Out cutting

Ok, I'm filling my wood box today as it was empty. We have a system moving through on Sunday so, I'm getting prepared. Two heaping wheelbarrow loads last us 5-6 days, depending. Get this after
adding it up and going back, checking my records. I discovered that this load puts us at 78 cu. ft. usage so far this winter. (realize I count
it as I bring it to the porch. NOT as it's burned). Which is the same amount we had used last year on 12-25. Thus, were about 3 weeks ahead
of our last year's usage. And last winter was a hard winter for us. I'm not uneasy because we have plenty in the dry but I hiked around looking
for a dead Emory oak to fell. Just in case. DM
woodcutting6.jpg
 
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I recall someone writing, in this forum a year or 2 ago, about separating the ashes from the coals and getting a double burn from his wood.
I have been using his method of sifting the ash through a 1/2" wire mesh. Then shoveling the coals back in, to allow them to burn and help
ignite the new logs. That's what I've been doing and it works. It is some what of a pain, to sift them outdoors to capture the larger coals and
shovel them back in but it does work. The fresh logs do ignite quickly.
I would first set up for the process with 2 metal ash buckets and the hardware cloth. Lay the wire mesh on top of one and pour & shake the
ash thru it. About half the bucket of clean out is ash and the other half, are coals. When you go back in your house with the coals, quickly shovel those in. Then add your wood on top. Shut the door soon, as it doesn't take long for the wood to combust. DM
 
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I agree with this although my stove is an epa stove and I can generally shovel ash off each side of the coals pile and leave the center then put new logs in and done. My stove does a pretty good job of burning all the coals down. What kind of stove are you running?
 
A Lopi Endeavor. It has a good size box and does a decent job of heating our home. No complaints and I've been feeding it for 17 year. I replaced the
top air flow pipes this spring and that's the only maintenance I've done to it. Except for cleaning the flume each summer. I burn all oak and
there is not much build up in the stack. This is our only heat source. We are in climate zone 4. What zone for you? DM
 
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I use an Appalachian stove, and it burns up to just ash. I clean it out more or less depending on if I'm burning oak or madrone, but it's always burns up pretty complete.

If I clean the stove out hot, theres coals I push aside and restock on top of, but if I let it go cold they're always white powder.
 
Thanks,David,and likewise,happy holidays to you and everyone:)

I've read up topic a short ways,and looked up the stoves mentioned.Am kinda surprised that they all seem to be fairly straight-up,non-catalyst stoves...Are catalysts not a "thing" with you folks,down in the States?...
 
Most of my neighbors and persons I have talked to purchased a non-catalytic stove. It has most to do with the life, cost and replacing the catalytic plate. Which needs to be replaced every 4-5 seasons and the weekly cleaning of that item, that's why people opt for the non-catalytic stove.
Here is a article with the pros & cons of both. https://dengarden.com/appliances/Wood-Burning-Log-Stove
Some of those catalytic plates run $150. For something like the Blaze King they run $250 to over $350 and need changing at 3 years. Not real hard to do, you need some basic tools and a shop vac.. But all this maintenance cost adds to the life time cost of the stove. They help you burn less wood with less pollutants is the pro side. In my wood consumption they would help me cut 1 cord less. But do I want to take the time to clean it every week? Or be broke down when I really need the house to be warm? I can see you'd really need to plan ahead and purchase 2 and have a spare on hand. Now, we're talking a $500- $750 hit to a monthly budget to cover you for 6 years. DM
 
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Yes,i see...I've read similar info before,and i'm sure that it's totally legit(that article is recent,too).

Just for the record,though,I have to say that my own experience is quite different.
I'm in a house right now where i helped install a cat-equipped stove 11 years ago,the element has never been touched this whole time...(generally,the rural legend around has it that the best maintenance for these elements is to not ever touch them,especially anything rough/poky/abrasive et c.).

Possibly not all elements are created equal,a brand very widespread around is Blaze King(this one here is a smaller "Princess" model,but i've done maintenance on several/many of this brand over the years,and some were pretty abused,but same story,0 maintenance/100% reliability).

The running of these in a certain regime Is important,keeping the element always at temp.,but it's not particularly challenging,there's a thermometer on top that tells you at a glance what's up.

Maybe people just don't want the hassle...I dunno.I actually never owned one myself,and still run rather old-school non-cat jobs :),but so have a Very good basis for comparing.Very serious difference in firewood usage.

If efficiency is important,and if you run a woodstove as a primary heat source,it'd definitely save you Lots or wood, and time for fire-management.

Initially and to this day what really impressed me is the longevity of burn.With non-cat stoves,at our winter temperatures,sleeping long enough was always an issue.Over the course of winter it'd really start getting to you...Catalysts really solved that issue...
 
Just a simple search will give you articles on how to maintain the catalytic type stoves and their problems. I have not done maintenance on one.
Only my non-catalytic stove. But my daughter and her husband works for a wood burning stove business, installing and doing maintenance on them. They stay busy from August- March just cleaning the catalytic units they sell. People, don't know how and don't try to maintain them.
But people don't even change the oil in their car these days. They take it some where. So, a service call, mileage, time and parts. It's a good
business because of peoples mindset. Me, I would do all my own maintenance on the stove. And yes I change all our vehicles oil. But I'd like
something I don't have to work on often. Maintenance free on those units is more the exception, "according to those that are in that business".
This also runs the same with pellet stoves. These businesses spring up and they don't fold. Because they fill a niche that people won't do. Like
changing your oil. DM
 
When I purchased our new stove 5 years ago we had just bought the place and didn't have a ton of spare money. So I went to tractor supply and bought a country hearth for $800. I've been really happy with it. Non cat but it does have reburn tubes. I've got to babysit it to a certain extent but have gotten used to keeping it at its sweet spot. 2 medium size 18" oak pieces will burn, almost idle really, at 600° for an hour and a quarter. And unless it's really cold I can then let it cool a bit down so I'm feeding it every hour and a half to two hours.
I get a very clean burn from it. Almost no smoke coming from the chimney. It's actually my daily challenge to keep it burning as efficiently as possible! It's fun really! I can't imagine a cat stove could wreak anymore btu's out of the oak than this stove does. But maybe it can I don't know!
 
Josh, we are similar. When I purchased my Lopi, I read up and went and looked at them and got pamphlets that show the burn efficiency rating.
And this one was up there. Sure it cost more and it has the reburn tubes. Which is the only item I've replaced in 16 yrs.. I got 3 tubes for 75$, that includes shipping.
Two large oak logs placed in it on a bed of coals at 9:30 will burn all night and keep the house warm. And it was snowing & raining during our night,-- last night @ 32*. When it falls into the teens with snow and wind. I'll get up once during the night and put another log in it. And the house is warm at morning. So, I don't know why someone has to get up several times a night to tend to the stove. Here's a picture of my dog w/ me, yesterday. DM
Birdknife4.jpg
 
Ok, our daughter & son in law are here now and I've been quizzing him on the maintenance time he bills customers on servicing catalytic stoves. He said 1-2 hours on catalytic stoves that the owner has done nothing to all year. Then on some others, they are so clogged that it would save time if he just replaced the catalytic plate rather than take the time to clean it. Then give them a discount for taking and refurbishing the old plate and swapping it out on another customers once cleaned. And they mostly do nothing to them all year. So, it's up on the roof to clean the stack as well. On a non-catalytic stove it usually runs no more than one hour for a service call before winter.
So, just thinking on this. If I were to clean my catalytic stove once a week 'as recommended' that would take me 30-45 mins. each time. Our stove season runs from Nov. 1st thru tax day. Some winters another week or 2. So, 24 weeks X 45 mins.= 1080 mins. divided by 60= 18 hours
of maintenance time each year. That's 2 days of cutting. For that amount of time, I can cut 1 more cord plus my gas, oil and saw. So, just about a even trade off. Thus, I realize some of these EPA govt. rules toward eliminating air pollution becomes a win / win for a business and a burden for the working man. DM
 
My Appalachian also has the reburn tubes. Similar feelings on it to Josh and DM.

I had a Fisher and Lopi before, in other houses that were bottom draft with no tubes or plates.

They were bigger, uglier and less efficient but you could burn any wet or green wood in them and keep it going hot once you got some good heat started.

It really matters that you're burning good dry wood with the more efficient stoves, they smoke and smolder and clog up without producing much heat otherwise.

My experience with them anyway.
 
David Martin said:
And this one was up there. Sure it cost more and it has the reburn tubes. Which is the only item I've replaced in 16 yrs..
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Right,David,i see.Yes,i keep forgetting that the newer stoves have the secondary combustion integrated into them,not being at the same time catalyst equipped.
That probably makes the cat. less necessary,with proper operating regime...
Yes,right on!
Last winter was the first time ever i visited that part of Great Divide,around the border of Arizona and New Mexico.My girlfriend and i had to buy a book on local plants immediately,i couldn't recognize a single tree!Of course Amory oak was among the first...And several other related critters...
I tried hefting some dead branches and chunks by the side of the road,seemed pretty dense...
In general,when most of you folks talk of burning oak,or maple,or many other hardwood species,it's always incredible to me,hard to fathom.So I always enjoy your photos of wood and surrounding country,pretty exotic:)

David Martin said:
I don't know why someone has to get up several times a night to tend to the stove.
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If what you're burning is White spruce(density around 20lbs/ft cu) in a stove with no secondary combustion,and it's -30 to -50 outside,that's what makes for a frequent broken sleep.Rarely do you have to stoke it more that once in the middle of night,but it can be enough,if you get fully awake,and have to wait a bit before shutting the fire down.
Nowadays of course it's rare,temperatures keep going up every winter for last 10 or so.Real deep cold is becoming more and more rare.
 
muleman77 said:
I had a Fisher and Lopi before, in other houses that were bottom draft with no tubes or plates.

They were bigger, uglier and less efficient but you could burn any wet or green wood in them and keep it going hot once you got some good heat started.
Click to expand...

I've had a couple Fishers over the years,and that's my primary stove now...They're Such cool beasts...:)...I think those guys played with some tricky secondary-ish reburning with their design,there's Something about their physics that make them different from just a 55-gal drum stove.
(Which was the most common stove around,though maybe not so much anymore.But i depended on barrels solely for many years...).
 
muleman77 said:
It really matters that you're burning good dry wood with the more efficient stoves, they smoke and smolder and clog up without producing much heat otherwise.
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Definitely! I learned that the hard way and the first time I cleaned my chimney I was discouraged. But then I learned my lesson and bought some bone dry maple from a buddy. Ever since then I've only burned very seasoned hardwood and though I do clean my chimney twice a year it's almost perfectly clean when I do.
I read horror stories online of people calling EPA certified stoves "creosote makers" or "smoulder pots" etc. But thats just lazy people burning shit, or wet, wood. And not maintaining the fire properly in the meantime.
I love my stove and if I'm not careful I can cook us right out of the house with it. My gf loves it!
 
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