, before Nappy time I pack it with 2 or 3 big pieces. Come morning I have a nice coal bed and start process all over again. I'm burning an old Fisher and it is fairly simple. the only issue I have with her is during a hard blowing wind, 25+ mph, it'll eat wood and that's when I use more of the softer woods; (Maple, gum, Hackberry, etc)
Me, I love a nice deep bed of coals. Furnace allows 4-6" and still room for splits. Prefer it a little smaller for the bedtime load so more splits fit in and they don't burn down quite as fast. If I have a coal bed established heat is plentiful. Have always wanted to get some actual coal and see how the other half lives.
Simply put I think it comes down to pushing a stove beyond its capabilities. Like Backwoods I ran an older model Fireview for one year. It was certainly a coal creator. Life was different back then, that winter I was working 60-68 hours a week and too stubborn to burn oil. Get home from work to a cold house/stove and push it hard trying to get warm. Not exactly what soapstone excels at. By morning there’s so little room left for wood it’ll be cold again by lunch. Moisture in the wood may play a role too. I know that year with the Fireview my wood was subpar. Now I run a PH and I’m home all day. My problems are just the opposite. When I feel the house/stove is cool enough to add wood there’s nothing but fine ash in the stove. I’m trying to learn how to keep it running even slower than it’s designed to do by just adding a few splits here and there. This is where we should have a conversation on envelopes
In my Alaska -Kodiak insert at home with fire sitting right on firebrick, too many coals is never a problem, in fact I wish it would build a better coal bed most of the time. Only way it really gets a built up coal bed is if I'm burning with doors open and feeding it all the time. Old fashioned Shenandoah wood stove with grate and ash pan at cabin is different story. Coal bed easy to build and deep enough stove to always have room for any size splits on top. Like RCBS, I thought about trying some anthracite. It actually has a coal grate instead of wood grate.
Burning nice dry oak this year and even with the draft closed down at night by around 9 or so, I have to start from scratch in the morning. I remember having a better coal bed when I was burning paper birch.
Is this just an impatience thing? Wanna load it now and don’t have time to wait? If I’m near a reload and I have a big coal bed, I open my ash pan draft and feed (much) more air. I’ve never experienced a negative with coaling. More air, burn them down, reload.
