Its almost and unwritten rule here that when you are at the coal stage of burning to rake the coals forward so they get more air and burn faster. Lately I've been leaving the coals alone at this stage. They seem to get more air with the spaces between them then when I take them into a big pile. Is this possible?
I only rake occasionally. When I do, it's just to let the ashes drop out and spread coals around to burn down faster. Never rake to front here
I think with a cat stove I am getting better reloads with spreading them flat and reloading. I think it's different with a tube stove because you don't want it lit all at once. Car or non cat if you want to burn them down I do feel you get the best results by bringing them forward. Doesn't have to be a big pile. Just knock the ash off and bring them up front some.
Had a quite large batch of coals in the stove this morning, so they got pushed back then raked forward. Propped the door open just a hair and they burned down pretty quick so I could load up some more Oak. When I don't need a bunch of heat, I'll just let 'em sit w/o raking, until burned down. My whole burning system has changed somewhat this year.
I do it a few different ways. Mainly because I'm experimenting with the new IS. If I'm going to reload on a smaller coal bed I bring em forward for a bit to concentrate them for the most heat for a re-fire. If I want to just burn em down I knock them around to get the ash off and open the air all the up. For a normal reload I just flatten them and toss the wood on top. I find I can actually get useable heat on the wide open burn down stage. Which is a bonus.
Yes, the general wisdom says if you want to burn them down the quickest then rake them forward. However, I have not found this to be the case! So if I am just burning the coals down I spread them out and rack through them. On reloads I spread them out evenly. Only when I am loading the stove for a long burn time will I rake the coals forward. I do it then because if we can place a large round or a good sized split in the bottom rear it helps the long burn times. What happens is that as the wood burns down, it will burn down in front first and leave a good sized pile in the back. Sometimes I will knock that pile down (if it is really cold outdoors and we want more heat) but usually I won't touch it until reload time. Quite often on a cold night I may get up in the morning anywhere from 4:00 am on. Sometimes I'll add a split or two but when I do then usually reload time doesn't happen until around 10:00 or so, depending upon the weather. I did add 2 splits this morning around 5:00 when I got up for a while but then went back to bed around 6:30. I think we put more wood in the stove around 9:30.
About the only time I will move the coal bed is if the wood doesn't fit in nice/easy enough without moving them.
I find that it all depends on the time of day on how I handle the coals. First thing in the morning, after an overnight burn, the coals are generally smaller in size and I can just even them out for a quick reload. I'm only able to be with the stove for 20 mins before I leave for work, so once it gets to temp I shut down and it goes for the day. When I get home 10 hrs later I usually rake the coals forward and I open the main air damper all the way and I will get about an hour of decent stove temps. The reload afterward goes fairly quick and the process begins again.
I do the same, only rake to the front to get a night log on the floor for a longer burn (read: faster reload). I never have to push my stove hard, so I never have a coaling issue. Raking the coals around to let the ash fall through the grate burns them down sufficiently.
Sounds pretty word for word how my process goes except I'm about 11 hrs door to door. I gett good solar gain and tend to run the stove a bit cooler during the away time so I have a little bigger coal bed to burn down when stuffed with all oak. With lesser woods and shoulder burns I make no adjustments when getting home. Just rake them forward and let them get hot for 10 mins before the overnight reload. Its great having to only feed 2 times a day!
I agree with you on the 2 loads a day, it's very nice when the temps aren't too cold. There are times when I come home and the house is cooler and I will burn maybe 4 splits that will last 5 hrs, then I'll do a full reload before bed. I get different coal beds from time to time depending on what I'm burning. As you said the oak will give us bigger coals and last longer, that works best for me in the afternoon when I burn them down and get that extra hour of heat. Love the IS
