OK, let me try to explain this.- 5 days of burning is my qualifier- I've been burning a mix of Mulberry and Ash for the last five days. Small splits, most don't measure 12" in length, 8" the norm. But you can stack 'em like Jenga so they fit pretty tight. I doubt they're as dry as we would like, but they light off quickly enough. But they coal something fierce. I am not a fan so far. The coaling doesn't generate enough heat to even mention. Its just there, slowly perking away without doing much. I'll stick with the Lodgepole and not worry about being under-gunned. edit- I was surprised by this, not what I expected.
Rake those coals to where the air enters the box, usually all the way front, set a small split on top, close the door and WOT the air. I use pellets instead of small splits, burn those coals down quick.
Yeah, I tried the "norm" the first day, then realized the denser wood might need more air, so I adjusted. T-stat wide open or closed to 1.5, didn't matter all that much. Flue never got scary hot with any setting. Think 750 was max, 600 normal.
Funny that you mention this....I have some cherry that is about 18 months split and stacked. Moisture meter shows about 18-19. I have a lot of wood that is older than that but this was about a face cord that was left over from a pile I gave to a friend. (couldn't get it all in the truck). I brought that up to the house and that darn stuff burns good and heats ok but it will leave a lot of large coals unburnt if I don't give it extra air at the end of the burn cycle. I have other cherry from other stacks and it burns down just fine on low air setting. Edit: If I remember right this was from a tree that was on the edge of a pasture and was pretty twisted from high winds I expect as it grew. Maybe that has something to do with it. (wood fibers)
We do that to but only after letting them dry for a couple years or more... The little ends and rounds seem to really suck moisture out of the air! We cover them with clear plastic usually and that works out pretty good to stop the moisture. At least until spring rains hit then its anybody guess...
I burn large chunks of hickory that do this also. I mix it with maple, beech, and sometimes ash and it helps. Aside from that, the guys have covered the bases. Good luck
I dont know if you guys are familiar with the smart stove by Inven, ive been following the progress on it and it looks like an awesome idea to have an auto WOT happen when these cat stoves hit the coaling stage. once coaling happens there isnt much smoke for the cat to gobble so the heat output there is diminished.... If there are enough people interested here we could maybe brainstorm on ways to adapt the smart stove unit to BK stoves.
simple system, timer to turn on power to solenoid with a small lever push/pull whatever is needed to engage stove control , relay and a switch that at end of solenoid stroke cuts power to solenoid. ( one shot is what it would be called on the digital age). Don't need relay depending on how you set it up all dc or all ac, if a mix then the relay is needed. Relay can be set up as a holding circuit until switch is engaged cutting power to relay coil thus DE-energizing solenoid. lever needs to be made for engagement and then pass by so that when solenoid returns to home base it does not reset stove control. Depending on construction you could have adjustment as to what degree main air is opened. Old school, redneck , shade tree mechanic call it what you will . No need to use a bi-metalic coil, although that type of system could accomplish the same thing on a gradual scale in a full mechanical mode - be a bunch of experimenting to find a bi-metal assembly that would satisfy requirements.
I actually read their descriptive materials. It looks like they have a digital version of the BK system for air control and have added a fan control with the ability to proportion the two. Should be a nice unit to use if they can keep the cost reasonable.
No doubt some good ideas will come from this but I do not like how they word things. For example: (quotes in italic and my comments follow) "...the user is free to go about their life without having to be thinking about constantly making adjustments to keep the fire burning efficiently." One should not have to make constant adjustments to keep the fire burning efficiently. That statement is very misleading. "To keep this process operating efficiently requires frequent adjustment." Same comment as above. Pure baloney. "one stove retailer told us, many people don’t know how to operate their stoves efficiently. They either forget to close the draft and overheat the stove, or they close it too soon and hinder the fire. Additionally, he told us that it is very common for people to neglect their stoves, leading to excessively hot fires that can damage the stove or, worse yet, cause a chimney fire." One retailer?! I'd expect comments like this from most retailers but from our experience, it is most retailers who really don't know squat about it. "the system allows a user to load the firebox for the night, and then immediately head off to bed without any need to wait around for an hour or more for the fire to reach operating temperature in order to set the draft and fan speed for the rest of the night." Well now, if I had to wait around for an hour or more for the fire to reach operating temperature in order to set the draft and fan (we have no fan) speed, I probably would consider not burning wood. In short, I believe there is some potential in this but really dislike their initial marketing story. They make it sound like it takes real hard boiled skill to operate a wood stove and also don't seem to think anyone can operate a stove efficiently. I would say to the company, "Okay, you probably have a good product here and one that can help many folks, but cut out the baloney. If you have to add that crap in order to sell something, then there is something wrong with your product and you are trying to either confuse people or put up a smoke screen. Perhaps trying to lead customers into thinking one thing rather than letting them do their own thinking. Sorry, but that is really PPS. That is PP salesmanship. You can determine for yourself what PP might mean.
Interesting take on that, keep in mind us FHC guys make up a miniscule fraction of the people who own stoves. Many can't actually run a stove well.
most un - educated use wet wood... water doesn't burn well, trying to understand how this auto adjuster would benefit most common problem with operating wood stove which I believe is wet wood. it might be nice to have depending on cost..... but would consider this like device in car that parallel parks it for you. Isn't it easier to learn to do it right..
