The term burn is used by all of us, and by professionals in the industry when referring to how long a fire lasts. I have never seen a reference to what the definition of a burn really is. I can have coals buried in ash for over 24 hours and use that coal to start the next real fire. Does that constitute a burn? Not in my book. What do you consider a fire's end? Amount of coal? Stove temp? Flames? My opinion is that if I can reposition the coals and load normal splits upon that bed of coals resulting in an active fire within minutes, that is a burn continued.
A burn to me is whatever cycle can be maintained 24/7 over 7 months without coaling up and putting out enough heat to get the job done.
Manufacturers consider burn time to be having coals left over for a restart. They'd also base heating BTUs on an outside temp of 30°. All of it is confusing, but that is pretty much the standard that they'd go by. My factory burn time is 10 hours, and that's about right. Splits aflame to coaling stage is about 3-4 hours on average.
I found that after buying a BK, I stopped wondering about such things. Myway, did you ever finish the rock wall?
No. Was just looking at the finished portion thinking how nice the whole thing will look when done. Also thinking about how many hours are awaiting me over there. It's coming regardless. You'll all know when I make progress!
Well, after 40 years of burning, burn, burn cycle means when I am starting to get cold, then the burn is over and I need to put wood on the fire. :firepit: Sorry, I know that doesn't contribute much to the thread or what others might be looking for, but I just really never paid much attention to how long the fire lasted. My comfort is what has always guided me and my stoves
I'll second the Chief's opinion. Be it 4,6,8.......14,18.....if I'm not warm enough it's time for more wood.
Coals and a cool/cold room aint burnin',,is it? When I used to sleep in front of my stove so I could wake up to stoke it with more wood at 2 or 3 a.m cause it was cooling down I was doing that to keep it "burning"...still plenty of coals, but, it wasn't burning,,
For me a burn lasts as long as there is enough heat coming from the stove. in normal winter weather I think that means my stovetop thermometer will read 400 or more, although I think my thermometer is screwed up so don't put too much stock in the temperature. By the time the burn is over the flames are gone and it is only coals in the stove. If I don't reload when the burn is over the coals will last many hours longer, but the stove will be cooling off and so I wouldn't count those extra hours as burn time.
