Packing the stove

[wackydeejay]

I was just curious as to how full you guys tend to pack the stove with wood. I think all of us pretty much fill it for overnight burns, but what about during the day? As for me, I probably fill it a little more than halfway full when we are home to tend. I seem to keep a more steady temperature in the house with a half load than a full load. Overnight uniform temperature doesn't matter so much. The goal there is just not to freeze at night and to have good coals left in the morning.

 

[Mike PA]

I don't pack it for overnight unless it gets cold, but I have a very large firebox. Generally three or four pieces. During the day, depends if we are home, temp., and how long we will be gone. For normal days, three or four pieces. For cold days, four or five. Today, I put two pieces in on top of the coals, as it is warm here.

 

[Upidstay]

I load that sucker up. Basically I put as much as will fit in. I have a good size firebox, and have learned that 12" pieces work better for me, as I can lay them fron to back instead of left to right. I can fit more wood in that way. I always try and leave at least an inch of air space to let it breathe.I generally get a solid 6 hours of really good heat out of it that way, with enough coals to easily restart it up to 16 hours later.

 

[wackydeejay]

I load that sucker up. Basically I put as much as will fit in. I have a good size firebox, and have learned that 12" pieces work better for me, as I can lay them fron to back instead of left to right. I can fit more wood in that way. I always try and leave at least an inch of air space to let it breathe.I generally get a solid 6 hours of really good heat out of it that way, with enough coals to easily restart it up to 16 hours later.

16 hours later...that's really good. I don't think I've been able to light off coals more than about 8 or 9 hours after the fact.

 

[Streblerm]

During the day I will burn two or three splits at a time. I find it easier to regulate the temperature in the house that way. It takes a bit of self control not to overheat the house. At night I will load it up about an hour before bedtime and slowly damper it down. I can hold enough coals to easily restart a fire for 8-10 hours that way.

If I load it all the time it seems to result in overheating the house or an overly smoky chimney from an over dampened stove. The bedrooms are far away from the stove so like the OP it isn't an issue at night.

When it is really cold outside I will load the stove up in the morning, but once the inside temperature comes up, a small fire is all it takes to keep it toasty.

 

[loganj01]

Lol...old Craft stove insert here. Cram it as full as you can about every three hours and throw a bunch of coal in it at night. As long as I don't sleep more than about 6 hours, I'll still have heat in the morning.

 

[laynes69]

I will load full at night unless its in the 30's or warmer then a 1/2 load will get us through the night. During the day if I'm home or my wife we will load 3-5 med splits at a time. Our firebox is 3.5 Cu.ft and will take 22" splits, but we cut at 16-18" so I never have a truly full firebox.