How much wood do you load in a wood furnace?

[flotek]

A whopping 8 cubic feet and your getting a 6 hour burn time ? Sounds like you don't need a better method ...sounds like you need a better wood burner. .

 

[CTYank]

Not being familiar with your furnace I can't say with 100% sureness that you can load the box to a point above the brick without consequence (actually I'm covering my azz)... but I find it really hard to believe it would hurt anything.

In most fireboxes, more wood means more heat per minute, per hour, etc., not necessarily longer burns... unless you change the rate of burn. Back-in-the-day, people would stuff the box full and choke down the fire to get the "long" burn. But they could have got near (I said near) as long a burn with just half, or even a quarter load choked back that way... but less heat per minute, per hour, etc.

Your furnace has an automatic forced air draft... rate of fire changes automatically according to heat demand. If you want longer burns you need to reduce how often the draft blower starts, and reduce how long it runs when it does. There's only two ways to do that...

1. Turn the thermostat down... which means the house will be colder when you come home, and require more wood burned at high rate to warm things back up. Chances are that alone won't increase burn time by all that much... only by the length of time it takes for the house to cool to thermostat set point.
2. Put a larger load of wood in the box (and/or use heavier, denser wood)... which will make more heat per minute, per hour, etc. when the furnace is idling, thereby reducing how often the draft blower starts, and will make more heat per minute, per hour, etc. when the blower is running, thereby reducing how long it runs.

[B]CTYank[/B] is wrong, I do not "try to match wood-burner heat output to the load moment to moment"... I load the box for expected heat demand and walk away from it for 6-12 hours, depending. If I was trying to match it moment to moment... I'd be needing to sit beside it and babysit. The auto firing rate (i.e., draft blower) makes that a simple thing, it allows you a large margin of error... there's no reason to ever over-load and over-heat the house...

Keep experimenting and trying different load sizes... you'll catch-on to what it wants/needs for conditions.
*

Think what you wish, even if you're way off the mark. I'll work on the advice "Never argue with a ... ." For interested onlookers, I was pointing to "buffering" the output of the appliance with storage, so the appliance can be run (cleanly & efficiently) without regard to what's being dissipated moment-to-moment in the load. Let me guess who'd label a "Hill Boiler" elitist. Of course there are few elitists in Orono ME. Reportedly some folks installed such systems with enough water storage that firing it up once a week was plenty. Search and ye shall find details from Dr. Hill on systems that were way before their time.

Professor Hill put some very interesting woodburning systems into use, like one that burned hogged fuel (couple $/ton) so cleanly that the exhaust was sent through increasingly smaller flues inside gravel storage. The water and CO2 condensed into a "fizzy lifting drink." Sorry about that Willy W.

An open mind is prepared for learning, unlike what we see from a few knee-jerkers. Hi, Steve-0. Good For You.

 

[Whitespider]

CTYank,
The OP has a newly installed forced air wood-fired furnace, and asked a couple of questions...

• So how much can I cram into this thing without damage?
• Would like to get 10 hours--load at night, load when I wake up, load when I get home from work and then repeat the process.
  Thanks

You answer with a bunch of non-related gobble-gook about thermal storage in water (among other things) and an experimental concept wood boiler from the '70s... that I will add, failed in the retail marked, even after at least 4 separate companies (that I know of) tried to make a go of it. Although, to be fair, the gasification boilers are an off-shoot from it. Then you sum up your response by stating that what I try(?), "just doesn't work" (in your opinion)... before I've even posted in this thread.

Then I come along and actually address the questions from the OP... address them with things that actually are applicable to what he has. I use examples of things I do, or have done, that actually do work to increase both heat output and burn times significantly (i.e., direct answers to direct questions). I then reference your statement about what I try(?) and how it doesn't work... stating you are wrong because what I do does, in fact, work (I'm guessin' your magic crystal ball, the one that lets you see what's happenin' half way across the country, is malfunctioning). I sum it up with tellin' the man he'll likely need to do a bit of trial and error to find what works best for his setup.

You're the guy that referenced me in the first place... and now you're the guy with his panties all bunched up... give me a friggin' break.
*

 

[olyman]

CTYank,
The OP has a newly installed forced air wood-fired furnace, and asked a couple of questions...

• So how much can I cram into this thing without damage?
• Would like to get 10 hours--load at night, load when I wake up, load when I get home from work and then repeat the process.
  Thanks

You answer with a bunch of non-related gobble-gook about thermal storage in water (among other things) and an experimental concept wood boiler from the '70s... that I will add, failed in the retail marked, even after at least 4 separate companies (that I know of) tried to make a go of it. Although, to be fair, the gasification boilers are an off-shoot from it. Then you sum up your response by stating that what I try(?), "just doesn't work" (in your opinion)... before I've even posted in this thread.

Then I come along and actually address the questions from the OP... address them with things that actually are applicable to what he has. I use examples of things I do, or have done, that actually do work to increase both heat output and burn times significantly (i.e., direct answers to direct questions). I then reference your statement about what I try(?) and how it doesn't work... stating you are wrong because what I do does, in fact, work (I'm guessin' your magic crystal ball, the one that lets you see what's happenin' half way across the country, is malfunctioning). I sum it up with tellin' the man he'll likely need to do a bit of trial and error to find what works best for his setup.

You're the guy that referenced me in the first place... and now you're the guy with his panties all bunched up... give me a friggin' break.
*

 

[svk]

You're the guy that referenced me in the first place... and now you're the guy with his panties all bunched up... give me a friggin' break.
*

As we've learned he's great at dishing out the insults but doesn't do so well when someone calls him on his BS.

 

[svk]

An open mind is prepared for learning, unlike what we see from a few knee-jerkers.

Says the most arrogant, closed minded member on the whole site.

Lets hear some more about how your Poulans and Tanaka are better than Husky and Stihl. Or how the Council maul will outsplit a tool you've barely used. What's next? Your Ranger will out pull a Duramax?

You've attacked several esteemed members of this site with accusations they don't know what they are talking about. WS doesn't know how to burn wood, Benp doesn't know how to split wood, and there are more in the splitting tool thread. Even when people proved you were 180 degrees from manufacturers recommendations, you continued to dish the insults.

When your poor attitude and pushy ways have caused you to become the butt of jokes on this site, it's clear who should reevaluate their position.

 

[fixit1960]

Been tinkering with my DS Stoves 400-09. The firebox measures 16"x29". The maximum log length is 26 inches. I'm burning 14"-18" splits now--mostly ash with some hard maple and red oak. We put in usually
5 splits max to 'fill'.

I'm lucky to get 6 hours burn--we wake up and the house is cold--62 degrees.

So how much can I cram into this thing without damage?

The interior of the box has brick linings. Above the brick is the secondary burner tubes that run vertical up to the top. Can I load wood into the 'metal' section of the firebox above the brick?

Would like to get 10 hours--load at night, load when I wake up, load when I get home from work and then repeat the process.

Thanks

I re-read the OP's post and in attempt to get back on topic I will post again with the suggestion to use as long a piece of wood as you can fit in your box. That would be 26", I noticed you were using 14 and 18" long pieces. Also for the over nite burns go with a box full of the hard maple and oak if available. Burn the ash during the day when someone can tend it. This should produce the deep bed of coals that WS referred to earlier. Once you have this the heat should be constant, just be careful filling, mine would roll out onto the floor if you weren't careful.

Your profile doesn't say where you live and your post doesn't say how big or how well insulated your home is but all these are factors that I would have considered and sized the stove accordingly. Of course this is hindsight now , but considering the size of your fire box you should be able to generate enough BTUs to keep the house comfortable with longer burn times. Your actual fire box is larger than the one I referred to in my earlier post that worked for me. I really think you will have to stuff the box fuller with harder wood to accomplish your objective, hence my earlier post about reinforcing the fire box with some extra metal plate to protect the firebox may be appropriate.

Once again good luck and keep trying!

 

[olyman]

Says the most arrogant, closed minded member on the whole site.

Lets hear some more about how your Poulans and Tanaka are better than Husky and Stihl. Or how the Council maul will outsplit a tool you've barely used. What's next? Your Ranger will out pull a Duramax?

You've attacked several esteemed members of this site with accusations they don't know what they are talking about. WS doesn't know how to burn wood, Benp doesn't know how to split wood, and there are more in the splitting tool thread. Even when people proved you were 180 degrees from manufacturers recommendations, you continued to dish the insults.

When your poor attitude and pushy ways have caused you to become the butt of jokes on this site, it's clear who should reevaluate their position.

reminds us a another certain human on here....................................

 

[Whitespider]

A whopping 8 cubic feet and your getting a 6 hour burn time ? Sounds like you don't need a better method ...sounds like you need a better wood burner.

That's funny... 8³/ft... hardly... try and be realistic at least.

Read the OP again... he's burning 14-18 inch splits, and only 5 of them when he "fills". In other words, he's only utilizing about 1.0³/ft of fuel load. Even if he's "filling" it to the top of the 9-inch brick, and we figure an average of 16 inch long splits, it only comes to 1.3³/ft... maybe‼
The firebox dimensions are 16 inches horizontal width by 29 inches horizontal depth (vertical height is not specified)... the fire chamber volume is specified at 8³/ft. If the OP wanted to put 8³/ft of fuel in it, that would mean 29 inch long splits sacked 30 inches high‼ Likely something well above the top of the door opening‼
It's a whole-home forced-air furnace, it ain't a space-heater stove. The idea behind the large fire chamber is to increase the area of steel available for conducting heat to the air being forced around and past it, at relatively high velocity... it ain't the fuel load capacity.

If the manufactures instructions are anything like those for my DAKA furnace (and I'm assuming they are just going on how the OP worded his post), the maximum recommended fuel load stacked height is to the top of the bricks (9 inches). The OP also stated maximum log length of 26 inches... so 16 wide × 26 Long × 9 high = 2.2³/ft of fuel load capacity (per manufacturer instructions). Heck, even cheating and loading 15 inches high, and still assuming 26 inch long firewood (who cuts that long??), it's still only 'round 3.5³/ft of fuel load. But he don't have 26 inch long firewood, it's an average of 16 inches... stacked even 20 inches high it only comes to 3.0³/ft.

And that's what the OP was asking... if he could stack it higher than manufacturer instructions without damaging his new furnace??
Well heck, most of us with whole-home forced-air furnaces load higher than manufacturer instructions at times... especially during times of high demand. My DAKA accepts 25 inch firewood (according to manufacturer instructions), but I cut mine to 16 inches. The specifications say the firebox is 16 inches wide by 23 inches high, but that's to the sliding baffle above the door opening... I couldn't stack wood in it that high if I wanted to (there's another 8-10 inches or so of "secondary heat chamber" above the baffle). When I load mine for an extreme cold over-night I might stack those 16 inch long splits maybe one split higher than the bottom of the door opening (certainly something less than 20 inches high)... meaning something under 3.0³/ft of fuel.

Here is the question from the OP...

The interior of the box has brick linings. Above the brick is the secondary burner tubes that run vertical up to the top. Can I load wood into the 'metal' section of the firebox above the brick?

I will correct the OP on one thing though. As I understand it, those vertical tubes above the firebrick are not "secondary burner tubes"... they're actually tubes that the forced air flows through to increase heat transfer. I wouldn't get to overly rambunctious in loading without keeping a close eye on those tubes for warping, for a little while. I'm assuming they're made from the same thickness of steel as the walls, and with air flowing through them there really shouldn't be an overheating issue... still, better safe than sorry.

 

[Mike Clark]

I can fit 9-10 large split pieces or 1 large round up to 12in diameter lol. Custom welding shop made stove lol


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Gypo Logger]

We've had a cold snap all week and I'm heating 300sq. Ft with 2 Drolets. Max burn is 4 hrs and it's a killer if I sleep in.
It's 10 below on the floor and 52F near the ceiling. It's a full time job staying warm.
I'm afraid to get into the hooch at these temps, it's just to dangerous.
I went from burning spruce to willow which has more coals.
The dogs will only go out if absolutely necessary. It's warmed up to minus 35. In full winter clothes in the house.
Theres warmer weather in store by the weekend.

 

[newyorker]

Sounds like you need some insulation

 

[Gypo Logger]

Sounds like you need some insulation

No, I need more wood. As you can see in the pic, I only have one piece left.
Better go cut more to get me thru the night.
John

 

[Whitespider]

Sorry about the rant guys... but some of these self-indulgent, elitist posts are horse-crap.

Here we have a guy who's not been a member for a full year yet... only 30 posts.
He drops (likely) something over $3k for a new wood-fired furnace...
He spends another chunk to have it professionally installed...
He comes here politely and sincerely asking for help and advice about running it...
And what does he get for an answer from some??
"It don't work" and "you need a better wood burner."

Well, I ain't above stirring the pot for fun, but totally unhelpful comments and put-downs like that, just because the guy made a different choice than you would, shows plain self-indulgent, elitist horse crap... not to mention it's flat azz mean and unfeeling. Sometimes the mark of intelligence and civility is knowing when saying nothing is better than saying what your thinking.

I'm glad I'm perfectly comfortable with who I am... which necessarily means I'm glad I don't give a ratz-azz-in-hell what you think that is.
Still... I believe I've had enough of this place for a while.
*

 

[brenndatomu]

Anybody else notice that there has been no sign of OP since the first post? Yet here we are on the end of page two...bickering
It seems to me that there has been a lot of "squabbling" here on AS this winter...just an observation

 

[fixit1960]

Sorry about the rant guys... but some of these self-indulgent, elitist posts are horse-crap.

Here we have a guy who's not been a member for a full year yet... only 30 posts.
He drops (likely) something over $3k for a new wood-fired furnace...
He spends another chunk to have it professionally installed...
He comes here politely and sincerely asking for help and advice about running it...
And what does he get for an answer from some??
"It don't work" and "you need a better wood burner."

Well, I ain't above stirring the pot for fun, but totally unhelpful comments and put-downs like that, just because the guy made a different choice than you would, shows plain self-indulgent, elitist horse crap... not to mention it's flat azz mean and unfeeling. Sometimes the mark of intelligence and civility is knowing when saying nothing is better than saying what your thinking.

I'm glad I'm perfectly comfortable with who I am... which necessarily means I'm glad I don't give a ratz-azz-in-hell what you think that is.
Still... I believe I've had enough of this place for a while.
*

I agree Whitespider, If a new person who is also new to the field of burning cutting and splitting asks a serious question on here the "veteran" users should recognize that as a chance to help and further our cause of burning wood for heat. To blow them off with unhelpful comments would give the wrong impression of what I thought this site was about.
I feel you have done your best to be helpful..... Don't let the others under your skin and don't go away mad...the OP hasn't replied indicating he is probably at work and later he will read them all and figure out who is trying to be helpful and who could care less other than to be bullying. You know, the newbie who doesn't know anything and the clickish attitude rears up, oh boy here's an opportunity to whack at someone.

I may have spoke out of turn telling him to stack it full, I didn't realize it was an EPA stove so I wasn't aware that it had the cross tubes above. I guess I re-read the first post and found that out but, with care I'm sure he can load it heavier than he is and as SVK pointed out if he uses bigger splits his burn time should increase substantially.

 

[svk]

I agree Whitespider, If a new person who is also new to the field of burning cutting and splitting asks a serious question on here the "veteran" users should recognize that as a chance to help and further our cause of burning wood for heat. To blow them off with unhelpful comments would give the wrong impression of what I thought this site was about.
I feel you have done your best to be helpful..... Don't let the others under your skin and don't go away mad...the OP hasn't replied indicating he is probably at work and later he will read them all and figure out who is trying to be helpful and who could care less other than to be bullying. You know, the newbie who doesn't know anything and the clickish attitude rears up, oh boy here's an opportunity to whack at someone.

I may have spoke out of turn telling him to stack it full, I didn't realize it was an EPA stove so I wasn't aware that it had the cross tubes above. I guess I re-read the first post and found that out but, with care I'm sure he can load it heavier than he is and as SVK pointed out if he uses bigger splits his burn time should increase substantially.

+1.

Checked his profile and he hasn't been back online since the OP was made.

Hopefully between the banter there are enough ideas to help him get better burn times.

 

[tom reinbolt]

Field Report 1.

Burning 80% ash and 20% hard maple--NO oak

Went to sleep and got about 6 1/2 hours no problem--house was 66 degrees at night and 64 in the morning. Got the thing going again and left for work--set it at 66 degrees.

Got home 9 hours later--house was at 63/64 degrees--fire warm--needed to be relit again burning ash/maple.

New construction house--R30 ceilings and R 16 walls through whole house--approx. 3500 square foot ranch with 20'x23'18' great room that really takes up volume.

Temp outside was 16 degrees max--

I shut off the draft blower and closed the 4 circle dampers--

I need bigger chunks and oak???

This unit is better than the Clayton for sure.

Thanks for all the help!

 

[svk]

Oak isn't a need but I'd bet bigger splits will help. I get double the burning time in my stove just by increasing the size of wood or burning larger rounds.

Maple and ash are good stuff.

 

[tom reinbolt]

I've got some larger ash on the pile. Dead tree fall from November--of course I thought I was smart and split this by hand. My back knows better!

And I have a splitter in the garage--stupid me.