Definition please

I'm pretty set in my ways but I am not so old as to think that I cant learn something new from time to time. I am not new to heating with wood or cutting and dealing with wood to heat with or cook with. I have had a very different bunch of heating and cooking type stoves over the years that use wood. I have only owned an EPA type stove (Oslo 500) for about 7 years or so. Over that short amount of time I have been reading internet forums about how to run the stove to get the most heat out of it and use the least amount of wood to do so. I keep seeing the term "pushing the stove hard" brought up. Now to an ole reprobate like me I envision someone scootin a wood stove across the floor to get it in a colder spot in the house. Now, my stove is much to heavy to be relocating so my question is this, ( and now the sarcasm button has been pushed to the off position) When you say you are pushing your stove hard, what exactly do you mean by that? Are you reloading on an already super hot stove? What is your heating needs? What type of environment are you living in in your area? I don't know lest I ask and if I don't ask I don't learn. If you reply to this it would help if you said what kind of stove you was pushing since I don't know nothing about any other stoves but the one I brung. I wouldn't know a Cat stove iffn it fell out of the sky on to my head since around here they are not so common, almost non existent. Ole Black Sabbath like to run at around 550° and when it gets down to about 300° I reload what with the temps we get and my heating needs. But then my needs are few. What say you?

 

I too am curious about "pushing it hard"

 

I think that's a subjective term. Loading a stove full of Osage or shagbark, would be pushing it hard to me. But those that only have say poplar and stuff it is their definition of pushing it hard.

 

Yeah I guess running it hot as possible by stuffing it and letting have its air? Along the same vein I hear people say the stove uses more wood when its cold out or when starting up a cold stove. Does anyone think that's true or more along the same lines as Butcher's question. That is, when people are pushing their stoves hard they use more wood or just because the stove is cold it uses more wood?

 

I just used the term in a thread. Not sure what others mean by it, but I rather assumed it meant burning at a higher air setting than you might normally. Today I ran my stove at a 1.25 air vs the normal 1.1 setting and ended up with a house that is now 76 while normally it is 73 at the top end. Trying to determine what setting I might need to run once it gets really cold.

 

I have to push mine hard when its in the teens and windy.
Once the STT gets below about 350 its not enough heat as I'm a cellar dweller and trying to heat the main level.
350 is about the point where there's a large amount of unburned coals but not putting out the heat needed to heat the house to the desired temp. Then you reload on a big bed of coals to get the higher temp and it compounds the unburned coals problem

 

I am not following much of any of this.

 

It means running hard, full speed, balls out. Explained below, not dirty.

 

For me it means smaller loads of smaller diameter splits loaded with more air space between the splits and giving it more air for a higher STT. You put more heat up the flue, but if you need more heat in the house, so it goes. The smaller load of smaller splits doesn't coal as much so you can reload more often. Coaling is not a big issue for me anyway since I burn mostly spruce.

 

OK, STT I assume means Stove Top Temperature, is that correct?
What is coaling?

 

Stt=stove top temp

Coaling is when the wood turns to "charcoal" like chunks still gives off heat just not as much, less flame, if they build up too much you have less space in the stove for new splits.

 

You are not alone.

 

Firewood Hoarders Club - Dictionary of Terms
FHC Dictionary | Firewood Hoarders Club

 

It sounds like a subjective term to throw out when nothing more specific can be offered. A lot of us, myself included, have tried to heat a home all winter with a stove that was beyond it's useful ability to heat the home during colder than normal weather or in a house with poor insulation. If a stove is sized to meet the needs of the owner/home during all weather even during record cold spells then there is no need to 'push the stove' beyond it's designed ability. The past two winters we had 30+ days of 20 below zero daytime highs or colder down to minus 37 degrees a few mornings. It was an older stove and used about 50% more fuel than in prior years. Even then the main room was just at 70 and the kitchen 58-60. We pushed it near to death. It now heats the garage/workshop and does a wonderful job. In the house we now have hybrid with 4.4 cu ft fire box and it has not even been used anywhere near it's maximum capacity. Any fire needs fuel and air to make heat. Trying to minimize wood or fuel consumption reduces the amount of heat we enjoy. There are no free lunches even with the best of devices. I just burn away as I will not be taking my wallet or my woodpile with me when I leave this life for the next. Hopefully, God willing and the creek don't rise, I will not end up where its super hot! lol. Long and short of it - hope I never have to utter the words - "pushing the stove hard"

 

I really don't run at a higher temp. When I reload I let the flue temp come up then cut the air back and engage the catalytic combustor. Most of the time with the cat lit it will run the SST up to around 500-600 degrees then slowly start to come back down. It takes about 3-4 hours till I get down to 400 degrees. This is when I get to the transition from making enough heat to not quite enough, and I have to choose between letting the coals burn down or reload early (push the stove harder) to get the stove temp back up, which adds to the unburned coals.

 

What the... I am freezing at the 36F days we have!

 

For me "Pushing the stove" means running it as hot as I can without doing damage. What it does require is that I am almost continuously monitoring the stove. I have as much fast burning fuel in there that I can get in. I have to monitor it because it might start to run away and need to have the air adjusted to keep it under control. When I am not "pushing it" I have a fuel level I can trust to burn at a safe level for the duration of the load.

"Balls out" is what Jay described for a steam engine regulator. The faster it turns the further out the balls go, controlling and limiting the speed. With the balls all the way out it is going as fast as it can.

"Balls to the wall" is slightly different. In many multi-engine aircraft there are throttle levers near the pilot's seat or between the pilot & co-pilot. On the top of each of those levers is (or was) a ball, usually red. They were usually spaced close enough together that you could move them with one hand but were separate when individual adjustments were necessary. When you pushed the "balls to the wall" you were pushing them as far forward as possible, towards the front wall of the cockpit, to get the craft moving as quickly as possible. When running at this level the engines had to be closely monitored. They were usually at or above red-line and could start to deteriorate quickly. Balls to the wall was only used when you had to get out of there quickly...

KaptJaq