So far, not impressed.

"Kinda like in JR. high school when a fella gets a nut for the first gal to grow a set of hooties and then finds out she is dumb as a box of hammers and her Dad owns a sawed off shotgun." ...

 

Never bothered to figure out the exact species of ash- it's btus and it ain't willow or cotton wood. Other than that your comment escapes me.

 

Butcher, I now know exactly what you are talking about and I go through the same thing when it gets bitterly cold and south winds in particular, I am home most of the time so I can baby sit the stove, I dont let the stove cycle through like I use to, as soon as the stove top temp starts to drop I open up the air to help with the coaling problem (new stoves are known for this).
If that does not work as well as I want it too I will be doing more like you with a less coaling wood and hot fires.
I am using a pedestal fan behind the stove blowing right along the top surface and I can run the stove hotter then before and that has helped quite a bit also. I will know more after this cold spell starting tomorrow.
I miss my old Nashua for sure, it's in the shop and I still am amazed how much heat that stove will put out.

 

I take the coals front and put some pellets on top and wot the air, helps increase flue temp to draw more air and burn the coals faster.

 

Believe me I have done it all, new stove is a runt compared to my old one and not as user friendly.
New stoves are known for coaling issues when driven hard.
Butcher's issues with Oak are well understood here.

 

Nobody commented on my last post here, but does this quality not make oak a good shoulder season wood?
When I'm needing lots of heat from my stove my Lodgepole pine pumps it out in spades, and with little coal or ash build up. When I require lots of heat the last thing I want is lots of coals building up in my stove or having to clean out the ashes every day. However, when all I want to do is take a slight chill off the house (shoulder season) having a wood that produces a good pile of coals putting out a smaller amount of heat for a long period of time is ideal, and oak seems to fit this bill. So doesn't it seems like the roles of these two types of wood (pine vs oak) are reversed to what is normally stated here?

 

I kind of look for the opposite in a shoulder season fire. I want a hot fire that doesn't leave any coals, because I'm not running my stove 24-7 - only when the house gets a little chilly. I find with my stove and my hardwoods, I get the highest heat output right about the time when the load turns to coals. Regular season, when I'm burning 24-7, I like a nice bed of leftover coals, because I can get the new load of fuel cooking in minutes.

 

I have a endless supply of Oak for Far wood at my disposal but have recently found a ton of Beech.

 

I get what you are sayin. In the month of October it is usually warm enough here so as to not heat the whole hooch but I like a far at night while I eat my suppa and relaxe after a days work. As far as the wood war goes, I probably send some of the best farwood in my area to the landfill. As a small time landscaper most of my work consists of going in and redoing landscapes and foundation plantings that have become over grown due to lack of maintenance by the home owners and or business'. It is the type of work that the few "Big boy's" around here don't want any part of because it needs to be done by hand or at the very least a low impact on the surrounding yard or landscape. That means shovels, spades and wheelbarrows and lots of sweat. Over the past 4 or so years of extreme cold winters in my area the Japanese yew (Taxus Cuspidata) didn't fare so well. Some if not most of the spreaders and upright yews that died due to winter kill would have to be well over 30 years old. Now, if anyone tells me that them sucka's aint hardwood I'll sharpen up a spade and he can come with me and spend some quality time with me when it's 90° and 100% humidity and you fer sure is gonna learn some new cuss words. Another super hard wood in my world as far as I am concerned is the burning bush (Euonymus altatus). I have a 12 yard dumpster that gets emptied about once every 2 weeks during the summer with this stuff. If it was humanly possible to save some of it I would but that aint gonna happen. It would take to much time to mess with so it gets mulched and covers a landfill.
Hows that for a post with way to much info that is much a due about nuthin?

 

In my area, oak is the main source for firewood. Some is better than others. White oak is good, easy to split and lasts for a good while. Red oak is pretty easy to split but, doesn't seem to me that it burns near as hot nor does it last as long as the white oak. Best oak around, as far as heat and longevity here, is live oak but, it comes with a price.....it's one tough mother to split! Hydraulics are a must for me on it.

 

Isn't that what these forums are all about,,, way too much info about nuthin?

 

Personally, I have never liked oak or for that matter, hickory, black locust, black birch, or any number of other high btu hardwoods.

When I load the stove with more than a small to medium sized split of oak (or the other hardwoods) I end up with far to many coals especially after an overnight burn. The reason is probably because I have to damp the stove down to it's minimum or it will go nuclear. Mind you, that's with my wood being well seasoned from 8 to 12% moisture content. Sometimes even less depending on how much wood I bring into the house and how fast I use it. I usually keep two four foot racks, one on each side of the stove running parallel to the wall with each filled to a height of 5 feet (measuring from the top of the 2x4 at the base of the rack up) in my living room. I'll empty one and switch to the other side and start using that one, then refill the one I had emptied and repeat throughout the heating season. So my firewood tends to be nice and dry.

Normally I run my stove with the damper open about a quarter to 3/8ths of an inch open on my 13-NC but that is with the lessor of the hardwoods or the softwoods. With the oak (red, white, black, or whatever) and other high btu producing hardwoods, sometime I have to bring the damper down to maybe a 16th of an inch or less. That always means I'll end up with a pile of coals that will take me several days to get to turn to ash. That also means my ash bucket will end up with a lot of hot coals in it.

I would much rather have a stove full of ash, than a stove full of hot coals. That's why I love pine, and poplar or any of the other so called junk woods. I can achieve a better burn with little coaling. Okay, so maybe I have to load a bit more often, but for me it's not really a big deal since I typically sleep only a few hours at a time. I don't mind mixing oak with pine, poplar, or other softwoods, but that's at a ratio of 3:1, that's three parts pine to one part oak or other hardwoods just to get rid of them. This year, much to my dismay, I have nothing but hardwoods on the menu!

I'll take pine over oak any day! Keep in mind, this is due to my climate which usually entails much warmer winters than those in the northern climates where winters can tend to be rather harsh.

I'll trade all of my hardwood for pine or other softwood in a heartbeat. But, I'll take 3 or 4 cord of pine for every cord of hardwood I have (most seasoned for at least 3 years). I don't even care if the pine (or spruce) is UN seasoned and still in log form!

 

Oakay, when i awoak this morning, I had to log in and see what you bloaks were fussin' about here.....

too many posts to not come in and poak around....no joak

I didn't read every word, but I'd rather burn oak, then put on another cloak.

and as for coals, if they build up too much, rather than stoak, I'll shovel 'em right out, load up the stove, and have a cup of coffee......i don't drink coak.

 

You haters must all be retired and able to feed the stove all day! In that respect I would have to agree the coaling can be a problem. But for me its about having those coals 10-11 hours later for a restart when I get home from work after picking up the kids from school and daycare. I can come home to a stove top still at 275-300 and maintianing a decent temp in the house. (Leave at a temp of 72-73, probably spikes to 74-75 depending on OAT, and when I return its usually about 68-70.) Not bad for a 1800 sq ft split and a 2 cu ft stove. I couldn't do it without oak!!

It sounds like everyone's situation is heat load dependent for sure. Pine and softerwoods for those that need a constand higher heat, harder woods for those that can run a longer little lower temp. Thats why we all have fun experimenting and testing!!

 

It's not the Oak so much as the new EPA stoves.
"Big coal beds are a particular problem with EPA certified non-catalytic stoves because their insulated fireboxes and high temperatures tend to cook out the volatile gases quickly, leaving a big load of charcoal. This isn't much of a problem during moderate weather because the coal bed can do an adequate heating job.

But when the weather gets very cold, a coal bed is not enough to heat a house and the big coal bed gets in the way of adding more wood. The solution is to rake the coals towards the primary air inlet, place one log on the pile of coals and burn it fast. The primary air on almost all modern wood stoves is the airwash for the glass, so rake towards the glass door"

 

I see what you did there....