Colder here. What's your temp? What ya burnin?

Currently -9 w/ WC of -21 ... House is currently 73F ... the other half put 3 sticks on a full bed of coals before 2... But will be removing coals here in a bit for a full load of Oak for the day burn, since its time to go back to work... NC30 did A Okay... heater only turn on twice yesterday while trying to burn down coals (its set at 69F)... Ended up only have to take out 2 buckets of coals over the weekend, will be three this morning... I'm happy...

 

Not surprised ... It definitely was a rare event... Glad your staying warm neighbor...

 

We hit 20º last night for the first time. warming to 32º today. 78º in the house, just threw a MEGA split of Oak in Grandma! She's a simmering away...

 

It is actually very simple. First, many folks think you can just put wood in a stove, set the draft and forget about it. Until the brains figure out all the gadgets that are need for this, one needs to pay attention to the stove. While I do let the stove go for many hours, including overnight. I do try to pay attention to the stove then adjust if necessary. One of those necessary times is during extreme cold spells. This is when folks have a tendency to add wood as the stove cools but it has lots of coals.

Normally during these times when our flue temp gets down close to 300 and the wood has burned to almost all coals, it is a simple matter to open the draft to full open. Some say adding a small bit of soft wood like pine will help burn those coals down but I've not had very good results with this. After giving the fire more air the stovetop temp will stay steady. Sometimes it may help to use a poker and rake through the coals to loosen them a bit. As for the cat during this, there is nothing to worry about as there is very little to no smoke to burn off.

That is all there is to it.

For night burning, many time when you get up you will need heat right away. Then I do not concern myself with the coaling. I also do not fill the stove but usually add only 2 or 3 splits and let it burn fairly hot. Near the end there will still be coals but just do as above.


By doing the above, you gain space in the stove to add more wood. For sure the burning of the coals should be done in late afternoon or evening so you have firebox room to fill for the night fire.


There are other things one can do including how you load the stove. For example, don't just throw the wood in but try to get it as tight as you can. Those big air spaces do not add to your warmth. Another I do is to rake any coals (as much as possible) to the front of the firebox. Then for that bottom rear piece I like to place a fairly large piece (a square piece works best) then fill as normal. That seems to be a key to longer fires.

I hope this helps. Good luck.