Day Trip and its results

Today, we took a family trip to Middle Creek Wildlife Management ARea. It is a migration spot for snow geese and tundra swans. It was a marvelous experience to see them flock in the area and float and meander on the fields. So I loaded my home Sedore figruing a 6-8 hour burn would be no problem as I have figured out the stove. Wrong!!!

I put in 1 10 inch dry hardwood girth log. A wet chuck to condition at the top on several split pieces of oak and we left. We came back about 4PM to a cold stove and 50 degrees in our house.

One of the split oak pieces fell diagonal and due to the extreme heat of the red hot coals I couldn't reach my hands down and pick it up. I loaded my other solid fuel described above on top of it figuring it would burn through soon. To get the 6-8 hour burn time I closed the air intake to a pinky finger width and drove down the road.

But my air intake should have been a thumbs width wide and it would have left me with decent heat, ie bed of coals to come home to.

When I got home I cracked the lid and left it open and in ten minutes the very dry wood ignited to an intense blaze without having to relight the fire. The little bit of char at the bottom was all the Sedore needed and we were back in business.

PS: End of the season sale on pellets should catch the eye of those of us who choose fuel based on cost.

PSS: Rest on this:
Before I go to bed tonight I will drop a 12 inch diamter chuck of aged oak 20 inches long into the top of the burn chamber. It will be frozen with a high moisture content b/c its never been covered. Unless otherwise, with either one late night or early AM, I expect it to be burning and producing a back burn heat of about 200 degrees F into 7AM.