Morning Hoarders and burners....Figured I would post a good topic... How many splits do you stuff in the stove at a time for an extended burn, like 8+ Hours? I have a Quadrafire 4300 flat top. I can fit 8 to 9 normal size(4 to 5 inch) splits, maybe 10 if I really arrange them good. I get about 8 hours good burn and have a good starting bed of coals for about an hour. That is with a mix of Ash and oak, and damper on stove half open. Last year I was conserving wood and only using 5 or 6 splits per load, and wasn't getting enough heat output. I am wondering if I am doing something wrong, or my house just isn't set up the right way for wood heat, or am I over thinking it? Opinions? Here is a pic of the stove about 90 percent loaded.
My stove has a small firebox. As bedtime approaches, I try to have just a nice bed of coals, that get raked forward. I then put 2 good sized oak splits toward the back and one, maybe 2 on the coals. That usually leaves me with a nice bed of coals 8-9 hrs later. I burn east/west, with the stove being a side loader.
Just curious, as I have no experience with your exact stove... but why leave the damper 1/2 open? When I go for long burns, i literally close mine all the way and give it just one or two small bumps for just a hint of air flow. When I load it tight on a bed of coals, and do the damper this way, my secondaries roll, and I can get useful heat for up to 12hrs or so.
My Fireview has a small firebox and I load it the same as MikeInMa. Loaded up it will hold coals for well over 12 hours. I run the air input at about 15-20% at most. Have you tried running it lower, like at 1/4? If you have to run at 1/2 to get enough heat maybe the stove is too small? I don’t know your situation, just wondering.
Great stove them quadafire's had a 3100 in another house. If aren't getting the heat output run more air ,but then burn time gonna be shorter. Or maybe need a bigger stove.
I agree with Ejp1234, your air supply seems to be the best answer for that, slow that down and your burning wood life should improve. I also hope your wood is dry, usually that’s a big culprit and steals a lot of your heat. You’ll have a fire going but it wouldn’t feel as warm if you’re next to it. Plus, the damper being turned down is only going to improve that light show for you.
i always load mine east west, i get a better burn time than north/south. I also close the dampener all the way, im up in the 10 hour range with a big firebox over 3.0 cubic ft
I do this as well! I try to time it just right to have a decent amount of hot coals. Rake them forward, load up my bigger hardwoods starting at the back. My FB is decent at 2.4 I can stuff it pretty good but I generally only get on average 8hrs or so. It's hit or miss in the morning if the blower is still running but I generally have a decent bed of coals to start a new fire quickly. My goal one day to get a stove with 10-12hr burns that would be ideal.
Some good answers have been given but I'd like to start with how you load the stove. It really does not matter how many splits you can get in and each stove is different on how many or how much wood you can get in. But in your case, I'm looking at the picture you posted and I think you could gain a lot just by paying closer attention to how you load the wood. One has to really watch how the wood is loaded rather than just putting the wood in and closing the door. If you look at the picture, the wood is not close enough together, especially on the bottom row. The tighter you can keep it, the longer it will burn. The looser you put the wood in, the faster it will burn. But just look at the whole picture and see how you could have put the wood in to make it tighter. This is one problem I have with my wife. She just gets wood and puts it in the stove without thought on how it could go in better. Several times she could not get the fire going good and I actually removed all but the bottom layer and repacked the stove and then the fire did fine. But she still has a hard time understanding this. This also is why I do not let her stack wood! She is terrible at it!
Regardless the size of stove or split you have to pack for max volume, which will yield maximum fuel available for the night. Like you would pack a moving van if you had just one trip available and anything you couldn't fit would have to be left behind. Some people are better at those (kinds of) spatial relationships than others but that's pretty much the easiest trick for maximum burn time not allowing for differences in fuels and variations in equipment/hardware.
My Enviro can do 10+ hour burns with good hardwood. I can generally get 10 3-4 inch "diameter" splits in the stove, occasionally can get 1 or 2 more if I really work on spacing and don't have any protuberances on the split. Once the burn is over, I can generally hold the coals for 2 to 4 more hours later if immediate reloading is not necessary.
Get a fan! Bought one for my parents. Put a t on top facing out and as the stove heats up it automatically blows the air out into the room.
When I have wood cut to 13", which I often do, I can load 8-10 splits front to back. With longer pieces it's more like 4-6 splits laying side to side. My little stove might give 5 hours of usable heat on a full load. Maybe 6. On a good burn I have the air about 10% open. Wet wood would require more air.
It must be Michigan girls ... my wife is from there too, and you could have written all the above about her. But she's got other notable qualities that make up for all this.
I almost never pack my stove really full, it is big enough that I just don't feel the need to. It is a tube stove, and 8 hours is a good burn. That works for me. I don't find I can close the air on the 30 all the way, it will usually extinguish the fire. Your stove is certainly not the same, but you have to figure that out for yourself. Oh, and my goto wood is Douglas Fir, you may have more dense woods.
You don't wanna know how many splits I can fit in my boiler if necessary lol. What's been said about a tightly packed load is very true though, much better burn time. I go 12hrs on a load, but can make it 48 on a full load. Learn the best air volume for your stove & the drier the wood the better the heat.
Bigger splits will last you longer also. I like putting in fewer bigger pieces at night. I’m happy if I can only fit three into my quad 4100i.
I found that half way gives me a good 8 hours. Some of my wood still has a MC of around 22 to 23 percent, and it tends to smoke alot. I need to get further on my 3 to 5 year plan.
Stove should heat 1100 to 3000 sq ft. My house is a little under 1700. It is a different setup. Stove on one side of finished basement, bedrooms opposite side, ranch style.
