Thanks to Wildwest, Papadave and Mike, I am not using a different way of loading the Englander. I am loading E/W; not only am I getting longer burns but the secondaries seem to run for a longer period of time. I am still learning how to adjust the air intake but I was able to get her to sustain secondaries for well over an hour. I adjusted the air once it died down and the show started once again for about another 40 minutes... The glass is a bit dirty but I can live with that until I get better at controlling air. I am using Locust, Cherry and sugar maple as well as some oak floor scraps to get her going. Thanks again guys. Kat
Kat, I'd like to see the way you load e/w. I'm a little concerned about the wood up front burning down causing an avalanche into the glass. I'm glad you're getting things figured out. I had a real big light show last night for over 1/2 hour before bed. It was still burning that way when I retired for the night.
x2 I'm always concerned about this with my Lopi so I purposely stack it with a lean toward the rear. If it's even close to coming toward the glass I'll push it all the way to one side so that it catches on at least one of the two "lips" of steel before the door frame itself.
It generally takes longer to get the stove up to temp and settle it back down loading east west in my experience. It's also a little less heat at once but does burn much longer so it evens out the output vs time. My trick is to put kindling in the back and get it going you only need one piece then once it's going good load on it then let that split take off. Once it's going fill the box up and it will light up much faster.
This is how I loaded it last night. 4 splits E/W and 4 N/W. I was able to get a nice hot fire going there and the secondaries were rumbling for quite some time.
