Reading the pine thread i learned something new. Apparently pine can be used to burn down coals and leave leas ash? Who knew? This brings me to my next question. What are some other lessons learned over the years of burning in an EPA stove?
I dunno about pine literally burning down coals but burning pine (probably poplar too) on top of them allow for using your stove for heat output while the coals are slowly burning down. Pine doesn't "coal" the same way oak and some other hardwoods can/do so it's just an easy way to deal with coals build up.
Dry wood Plenty of kindling let it get good and hot with all the wood going before turning it down every species of wood burns and gives heat but they don't all burn the same way; experience will tell you what if any role in your arsenal they will have.
Sometimes when there is low barometric pressure and the fire won't take off I close the draft half way and it gets going better.
A coal rake is the most underrated tool! I had one sitting in my basement for years as part of one of those "Decorative", but useless fireplace sets. I noticed the coal rake a few weeks ago and figured I'd bring it up stairs. So much better than trying to pull all the coals forward with a shovel.
I hear a lot about a coal rake but that is one tool I've never had so I never missed it. If I wish to move coals, I simply use the poker. As for burning down the coals, you can use most any wood to help burn them down if you do it that way. However, there is a better way! When we first got our cat stove we definitely had a problem getting coals burned down so there was enough room in the firebox to put enough wood for a night burn. I got lots of advice but none that worked well, so I began experimenting. The best method we found is to watch the fire and when it gets down to almost all coals (just a tad bit of wood left) we open the draft; wide open and let it burn. Don't worry at that stage about losing heat up the chimney. You might lose a little but it is very little and it is better than what we hear many do; that is, scooping coals out of the stove and taking them outdoors! What a waste! So plain and simple is to give that fire all the draft you can but do it before the fire is down to all coals and then let it just sit there and do its thing. This way, the stove temperature will hold and by the time the stove temperature drops, it is then ready for wood of ash cleaning. At that point I quit experimenting because this is so simple and it works so well.
I’ve been trying this recently and it works very well - the stove temperature starts to drop a little when the fire is almost down to coals, at this point I open the primary air inlet which allows air in from under the grate which keeps the stove at a higher temperature for that little bit longer. This is perfect for us when we tend to have fires in the evening on weekdays and most of the time have no requirement to burn overnight
I find opening both air inlets full blasts helps to reduce the amount of ash for the next day. I don't burn 24/7.
Yep I’ve found this too. Previously I would probably load a little bit more wood in towards the end of an evening to keep the room temp comfortable but now the heat from the coals burning down fully keeps the temp up just fine
And does everyone leave the catalytic on overnight as the fire burns down? We have been filling the firebox with wood before bed then closing the damper almost all the way.
Yeah I actually never had this problem as most coals would burn down fine however I would encounter some build up if I put black locust in at the time and maybe 2-3 hours passed? Cedar(Western Red), cottonwood, alder, pine or Doug fir would be fine to burn hot for an hour and reduce these embers. I’m currently not burning in a stove but taking that experience, it didn’t happen often.
I would leave it open just a tad but enough to make things heated ok. I hear the majority of folks like to keep bedrooms cooler than their house generally. Nothing wrong with that as it helps sleeping better but the rest of the house can mean a variable. Choose which is important because its often stale and standing moisture that could present issues but doors being open and you have the right heater for the space, not much worry to leave for you. I would open the bathroom and the door to my daughters room open upon noticing the temps. It would make a better sense of heat spread if you allow the house to warm up and choose which rooms would the heat be a priority if that is your main heat source.
Absolutely. There is no good reason to not leave the cat on. If the bypass is open then all the hot air is not circulation through the whole stove so you don't get all the heat that is there. We don't close draft all the way but leave some air going through as things work much better that way.
Yep, sounds pretty much like I do. I usually load twice a day, at 7pm and 8am. Sometimes I have to open the bypass as the catalist temps begin heading to the too hot zone. My unit is a Buck 80, it's pretty much a plain Jane unit. Some call it the 'working man's stove' due to the lack of extras. After 5 years I still don't know why it heads to the hot zone so often, operator error most likely.
I'm burning all Oak with my Jotul, and when I get bare coals 3-4 inches deep, I'll open both doors and let the radiant heat blast out into the room. Since just the coals are burning, there's hardly ever any smoke smell. After 30 minutes or so the coals are down enough that I can rake the ashes into the ash pan, leave a much smaller bed of coals, and lay some more oak into the firebox.
I also burn some sassafras when the oak coal bed is high, and sassafras does a great job of burning the coal bed down.
