woodburner and flames - silly question

suered

Hi all
Still learning my way round the beast and wondered if those in the know could share....

Could someone please talk me through the cycle of flames in a woodburner from start to embers including putting a new log in - colour/vigorousness, etc.

Thanks

SG27

Depends how you control the air flow. The more open the vents the more vigourously it will be burn. Close them down and it will smoulder.

I have no glass on my stove though so can't actually see the flames.

Dieselman

To start with a empty fire box load with scrunched up balls of paper mine approx 10-12 then put kindling on top ( bits of pallet wood or similar) thin pieces so they burn quickly.

Light the paper with the controls all open top and bottom on a multifuel stove.

It soon lights i open the door on the ash pan to give more air depends on temp outside etc.

It bursts into real flames fast then put some hardwood logs on plus a bit of soft wood and keeping the door open only slightly these burn then shut the door and leave the temp to rise ( stove pipe thermometer) tells me it's coming up i close the bottom vents and let the temp rise at about 300f i can adjust the top vents for a hotter/cooler burn.

Normally my stove sits about 400-500f thats the normal range it will go higher god had it to 800f, 950f max it's flippin hot at 800!!

Mine takes 3hrs to burn a load down to nothing so every 90 mins i put another log on.

To start to 300f takes about 10 mins i don't sit there watching it i make a brew.

Smokeless coals will burn much longer i can get 7-8 hrs of burning time i use these for the really cold winter days, wood is much cleaner than the dirty black stuff.

Any more help you need please ask, the daft questions are the ones you didn't ask.!!:D

Mister_G

Dieselman wrote: »

To start with a empty fire box load with scrunched up balls of paper mine approx 10-12 then put kindling on top ( bits of pallet wood or similar) thin pieces so they burn quickly.

Light the paper with the controls all open top and bottom on a multifuel stove.

It soon lights i open the door on the ash pan to give more air depends on temp outside etc.

It bursts into real flames fast then put some hardwood logs on plus a bit of soft wood and keeping the door open only slightly these burn then shut the door and leave the temp to rise ( stove pipe thermometer) tells me it's coming up i close the bottom vents and let the temp rise at about 300c i can adjust the top vents for a hotter/cooler burn.

Normally my stove sits about 400-500c thats the normal range it will go higher god had it to 800c, 950c max it's flippin hot at 800!!

Mine takes 3hrs to burn a load down to nothing so every 90 mins i put another log on.

To start to 300c takes about 10 mins i don't sit there watching it i make a brew.

Smokeless coals will burn much longer i can get 7-8 hrs of burning time i use these for the really cold winter days, wood is much cleaner than the dirty black stuff.

Any more help you need please ask, the daft questions are the ones you didn't ask.!!:D

I do hope you mean F rather than C !

Skulls

Mister_G wrote: »

I do hope you mean F rather than C !

Exactly what I was thinking!

Mine runs at 200-250c or 400-500F

Dieselman

Mister_G wrote: »

I do hope you mean F rather than C !

Yes..................:D

muckybutt

Skulls wrote: »

Exactly what I was thinking!

Mine runs at 200-250c or 400-500F

Slightly on the cool side there skulls ! ideally you want to be around the 250F - 400F max. Burning cooler ( slumber burning ) is both a waste of fuel as it is not burning properly and you stand a higher risk of having a chimney fire, as the combustion gasses rise they cool off too quickly, these gasses turn to tar and creosote as they cool coating the inside of your chimney / flue which leads to a lot higher risk of a fire.

I advise all my customers not to burn lower than 250F unless they are letting the fire go out.

Mister_G

Skulls wrote: »

Exactly what I was thinking!

Mine runs at 200-250c or 400-500F

I run mine at 300-450 F, which is in the 'best operation' zone on my stovepipe thermometer - an ESSENTIAL piece of kit, along with a moisture meter!

highrisklowreturn

Why essential, and why is a moisture metre essential?

Greenfires

Personally I'd say that neither are essential, but both can be useful, especially if you're new to stoves.

The thermometer will give an idea of how hot the appliance is running - but of course once it's been up to temperature in the "best operation" zone, it will gradually fall back into the "creosote" zone as the fire gradually dies down. If the fire is at this stage though, all the volatiles will have long since been burned off, so there will be virtually no smoke going up the chimney, and consequently little risk of anything condensing in it.

Moisture meters again can be a useful addition to the toolbox, especially if you're buying logs and are new to them. You can tell with experience by the feel and sound of logs whether they're dry or not - but if you're not at that stage and have doubts, a few randomly selected logs split and then tested with the meter will soon tell you whether those "well seasoned logs" actually are seasoned, or whether they came out of Mrs Miggins' back garden last week.

Skulls

muckybutt wrote: »

Slightly on the cool side there skulls ! ideally you want to be around the 250F - 400F max. Burning cooler ( slumber burning ) is both a waste of fuel as it is not burning properly and you stand a higher risk of having a chimney fire, as the combustion gasses rise they cool off too quickly, these gasses turn to tar and creosote as they cool coating the inside of your chimney / flue which leads to a lot higher risk of a fire.

I advise all my customers not to burn lower than 250F unless they are letting the fire go out.

I have the Burley Hollywell, I don't know if that's the reason but, all gases are burnt as in the secondary burn, the swirly, dreamy flames. I don't think I've ever got above 250c with the Burley. I only burn Heatlogs at the moment and are fairly low moisture content. Yesterday I burnt 3 Verdo logs all day, from about 1-8pm with dreamy flames for most of the day except, just after reloading, half a log at a time and right towards the end.

My old Villager always burnt hotter, 300-400c but for no where near as long.