How small can a wood stove fire be?
Our 2nd Jotul wood stove can sometimes heat my small room
to the point where I need to open a window. I've been experimenting
with different ways of controlling the size of the fire with mixed
results.
The first lesson learned is
to not worry about letting the fire go out. The super draft on the
Jotul makes it really easy to start. I usually stop feeding it if my
inside temperature goes above 68.
Another trick I like to use
is putting a log in the corner so one of its sides is up against a
wall. I think it burns slower when less surface area is exposed.
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About us: Anna Hess and Mark Hamilton spent over a decade living self-sufficiently in the mountains of Virginia before moving north to start over from scratch in the foothills of Ohio. They've experimented with permaculture, no-till gardening, trailersteading, home-based microbusinesses and much more, writing about their adventures in both blogs and books.
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I have the same problems with my small stove. Unfortunately I don't have a good flu control. So I have to resort to a rather annoying cycle of heating the stove and house too much, then let it die out. During this cycle I go from thermal underwear, pajamas, undershirt, watchman's cap and shirt down to boxer shorts and no shirt. Then I slowly layer back on until I get to the point, usually around 60, when I fire the sucker back up again.
I'll try your tip to put a log against the walls to slow down the burn rate. Some year I'll buy myself a good wood stove, but I got mine used for $150 and money is tight right now.
Danny --- Heating with wood does seem to be quite a learning experience. Our little stoves have great air control, but Mark's room is so small and well insulated that almost any heat is too much.
We do thoroughly recommend an energy efficient stove as soon as you can afford it, especially if you're buying firewood. In our main space (the trailer --- badly insulated, so we burn a lot more wood), I figure we will have repaid the price of the stove in just three years through lower wood burning. (We did get it during the 2009 tax year, though, when we were able to write a whopping 30% off on our taxes, if I recall right. The rebate has gone down a lot since then, I think.)
Daddy --- Thanks! I like it too!