New Wood Stove

[GBeck]

GBeck: I doubt you really get more ash. Any volume of wood, converted to heat and gas, reduces to a given amount of unburnable residue. Put more wood in the combustion chamber, get more ash. Put in less wood, get less ash. The ash buildup is a function of total wood volume you put in the stove, not the size of a particular piece.

well makes sense when you put it that way...

and I think I got it figure out now what I am doing wrong...I have basically just shut the damper to the closed position and never touched it, making the fire burn hot before doing this makes good sense as well...thanks groundcover will start that as well...

 

[IXLR8]

It definitely helps to get the fire hot after you load it up before you throttle it back. If you have a stove with a Catalytic Converter... it is about mandatory get the fire going hot to restart the Cat C before you throttle it back.
For wood storage, my attached garage is 15' wide, with a 9' door, so I have room on the side and under the stairs for about 3/4 cord of wood. The rest of the 2 cord I use a year is out in the tractor hut. When the garage pile is getting low, the next clear day I use the tractor to 'restock' the garage from the hut.

 

[Oleozz]

My woodstove is in my basement and I used to put 10 full cords of wood all around the furnace in one corner of the basement. I use less wood and more propane, so I brought in 6 cords this year.

.

I'm not doubting your word but you must have a BIG basement. One cord is 4x4x8ft, 10 of those would take up a large area!

 

[MossRoad]

I'm not doubting your word but you must have a BIG basement. One cord is 4x4x8ft, 10 of those would take up a large area!

I was thinking the same thing. "man, that guy must have a huge basement".

10 cords would take up 40' wide by 8' deep by 4' high

or

20' wide by 8' deep piled up to the ceiling.

 

[3RRL]

I have a huge crawlspace about 8' tall surrounding the finished basement.
I got plenty of room in there for that amount of wood (although I don't need nearly that much), but I was under the impression you should not store your firewood near or in the house for numerous reasons? I've been racking my brain as to where to build the firewood shed. Not too close but not too far.

 

[MossRoad]

I have a huge crawlspace about 8' tall surrounding the finished basement.
I got plenty of room in there for that amount of wood ...

No kidding? We have a 1300 square foot house with a full basement. I guess the key word there is "full"! We have so much stuff there isn't any room for firewood.

 

[3RRL]

Yeah, in some places the crawlspace is over 10' tall! The lowest area is about 8' tall.
The main footprint is about 40' x 50' with only a 980sq/ft finished basement. This is a pic of only one part of it. It is "U" shaped around the finished basement. I put an entry door into the front thinking I could turn that space into something later ... maybe store firewood?

 

[Highbeam]

Lots of small pieces can make more ash since if they are sticks they have more bark per "cord". Bark makes tons of ash. If the small stuff is just big stuff split down then the ash amount should be the same as if you had burned big stuff.

If your stove can comfortably take 20" logs then use them. This provides a fuller firebox and also less surface area to combust. The modern EPA stove will provide plenty of air to quickly burn your wood, even on its lowest setting, so to slow it down you need to use bigger chunks and stack tightly to slow the burn. My stove is rated for 21" logs but I cut to 18" to allow easy loading.

The number of catalytic stoves has become so small that they are mostly a novelty these days. Only a couple of brands even offer them and they are the oddball ones like Blaze king and woodstock. Personally, I would love to own a stove from either of these companies and a cat stove especially. VC is no longer a brand worthy of consideration unless you like sticking your finger in your eye.

Rob, if your wood is dry and your crawlspace is dry then you can store your wood there. The usual reasons like fire danger, wood rot, and bug invasion are eliminated if you have already dried your wood and if your crawlspace is basicly a cellar. I would stack it away from the walls and on pallets. I can't believe you haven't converted that space into something cool.

 

[IXLR8]

The number of catalytic stoves has become so small that they are mostly a novelty these days. Only a couple of brands even offer them and they are the oddball ones like Blaze king and woodstock. Personally, I would love to own a stove from either of these companies and a cat stove especially.
VC is no longer a brand worthy of consideration unless you like sticking your finger in your eye.

Why do you say that about the VC stoves? It would not surprise me, as I understand the company has been sold at least 3 times since I bought my stove in '86, but my stove has been great and I have been very happy with it. I have used several other 'premium' stoves over the years and none have them have been as good or user friendly as my VC has been. Is it a quality of product issue or company support?

 

[Ridgewalker]

My mom burns sawmill blocks, they are oak and run from 4"x6"x10" to 6"x8"x12" or so. There is no bark on any of them and she has next to no ash.

 

[3RRL]

Rob, if your wood is dry and your crawlspace is dry then you can store your wood there. The usual reasons like fire danger, wood rot, and bug invasion are eliminated if you have already dried your wood and if your crawlspace is basicly a cellar. I would stack it away from the walls and on pallets. I can't believe you haven't converted that space into something cool.

Hi Joe,
Thanks for that information. I saw in another thread how super-neatly you stack your wood pile ... awesome!
I have lots of trees taken down over 3 years ago that I still need to cut and split. If indeed it's OK to store some inside the crawls space, I'll surely do that. My thoughts are to have an outdoor firewood rack/shed to dry and maybe move the cured/dried wood inside the crawl space?
If you've been following my Log Home thread, you can see why I haven't done anything with that space yet.
Geez, there's about a million other things to do.

 

[Bedlam]

I use one of these to bring in the wood from my front porch to the wood stove. I also have a canvas wood carrier that I place at the bottom of it to help keep some of the dirt contained. If I bring in a full load, it is enough wood to last me for a day. (note: I am not the old guy in the picture )

Who ya call in old?? LOL

 

[dillo99]

I store my wood out on covered racks behind the barn (about 12 face cords). I then load up a trailer that I park in the garage. Trailer lasts me about 1-2 weeks. Final phase is to carry the wood into the house in a sling and store in a metal rack next to the fire. I thought about one of those rolling carts buy my stove is in the family room and my garage is always wet with salt and slush/etc. So I figured that would be a bit nasty.

I have a good friend who built an addition on his house and include a concrete wood storage area (no bugs). It has an exterior door for loading wood and an interior door for grabbing wood for the fire. It is right next to his fireplace...very cool!

 

[MossRoad]

Yeah, in some places the crawlspace is over 10' tall! The lowest area is about 8' tall.
The main footprint is about 40' x 50' with only a 980sq/ft finished basement. This is a pic of only one part of it. It is "U" shaped around the finished basement. I put an entry door into the front thinking I could turn that space into something later ... maybe store firewood?

WOW! That's huge.

 

[Highbeam]

Why do you say that about the VC stoves? It would not surprise me, as I understand the company has been sold at least 3 times since I bought my stove in '86, but my stove has been great and I have been very happy with it. I have used several other 'premium' stoves over the years and none have them have been as good or user friendly as my VC has been. Is it a quality of product issue or company support?

VC has gone down the crapper due to several quality issues, parts availability issues, and bankruptcy. Their biggest design failure is the current everburn series of non-cat stoves that are actually a downdraft design and very difficult to control, easy to run away, and creossote makers. VC actually just said that it is "normal" to have parts of this cast iron stove glowing red! The cat models were better until recently when the refractory package that holds the cat has been falling apart and replacement is either impossible due to lack of parts or very expensive.

Indeed VC WAS a great company with a long history of excellent products and service. This is now gone and they are the most ridiculed stove company around. Check out some of the woodstove enthusiast sites like hearth.com for an eye opening about this brand. A good old cat stove from VC was the top of the line for many years.

Fear not though, there are other quality companies to choose from.