wood stove

[jdmck]

anyone use bbq briquettes for a base in thier wood stove was using my stove last year and could not get it to burn through the night heading out fri hoping to have more sucess nice thing it,s not too cold and can get up an hour before wake up and have a warm start though i would rather try to get it to burn all night any tips??

[rimfire]

anyone use bbq briquettes for a base in thier wood stove was using my stove last year and could not get it to burn through the night heading out fri hoping to have more sucess nice thing it,s not too cold and can get up an hour before wake up and have a warm start though i would rather try to get it to burn all night any tips??

I can only really attest to experience in using charcoal in a smoker, but, in theory, the charcoal should burn all night.

[poper]

What kind of wood are you burning? Some burns way longer then others

[jdmck]

What kind of wood are you burning? Some burns way longer then others
whatever I find ussualy spruce or pine and bring some of my own fir for the 1st night

[rocksteady]

I know those briquettes emit some pretty toxic smoke.

You may want to do a Google search on it cause if your stove leaks a bit you may wake up dead..

A good layer of fire brick in the bottom helps too..

[rocksteady]

whatever I find ussualy spruce or pine and bring some of my own fir for the 1st night

Spruce is crap. Burns quick little heat. Pine is better. For or latch are best.. dry stuff of course

[jdmck]

Yes I am giving that some thought even though the stove is vented outside I am leary will leave then at home

[REMINGTON JIM]

BAD Very deadly fumes off the briquettes tried them 1 time NOT GOOD ! got SICK ! :frown: RJ -

[Ryo]

http://www.fastonline.org/CD3WD_40/JF/425/20-461%20-%20Wood%20Stoves%20-%20Ole%20Wik%202.pdf

The book linked above is a great resource. Skip to page 37 and read through the chapter. You'll pick up a few good tips.

[Ohwildwon]

You want to burn hardwood, aspen, birch, fruit trees..

[jdmck]

very helpful thank you

[rimfire]

Hardwood (sometimes called "Lump") charcoal would probably work fine as it doesn't have any bonding agents like some of the briquettes. I have heard some people have concerns about CO poisoning but being that it will likely be vented and stove piped, you may be alright.

That being said, you could check with a local sawmill and see if they have any kilned dried end cuts of a hardwood or pine. Might work better for you.

[Sharpish]

The briquettes sure do a good job of getting damp wood going though!

[boxhitch]

Nothing wrong with sleeping in the cold for a few hours. First one up lights the fire and most camps are warm within minutes.
Just make sure the makin's are all laid out the night before ready to go, sometimes hard to remember in a drunkin stone

[jdmck]

better idea as it is not that cold threw the night the old guy is 78 so I guess I will be the fire tender

[boxhitch]

attago, might as well get water warming for coffee too )

[StuBrown]

We use birch rounds and other hardwood we scrounge threw the year. Goes all night. Pine only ever lasted half a night in our stove.

[Pemby_mess]

You want to burn hardwood, aspen, birch, fruit trees..

Aspen is bogus for firewood. Worse than spruce probably - slight improvement over Balsa. I wish. The others: yes

[Blk Arrow]

Spruce is crap. Burns quick little heat. Pine is better. For or latch are best.. dry stuff of course
Larch is the best in my option. Throws a lot of heat too.
I usually bring a bucket of sand to insulated the bottom of the stove.

[Brew]

Anyone ever try throwing a presto log in before going to sleep?
i switched to a diesel stove and havnt looked back.

[HarryToolips]

Aspen is bogus for firewood. Worse than spruce probably - slight improvement over Balsa. I wish. The others: yes
I agree balsam fir is the worst....the hardwoods are good but I really like burnin lodgepole pine and Douglas fir..

[260rem]

Heated my first house for years with wood,the best wood I found to last is the knottiest Douglas fir you can find pain in the a$$ to split but lasts along time.

[HarryToolips]

^^^^if you let it dry a bit first, it gets really easy, I've split lots of knotted up Douglas fir using my 8 lb maul...

[REMINGTON JIM]

Wood Knots burn the longest for SURE. RJ

[Salty]

The last year or two feeding a stove at the last place I was getting wood from a heli log dump they were in to fir from pretty much alpine. Twisted tops and knotty pieces just brutal to get through but oh ya... a few BTUs outa that stuff :) Birch is right up there too. Any wood that isn't dry sux.

[jbruce]

cut some green pine rounds don't split stoke er up before lights out round three should be kickn covers off still warm at 5.00

[AgSilver]

I think it was Aron Snyder saying he used those duraflame types of logs.

[Ubertuber]

To the OP. Yes briquettes work in a wood stove. They do indeed last a long time, but they don't burn as hot as wood. At bed time, we would throw in a few good hand fulls into the hot stove. When you wake hours later, you just flick the coals a bit and pile on the wood. The coals are still red hot and the stove is quite warm.
Briquettes worked for us, never had an issue with fumes at all. Maybe because chucked them into a hot stove and didn't open it till hours later.
I agree on burning nasty knots as well. I keep the nastiest for bedtime.:)

[Pemby_mess]

The last year or two feeding a stove at the last place I was getting wood from a heli log dump they were in to fir from pretty much alpine. Twisted tops and knotty pieces just brutal to get through but oh ya... a few BTUs outa that stuff :) Birch is right up there too. Any wood that isn't dry sux.

I agree - subalpine Doug fir is the ticket if you can get it. I've definitely had unbelievable burn times from it. Really, really dense. If my wood stack ever ends up as a 50/50 mix of dry birch and Fir from 1700m, I'll be an extremely happy wood burner. Got lots of bone dry ponderosa ready to go for this year, Our stove seems to take that really well, but we'll see :-( - lots more split shuffling ahead.

[S.W.A.T.]

Hemlock is a good one