Emergency Wood Burning in Mr. Herald #6

Hey guys, a bit chilly today. Okay so I have not replenished my coal supplies as of yet. But there was an awful chill in the house today. And normally I am able to ride to my local Amish community. Yoder's greenhouse and grab a few bags of coal for $5.50 apiece.

The problem is that my truck is in the shop and has been in the shop since Wednesday. I'm having my rear rebuilt. No pun intended. However I have been collecting wood since last season. So I have plenty wood in the yard dry and ready to burn.

My question is about burning wood in Mr. Herald # 6. More specifically I'm wondering about base burner mode when burning wood. I recently read a post where the poster said that he'd rather creosote in the stove rather than going up the chimney. I was under the impression that base burner mode should not be used when burning wood.

I must add compared to my last wood burning fiasco the fire department has not showed up as of yet lol right now I am maintaining a steady 500 degree slow burning wood fire. Don't ask me how. It's just working very well. My stack temperature is just below 200 degrees. I'm guessing I need a lesson in creosote.

UncleDoDat wrote:Hey guys, a bit chilly today. Okay so I have not replenished my coal supplies as of yet. But there was an awful chill in the house today. And normally I am able to ride to my local Amish community. Yoder's greenhouse and grab a few bags of coal for $5.50 apiece.

The problem is that my truck is in the shop and has been in the shop since Wednesday. I'm having my rear rebuilt. No pun intended. However I have been collecting wood since last season. So I have plenty wood in the yard dry and ready to burn.

My question is about burning wood in Mr. Herald # 6. More specifically I'm wondering about base burner mode when burning wood. I recently read a post where the poster said that he'd rather creosote in the stove rather than going up the chimney. I was under the impression that base burner mode should not be used when burning wood.

I must add compared to my last wood burning fiasco the fire department has not showed up as of yet lol right now I am maintaining a steady 500 degree slow burning wood fire. Don't ask me how. It's just working very well. My stack temperature is just below 200 degrees. I'm guessing I need a lesson in creosote.

I have a nice slow burning wood fire going in the Andes with a return flue. 250℉ on the barrel, and 150℉ on the stove pipe. I do have the return flue engaged but I do not have a baseburner so I will let others respond to that.

Randy

Uncle-D-D,
My own personal experience with creosote- not 'fun' to clean. I do not have a base burner, but, I would only burn dry wood, direct mode. Just my opinion.
Cheers

Uncle, If the wood is at least 6 month seasoned, and you have a wood plate on top of the coal grates(slots to the front) Best if wood is cut short so as to lay horizontal. Get the chimney hot and put it in base burner mode. Right Poncho??? Its a lot easier to kneel on the floor with a small hoe, than hang out on the roof collecting creosote. Just my opinion.
Wilson

wilsons woodstoves wrote:Uncle, If the wood is at least 6 month seasoned, and you have a wood plate on top of the coal grates(slots to the front) Best if wood is cut short so as to lay horizontal. Get the chimney hot and put it in base burner mode. Right Poncho??? Its a lot easier to kneel on the floor with a small hoe, than hang out on the roof collecting creosote. Just my opinion.
Wilson

Yeah that make sense. Thanks "Pancho"

I have a wood plate on top of the coal grates. I didn't know the grate had to be pointed to the front. That might have something to do with why my neighbors thought I could use the help of the Fire Department back in the beginning of the spring when I switched over to wood. I know for sure that I had the wood grate turned in the wrong direction. Also the kerosene soaked wood bricks & the stack of upright logs possibly attributed.

So, do tell me about laying the wood horizontally.

Ideally I would love if my wood was able to lay horizontally. But the firebox is rather small when trying to burn wood. Please let me know if there's going to be a problem I just toss the whole log in. Plus I saw a video of that other guys who sales stoves for a way inflated price. Stuff wood in one these babies like it was going out of style. All standing straight up..

You have to cut the wood so it will lay flat. If you don't have short wood, then you can put them upright - not a problem. These stoves do burn better with the wood lying flat, but burn plenty well enough either way. You can most certainly use the baseburner mode; do have a good fire going when you switch to that mode. It your wood is fairly well seasoned, don't worry about creosote in such a short time. I always used to really open everything up once a day and get all the flues hot enough to burn out any small amounts of creosote build up from the previous days burning. When I heated solely with wood, I never had a creosote problem doing this.

dj

How thick should logs be? I have some pretty thick ones out back. I even brought an axe to chop'em down to size. Well, split them a bit. I think I need a heavier axe. Splitting wood shouldn't be that Damn hard. :surrender:

UncleDoDat wrote:How thick should logs be? I have some pretty thick ones out back. I even brought an axe to chop'em down to size. Well, split them a bit. I think I need a heavier axe. Splitting wood shouldn't be that Damn hard. :surrender:

Axes are ok for splitting small stuff, but for tree -trunk sized wood a splitting mall, or steel wedges and sledge hammer make the work easier.

It's also easier if the wood is well seasoned.

Paul

Uncle DD, with small pièces of wood (short), and having a good fire, you should be able to engage the base burner mode without a problem.
Plus wood gasses will coat the base and other paths with a basic film, the opposite of acidic anthracite's gasses.

Well I just threw in another log. So far so good. However, I cannot keep this up all night long. there pretty thick right?

I would split that log. Two pieces will radiate heat to each other and burn better and cleaner than one large piece.

I think the lesson that is going to come out of this that it is best to have some coal on hand.
It just makes life easier.

Agreed