unusual amount of coals

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laynes69 said:
Uh oh, not the coaling debate again!... I do what many others do, and rake coals forward and open the damper... If more heat is needed in this process, then we place one split east-west on top. Doing this once or twice manages to burn things down... When a home stays warm off a nice coal bed, it's not a problem.
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Blah, blah, blah, blah... Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah... But I don't want to babysit my wood-burning appliance. I don't want to rake and pile coals, add single splits, open/close draft controls, and whatever. I want to load it and forget it until it's time to load it again... and I want it to heat consistently during the entire period between... unattended! And for that reason I've owned my first, and my last, EPA piece of crap! Miserable excuse for a heater! Man I miss my old wood-gobbling smoke dragon.

(Luckily for me, things will be different next season)
 
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Whitespider said:
Blah, blah, blah, blah... Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah... But I don't want to babysit my wood-burning appliance. I don't want to rake and pile coals, add single splits, open/close draft controls, and whatever. I want to load it and forget it until it's time to load it again... and I want it to heat consistently during the entire period between... unattended! And for that reason I've owned my first, and my last, EPA piece of crap! Miserable excuse for a heater! Man I miss my old wood-gobbling smoke dragon.

(Luckily for me, things will be different next season)
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I have more of a consistency now than with the old smoke dragon. I've also went from using a half tank of propane a season to none with the new furnace. I couldn't hold the fire as long, which meant a cold home in the morning. Good luck with an even heat! For us it was balls to the wall then nothing, home temps jumping from 80 at night to 68 in the am. This changed when we upgraded. My setup works well for us, and hopefully your new setup works better for you. The difference between the two, was the ability to maintain a coal bed. Coals burning from front to back overnight, keeping the home warm. To each their own, what works for one doesn't always work for another. Also it's not 100% fair to judge an EPA certified unit, when the one you had wasn't meant nor designed to be used as so. Just sayin. Good luck spidey with your new furnace, I'm sure it will do just fine for you.
 
bucknfeller said:
Only for about 25 years now.



So you have never seen a stove full of glowing orange coals with short blue flames rolling around? Are you burning telephone poles?



Those coals don't just jump out of the wood. Sure flames to get it hot, coals will keep it hot. If I had your problem, I'd try a different stove. Mine is a Nashua, pre EPA BS. Works great, in the basement, 1800 sq. feet above it. Always comfortable.
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I've never seen a stove or furnace full of coals cranking along at 600 degrees. Sounds like you have a stove that is way oversized for your needs or maybe it's just magical.

Flames make more heat than coals.

The OP was asking what might cause over coaling and what to do about it. Answered.

And I'm burning 2yr seasoned hardwood. I have no complaints about my EPA stove. I burn 1/3 less wood than I did in my "pre EPA BS" stove and i stay just as warm. It wouldn't keep my house warm with a load of coals either. Neither would the wood furnace in my previous house.

A load of coals may be ok on a temperate day, but not on an average cold day around here. On temperate days I never have a problem with coals building up anyway. The OP was looking to throw more wood in so reading between the lines it means it wasn't warm enough. This makes your advice to let the coals burn down on their own BS.
 
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Is anyone gonna answer allstihl's original question, or are ya just too busy painting the room with testosterone?
 
I didn't know just how ####ing dumb I really am until I started reading the advice from all the "experts" in here. It's a wonder I havn't froze to death.
 
Could the wind have been coming in a rare direction? Causing a poor draft for that period only.
 
Mac88 said:
Is anyone gonna answer allstihl's original question, or are ya just too busy painting the room with testosterone?
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Check post 11. Windy doesn't always equal good conditions for a strong draft. If it doesn't happen again then it was likely barometric conditions combined with a wood known to make lots of coals.

Here's another theory. The wind caused a really good draft that reduced the maple to coals quickly. The logs collapsed into a coal pile quickly and blocked off the primary air to some degree causing the coals to burn slowly.

As far as painting the walls, I have only just begun. If I am cold and the stove is full of coals the last thing I'm going to do is let them burn down and continue to be cold. The advice I gave is solid.
 
bucknfeller said:
I didn't know just how ####ing dumb I really am until I started reading the advice from all the "experts" in here. It's a wonder I havn't froze to death.
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Not calling you dumb. What works in one environment doesn't necessarily work in all. I don't think we disagree that coals don't put out as much heat as flames. It's more a matter of how much heat is enough for your particular needs.
 
Streblerm said:
Check post 11. Windy doesn't always equal good conditions for a strong draft. If it doesn't happen again then it was likely barometric conditions combined with a wood known to make lots of coals.

Here's another theory. The wind caused a really good draft that reduced the maple to coals quickly. The logs collapsed into a coal pile quickly and blocked off the primary air to some degree causing the coals to burn slowly.

As far as painting the walls, I have only just begun. If I am cold and the stove is full of coals the last thing I'm going to do is let them burn down and continue to be cold. The advice I gave is solid.
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If you wanted to milk it out plus get it going good fast, you could shovel the coals out, add wood, dump the hot coals back on top.
 
Seems like there are bits and pieces of actual answers for the OP. I don't have as much experience in stoves as many, but for my stove, home, and flu set up; if I'm cold in the house and theres a 4" bed of coals, I'm not going to get warm from the stove. I have a leaky house and heat only the top floor or a ranch, so I can't wait for those coals to minimize/burn down before taking some out ( or if I do, by then all my heat has escaped out of the house or been overtaken by all the cold surounding it vs heating two or three floors of a house where the heat takes hours to 'work it's way' up through).

For my appliance it would seem (as was stated by others), that having a thick bed with bricks on bottom and no air except on top, means only the very top burns. It used to be a lot worse for me before I insulated more, and changed out windows and doors. Now I rarely run into the situation of too many coals and a cold house. As far as that original question though....... could you have some kind of mechanical issue with your draft not working the way you think it is? Something blocking air intake? Flue overly built up or blocked causing reduced air flow?
 
Streblerm said:
Now that sounds complicated. :msp_razz:
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Well, mine loads top and front so it is very easy to do and I do it a lot. Ill push good coals to the back. shovel ash out, go dump it. Come back, shovel hot coals into bucket, chunk in some splits, pour the bucket of hot coals in the top. Goes pretty fast. Dont do it all the time, but sometimes. Usually though Ill just stir them up a few times and leave the front load door wide open, they finish burning down quickly. Dont have a grate, an old stove, leave an inch or two ash on the bottom all the time anyway. Always have coals in there.

Not an epa stove, but that top loader function is real handy, especially in this climate, for loading single big chunks. A lot of days I dont want or need a hot fire, just some heat, so a big chunk on top of a robust layer of coals works just fine, burns for hours. Also good for all nighters.
 
I get the same thing running Maple and sometimes cherry in the spring, and during mid winter thaws like we had today.

Get her going, set the thing at half throttle, and go do whatever.
Usually it's a damp dreary day with rising temps and humidity, when I'm thinking cold and dry.

No biggie, really. Rake the coals to the front, toss a couple of Sassafrass or cottonwood(Fast burning) splits in the back, lock her down and open the throttle all the way.

The fast burning splits heats things back up quick in the house, while heating up the flue/ drawing more air, to burn down the coals.
I can get another couple hours of usable heat this way. Call me a cheap bastard, but I hate hauling perfectly good and burning coals to the ash pile.

I'm thinking that if everything was as normal, the only variable was weather conditions, and if you guys got this sunny warm up and then humidity/rain we got, your stove did the same thing mine did.

Don't worry, this crap is headed your way, and will be freezing into sheets of ice on top of bottomless mud in no time.

Stay safe!
Dingeryote
 

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