Coals burn down

2 nights with below zero temps & single digit high daytime temps
I'm burning on a med high setting all that's left is a lot big coals &
the heat output drops off.

When burning on high & needing a high heat output, it's difficult
to get high heat, without out a lot of coals building up.


( Trick I learned from Brother Bart )

After a 12 hour bun on 25. Med/high for my stove
The cat is below the active temp,
I opent the bypass, stat to high, after a minute, open the door & rake the coalss to the front.


Lay a medium size split on top of the coals:



With stat on high, in about 2 minutes I close the bypass.
Cat get glowing for about an hour or so & over 1/2 the coals will burn down


I may have to do this twice to get the coals down to an acceptable amount
but I'm getting a good high heat output &
keeping the house warm, ( now it's up to 3° from a -3° ) 11:30


Glass stays pretty clean burning on the higher setting
It' where the BKs operate well, (with lots of heat output ),

 

Raked & added another split
Burnt down enough for a good load, but got up to 9° outside
Figured I had time to burn them down more

 

Another day that the high temp is single digit. To get to 4°
Thursday to be 27° & snow ,
much better & more "the norm"

Be a good day to empty the ashes !

 

When I had my BK I removed the screw stop on the cover of the t-stat. It helped give it a little more air for burning down those coals as well as quicker start ups.

 

When you're running 2.5 all the time, where does your cat meter needle point? I know it's not supposed to matter but mine really pegs and I worry about melting stuff.

 

Each stove "set up" is so different that it's impossible to compare one stove's setting to another.
Draft, chimney type & length, single/double-wall stove pipe, how airtight is the flu, straight pipe, 90° elbows, 45° elbows, wood types , outside temps, weather/atmospheric conditions.
House is fairly airtight.
Mine is in the basement, real close to the back wall so it gets less air circulation by the stat compared to others.

So many variables, comparing just very difficult to do.
It took a while for me to learn the sweet spots for different outside air temps.
Bel0w zero, is 2.5, fans on 3/4 speed (rare to run the fans on high, too noisy)


CAT temp is up near max for the first few hours after a new load

 

Thanks. In my climate the stat is 90% on the lowest possible setting. With each fuel load I burn it in at high setting until charred and then set it lower which causes the cat meter to really climb. Then she settles in for a long warm nap.

Your glass sure stays clean!

 

Glass gets dirty on low slow smoldering burns, 30 - 50° temp burns
Burning this hot, it cleans itself.
Wife did cleaned it last Spring though.

Have never set it below 1.5, but again, every set-up is unique

 

We had the same problem with the IS stoves last winter in the really cold weather too. One of the guys did the same thing you did Dave by laying in some softwoods onto the coals and we got the same results, the coals burned down quicker and the stove heated up enough to get some worthwhile heat from it without loading the entire box up.

With using oak splits in the coldest months in the NE, we find the heat and burn times are awesome but the coals are the downfall, oak has large coals which require extra attention to get the space for a full reload.

 

When I said lowest possible setting I mean the lowest possible without cat stall. For my princess, that's the bottom end of the gold normal range which looks lik 1.75. No lower or she stalls.

 

Learned the same trick on the other forum too , I do it after every load when temp gets real cold

 

I had about the same setting for Low,
Asked the guy at local stove store,
Went to double wall stove pipe & sealed the air leaks I found with foil.
Now can go to 1 , with no problems for shoulder burns, just have smoky glass

 

What do you mean when you say "reversing the air", you lost me with that term?

 

As we talk about coals is it correct that they make charcoal for backyard grilling by cooking wood in the absence of air or in an air tight vessel.

So if we keep that in mind is there any way to reduce coal build up?

In the really cold months and really cold temps when coals build up I usually just have to shovel some of them out as much as I hate too.

I burn them down some also but when its extremely cold its an issue or I am having to get to work in the morning.

Those are times an over sized stove is a nice thing.

People say those Englander NC30 have a deep bottom for lots of cols to build up.

 

I wonder if using a small hair drier to increase air flow thru stove from one of the secondary or primary air holes would burn down the coals fast with the door shut.

A Stove company could build that into the design of the stove as an added feature.

 

Wood will take oxygen (air) from any direction but coals (as well as true coal) really needs some air at the bottom of the stove, best is a bottom draft stove. If you can introduce just a touch of draft air into the bottom of the stove and then cut down the stove's actual draft by about the same amount, you will find the coals burn down as the wood burns. Same thing goes for having a large bed of coals- the way to burn them reasonably fast, so they produce enough heat when it is really cold outside, is to introduce a bit of air from under the coal bed.

Bottom draft stoves just do not suffer from the build up of wood coaling because they burn the coals first.

Brian

 

Meh, it's just a big stove. My princess has more "belly" to hold coals than the NC30. Here's my NC30 full of coals.