Lol, it's going to get really cold here soon, I'll make sure to use the v-blocks. I'll tag you in the Tetris thread when I do it.
While scanning through the pics in the Stove Tetris post it dawned on me that all the stoves are loaded north/south. I have an east/west stove, if I tried the N/S load my splits would have to be a tad under 12 inches long, I cut mine at 20 inches.. I'm visualizing loading them at e/w, and somewhat close to the glass, with the coals eventually collapsing onto the glass... I can load with it sloping toward the back, but then I have a lot of air space. ?
I have a Drolet 1400i stove in the LR fireplace and its an E/W stove too...the answer to your dilemma is to cut some pieces short enough to put in N/S on the bottom layer (or cut your 20" splits in half)...then go E/W, leaving a gap or hole in the back or the middle for the fire to get up through...that seems to help get the secondary burn going much faster (less smoke, more heat) I use my "shorts" and "uglies" that are culled out from making wood for the stacks (which are cut to 20" for the wood furnace, the main heat source) to make up my first layer...or often times, the whole load...
Sounds like it's time to revisit one of my early experiments with the short N/S load. Just thinking, it is probably better to keep it to all N/S pieces, I'm still concerned about coals ending up against the glass. If it works as it should, I can start cutting pieces just for night loads.
Coals against the glass will burn down and disappear. Really only a problem if you need to open the door. I cut most of my wood 12-13" long for NS loading. It's a little more work but worth it to me. As an added bonus, smaller wood dries faster. The only wood I cut to more normal lengths is for spots where I need to crib the ends of stacks.
Very true! If running full loads of fir, my air can only be turned down about 50%. With maple, alder, and birch it will run clean with the air only 10-20% open.
Have any of you E/W loaders ever sat down with a chop saw and worked up 50-60 splits for N/S loading? I think you may find it a worthwhile experiment. It would likely take that many reloads to truly see the advantage's . I can't even imagine going back to E/W loads. However. I burn 24/7 as my main heat source. Possibly I am a bit on the picky side
Shortly after I installed my stove, I experimented with N/S loading and used my chop saw for it. I started off with smaller splits, and now I will probably need to chop one side and flip it over, probably even spin some around and chop again. This is how I will do it for this latest project. This has become my main heat source as well.
I should add. Be damm careful chopsawing splits. I had to do a bunch one year and there were some real hair raising episodes. Splits like to twist etc. causing spooky binding, kicking back etc.
Through the years I have loaded stoves n/s and e/w plus in the old round upright stoves we loaded splits or rounds flat or standing on end. We've even tried stacking wood going one way on the bottom and a different way on top. The wood doesn't care if it is n/s or e/w or whatever. What matters is how much wood you can get in, how well you can stack it along with the type of wood and the big one; how dry the wood is. Of course one also needs good draft because fire needs air. It is not like rocket science. Don't make it complicated. Keep it simple, sir (KISS).
My stove is designed for EW Ive tried NS and it doesn't really work that well but will burn longer. My method for overnight is to get block pieces for a base and filler and a round for the back or top. Then ill use a smaller piece for the very front/bottom to get it going. Ill leave the air wide open for about 10 minutes till its good and off gassing and everything is charring then close it down to about 25%. Do you have a stove top thermostat and a pipe probe?
I've been using two large splits in the back of the stove right at bedtime, one on top of the other. How long does your method burn? I do have both those thermometers, and monitor them a lot.
I installed my current stove (Regency) back in 2009 and it takes E/W splits (unless I cut under 12" for N/S which I prefer not to do). I heat 95% by firewood and have never really had an issue with the E/W splits. Would I prefer to be able to load it N/S to get a fuller firebox? Yes. However, as others have said, if you experiment with different species of wood, and load the firebox correctly, there should not be any issues with E/W loads. My lower sir supply vent is in the bottom center so when loading for the night, I pull the coals to the front. stack splits against the back and then stack splits towards the front (but put the bottom front split on the inner firebox lip above the air vent so air can flow underneath the split and onto the coals). I also make a N/S trench in the coals right in front of the air vent. I normally try to use beech as the back load but even with silver maple I usually have some coals left over in the morning for an easy relight. Also, I never stack against the glass but slope towards the back as you mentioned in a previous post.
The experiment begins. Loading N/S is my first test, and splits can't be longer than 11”. Instead of using a chop saw, I laid 2 pallets on the ground and placed several 20” splits between them and used my chain saw to cut to length. I'm using red oak and red elm, well seasoned of course. I cleaned the stove because it needed it, so this is a cold start. For the first layer, I used a couple of the 9” pieces in the middle to leave room for the kindling, and allow the bottom air vent room to breath. I got the fire box mostly crammed full. I lit the stove at 2:45 pm, within 10 minutes I shut the air down to about 20%, I eventually closed the air wash as much as I can, this is where it's been cruising. There's a fine line between choking off the fire and leaving just enough to keep it going to start. About 20 minutes later, there is a fair amount of smoke coming out the chimney. At about 350 degrees on the stove top thermometer, the secondary burn is starting. At 45 minutes I choked the air off as much as I can. Secondary burn is going well, mostly on middle tube. The stove top temp topped out at 625 degrees, flue temp at 725. About 90 minutes later, the temps dropped to 575 stove top, and 650 flue. The stove has settled into cruising. The temps are slowly dropping from here. Just from this first trial run, I would feel comfortable going to sleep with this. At this point, I'll see how long it burns. Almost all my wood is red oak and red elm for this year, so I can't really experiment with anything different there. I'll probably have another test run with N/S, then a couple E/W runs. Edit; Already, I just realized in real time, when loading up for bed time, there will probably be a good amount of coals. That will probably get it hotter faster, especially from the bottom of the stack. I guess that will need to be part of my next test.
Sounds like we have very similar stoves, with regard to the E/W and bottom air vent. I understand about loading the bottom front split on top of the air vent, so as not to block it. I'll be referring back to your post about this as I experiment with the E/W. Thanks!
