Adding Wood to Coals

Trooper, you have had some very good answers to this post and I've been asked by someone to also respond to it, so here goes.

Taking advantage of the coal bed is definitely the right thing to do. What I do not understand is why you threw one split of pine in the box? Did you not want a fire? If you did not want a fire then there would have been no need to throw in a split, so it does appear you wanted some fire; just not much. Again, I fail to understand this because you stated that you closed the door and went to bed. Hum.... Interesting, but if that pine were dry, I would have expected flame almost immediately.

Well, now we also find that you got up after an hour so either sleep was not coming to you or other activities were taking place. But you went back to the stove and found no flame. I'm assuming there were still coals though as you had some black crap oozing out of the pine and it takes heat to cause this. Then 15 seconds later, with open door, the log flamed. I'd say that would not be so unusual with only one split and that one not dry enough.

So, not to your question of what should you have done differently. First thing is that it depends upon what we want. Many folks do, when they have a large coal bed and want it to burn down some will indeed throw a small split or some kindling on top of the coals. This can assist in burning down some of the coals but at that point you definitely would have had the draft set at full open. Actually, if we have a large coal bed, we'll open the draft full just a tad before it is to the all coal stage. This will hold the stove temperature while burning down the coals. Rarely will we add anything to the fire until the coals have burned down to where we want them.

Should you leave the door open then? In this case, it probably would have helped you a lot. And yes, it will depend on how many coals you have and the type of wood you are adding along with how dry the wood is. But for sure, YOU DO NOT EVER WANT TO LEAVE THE FIREBOX DOOR OPEN AND THEN LEAVE THE ROOM!!!

Most folks also find that raking the coals forward will also help in burning them down faster and will also aid in getting the next fire going quicker. However, during the daytime, we do not rake the coals forward but rather just spread them out. If we are loading for the night, then we will rake the coals forward, then we place a large split or round in the back of the stove where there are few or no coals. This piece is one of the big keys in holding the fires longer. Faster lighting wood usually goes directly on the coals. For example, we like to lay a soft maple in the bottom front. Most times the rest is filled with ash. In January, we burn more oak for our night fires but not for the daytime fires.

Your last question about doing damage. I do not see how you would have done any damage with one split and some hot coals.


So, did you then load the stove to get it ready for the overnight burn after this happened?


EDIT: I forgot to add to the idea of more splits. Sometime when you are outdoors and want to build a fire, try it with only 2 splits. When that does not work, then try it with 3 or 4 splits. You will find a huge difference between how the fire gets started between these two ways.

Also, when starting a fire, never take one match. Always take 2. Usually the fire will start with only one match but if you take only one, you'll be walking back for another. Take 2 matches and chances are you will have one extra and the fire will be fine. Another trick of those inanimate objects.

 

Well said Dennis!

 

Well said. And as for pine? When it's seasoned well, it will light off faster than anything I have ever burned. I can split 8"x8" pieces and its lighter than a 3"x3" or 4"x4" piece of Oak, Hickory, or Mullberry. Burns good and no oozing,

 

Trooper, there is a sticky up top and I may have addressed this in that post. But here is what we found works well for getting long burn times when we need it during January when we also need a lot of heat.

First thing is we try to not get too much of a bed of ashes because we need the extra space for the fuel. Still, 1-2" of ash works very well. Then on top of that you have the coal bed. During the daytime if we are adding wood we simply spread the coals and load the wood. But for those night burns, we will push most of the coals to the front of the stove. Most times there will be none or very little coals in the rear. That is where we place the largest piece. It may be a large oak split or it may be a fair sized round. If in the round, it could be either oak or ash. Of course this could be something else like locust or beech or several other hard woods.

So the bottom rear gets a large piece. If we have very few coals, we will tend to place something like a soft maple in the front bottom. This is a fast lighting wood that burns quick and hot to help the rest of the load get started quicker. The rest of the stove gets filled with whatever. As stated though, if it is in January and lets say the temperature will be below zero or even below 10, then we tend to use a lot of oak; otherwise, ash.

We of course have the draft full open. Once the wood gets lit and starts to char, we'll maybe turn the draft to half open (or half closed, whichever comes first). Usually within 15 minutes we have the engaged the catalyst and will turn the draft down to less than 25% open. This is where the draft stays until morning. In the morning, we simply spread the coals (if it is all coals by then) and add some wood.

Hope this helps.