A Progress Hybrid Full Load

I took my rear heat shield off the back of my PH yesterday just to look at the three draft control plates that shut the air down.. Well the two left and right close completely.. The plate in the middle which runs the secondary air closes completely as well but, that plate is cut short on each end by about a 1/4 - 3/8 th's of an inch ... So with everything shut there is quite a bit if air coming into the PH... Seeing that I'm amazed at how low the PH does burn when shut down...

 

Yeah, the primary shuts down completely, but the secondary always had some air. It feeds the secondaries and/or the cat depending.

 

Well, unless something changes this is going to be a pretty boring thread. Stovetop is holding steady at 430 degrees and it's been there for a while now. Now just a tiny amount of flame off the top which switches to the tiniest amount of secondaries. No smoke smell and best I can tell, nothing out of the chimney. House is at 69, so I'm getting the perfect amount of heat to maintain indoor temps. Still 29 outside.

 

Sheesh. Crazy Woodstock fanboys. Taking pics of your load, measuring splits, recording ti..

Nevermind

 

Nice job, by the way. I'll check back tomorrow afternoon.

 

430 degrees...very typical fire for the PH. If it's anything like mine, it'll stay there a long time. Saw you put the ironwood piece in the back bottom? When I am trying for a long burn on a cold day, I put an ironwood round there. For instance, if I load a smaller load and it is cold out...reload after 9 or 10 hours...then to get a 14 hour overnight, a nice big Ironwood log goes there. Don't worry too much about the rest of the load...that Ironwood will burn a long time.

 

I do usually put in in the back bottom. On this load though I didn't. Since I'm trying to burn extra low and I didn't have that many coals I actually figured putting the ironwood in the middle gave it a better chance of burning through. Besides, that nice huge maple split fit so nice there.

 

Nice load Waulie!

 

We have some action! Lol.



Secondaries have increased, although they are still very mild. Stovetop is still 430. I shook the thermo to make sure it wasn't stuck. There is more heat coming off the glass now, which I'm actually digging at the moment. It not that cold out (still 29), but it's a blizzard and just feels chilly. House is 70.

This is the difference between the PH and a straight cat stove. When conditions are right, the secondaries ignite. It was, after all, how it was designed. I'm sure this will still be a long, long burn. I'm 4 hours in and the wood hardly looks touched. I could close the draft completely, but I'm happy right now.

 

I'm getting ready to call it a night. I'd take a pic but it looks very similiar to the last one. The secondaries are a little more "wafty" than above but still there. Instead of coming out of the secondary plate, they're more the just above the wood kind. The stovetop temp has climbed to 440. I'm pushing 5.5 hours in.

I'll report on what I find in the morning and then we'll see how long my wife makes it tomorrow.

 

Thanks Wallie.

 

Well, here we are at the 13 hour mark:



You might be saying, "well that's a lot of coals but it's only been 13 hours". What you can't see in the picture is the large maple split in back in basically completely in tact. There is also still pretty solid wood on either end. This load has a LOT of life left. The stovetop is at 360. Occasional blue "wafts" of flame. If I turned the draft up a little, I'm sure the load would come to life with active flames and I'm sure the stovetop would go above 400 again. But, we're going for long and slow here so I'm leaving it alone.

It is 34 degrees outside. House is 70 degrees, and according to my thermometer, it ranged between 68 (at loading time) and 71 degrees since I loaded. Not bad!

I instructed my wife to turn the draft up some if it starts to get cold. With a high of 40 today, I have no doubt this is a 20 hour load at least. I'll be home at about the 23 hour mark, so if my wife holds out I can report then.

 

Happy to do it, BBar!

 

Just spoke to the wife. I didn't get any details as the toddler was throwing a tantrum. But, I can confirm that at the 18 hour mark the load is still keeping the house warm!

 

Couple observations:
1. Isn't the split on the left side (closest to glass) a piece of Pine? Sure looks like pine grain, and pine bark.... no?
2. I rake MUCH more of the ash into the ashpan (you have the ashpan?) before re-load. Oddly enough and against what most folks claim, I find it starts and burns alot slower with LESS ash in the bottom of stove. And....
3. And, I rake ALL of the hot coals to the very front 1/3rd of the stove before reload. So the biggest/chunkyest split which is placed in the rear of the stove, is basically placed on a "cold" stove grate/floor, and is the last thing to start burning.
4. Hard to tell from just pics of course, but it looks like you allowed the stove to take off with more flames than I would for a long slow burn. I shut it down VERY quickly, 3 or 4 minutes after re-load for a long burn. And generally only use two air shutdown steps, 50% closed 3 to 4 minutes in and shut bypass, then 1 or 2 minutes later shut air to 90 or 95%. This gives me the longest burn times.
5. One thing you didn' mention, in the last pic from morning, the red hot coals are very deep as they come up above the window. Many folks might not realize the window is about 6 or 8" above the floor of the firebox. So that is a deep pile of coals which will last a l-o-n-g time. And I get more heat from that stage of a long burn, than any other stage.

 

1. What the heck is pine? Never had any. No, that is without a doubt a large sugar maple split. You'll notice the grain looks the same as the other maple splits in the stove, but the end is not as weathered since that end must have been away from the sun in the stacks. Also, the bark is chunky/flaky because it came from a large tree.

2. I do not have an ash pan. I usually wait until the stove is much cooler to shovel ashes, but I wanted to get the test started. So, it was HOT in there when I shoveled so I didn't do that great of a job. Plus, I wanted the test to represent a "typical" full load burn and not a "plan everything out precisely so that I get the absolute most amount of wood into the stove as humanly possible" full load burn.

3. Well, I do rake most of the coals forward, as the pic shows. You're probably more precise than me but I don't think a couple of coals in the back are going to affect anything. That split in back was still solid as can be this morning.

4. The speed to shut down just depends on how many coals, what I load, etc. As I mentioned, this load took way longer than normal to get going good. I didn't have a huge coal bed (because I lost quite a few shoveling) and I loaded with big, dense splits on the bottom. Often, I'm up and rolling in a matter of minutes as well. After I closed the bypass down at 50% open, I lost almost all flames. So, I left in there for a while longer since I wasn't worried about anything going crazy and I didn't want to stall the cat. This load was a bit different than normal and in general I agree with your approach. It just depends on how the load goes.

5. Completely agree. There was lots of fuel left this morning.

 

Okay, final report. I just got home to find that my wife already put some wood in the stove.

Still and all, not a bad final report. She put a couple splits in at 2:20pm. That makes for a 20 hour burn! She said the stovetop was at 250 and there were still "lots of coals" in the stove. I see the large splits she threw in, so there must have been lots of coals.

This confirms about what I figured. 20 hours on a full load of good hardwood. Of course, I probably could have still loaded after another couple hours without kindling. But hey, when you need heat you need heat! So, is the PH a Princess? No. Is it a serious heater that offers a ton of control and excellent burn times? Most certainly!

Edit: She also said she turned the draft up some a while before reloading.

Hope this helps.

 

It does help.

 

Good thread , pictures & tutorial

20 hours is great burn times.
Good - DRY - hardwood is key. Emphasis on "DRY"
A good stove helps too!

 

Excellent test run, thanks Waulie!