Soon to Burn Wood in Hitzer 30-95

I have about 7 face cords of good dry hardwood in the garage. I didn't burn nearly as much to heat the garage as I had anticipated. I also have a half tank or about 125 gallons of kerosene for my old Toyostove (like a Monitor). I estimated that I would need 3 tons of coal to heat for Nov. - March. Last summer I bought 4 tons of pea coal just to be on the safe side.

Now the weather is getting warmer and I have about 2 tons of coal left. So, I figure that if I start burning wood when I am home, and let the Toyostove run when I am away, I will not have to buy any coal for next year. When the Toyostove dies, or when I run out of Keros. then that is the end of that heating sourse because I don't plan to replace either one. I get enough free wood to cary me through spring, fall and intermittent workshop heating for as long as I am able to cut it up and truck it away.

My question is, can owners of Hitzer 30-95s or simmilar stoves give me any pointers for draft, damper settings or anything else for burning wood as efficiently as possible I am more interested in long burns than great heat output. I have a lot of experience burning wood in wood stoves, but not in burning wood in a coal stove, or with a baro damper in the stove pipe.

As I have said before sell the wood to pay for your coal!
Coal will give you the long burn and no creosote.
People will pay a fine price for your seasoned wood.

I'll never again burn wood for heating. Unless, I used all my coal, and wanted a quick fire to take chill out of shop. I can step out the door and cut a little wood for that. Other than that, wood will never be in my heating budget again.

oliver power wrote:I'll never again burn wood for heating.

I agree 100%. The capecoaler has the right idea - sell the wood and buy coal. Lisa

Cape, Oliver and Lowfog,

I agree with you all in general. I love burning coal. But I do have the kerosene to use up, and I will then sell the Toyostove that burns it and the fuel tank that holds it. When I sit down in the evening I enjoy the radient heat of the stove, so I thought I would build a wood fire just for evening comfort and atmosphere. I may sell some wood also unless I use a lot more in the garage next year than I did this year. I have to take down a very large dying ash tree in a year or two. That will give me anothrer 6 or 7 face cord.

Thanks for the input, and I do think you are giving me good advise... just don't think I am going to follow it this time.

When burning wood remove the baro and replace with a cap...open baro and chimney fire...bad news.
Short quick hot fires produce less creosote the long slow burns are what get you into trouble.
If the kero heater is on its last legs burn off the kero and toss but if it is still good keep it if you have no vacation heater.

CapeCoaler,
Glad you mentioned the baro. and chimney fires. I hadn't thought about that.

The Toyostove doen't start up reliably after sitting for a while, so I don't trust it alone as a backup. I have electric heat for backup, and just try not to use much of it . Thanks.

I agree with all posters steering you away from burning wood. In my last stove, I used to switch from wood early in the season to coal when the wood wasn't enough. I had a couple of fires in the stovepipe untill I decided that it just wasn't worth the risk anymore. You can't really keep a wood fire controled in a coal stove without getting creosote buildup of some kind. Maybe if you burn it hot and only burn a small amount of wood to keep from overheating the stove and pipes? I still say burn coal straight through and just open a window if it's too warm during the day. I know the wood is free but I feel the piece of mind is worth the difference in cost. I'll be going through about 1/2 ton for the rest of the season. At $290 a ton and no creosote, it's worth it to me.
Let us know how your Hitzer likes the wood. I may give it a try next season if it works out.

Grizzly,
just recently installed a Hitzer 30-95 it replaces a Severn that we had almost 20 years that replaced a Jotul wood burner. With the Severn we always burned wood in early Fall and Spring. In fact the Severn came with wood burning plates that replaced the coal grates when burning wood, it did a fair job burning wood, but combustion air came in much different way that the Hitzer does. I did burn a few small wood fires in the Hitzer to condition it, the glass in the door turned black immediately and the inside of the stove had a nice black shiny coat.
We have a similar situation at our place, firewood is always available at no cost and it is great for a take the chill off fire, I will have to see what happens when we burn the Hitzer with wood. I suspect creosote would accumulate at the air flapper in the rear of the stove. My own opinion I would not burn wood in any type of stove equipped with a barometric damper, I have been a member of our local fire dept. since 1967 we live in a semi-rual area and have seen a lot of chimney fires and most of the time they involve burning creosote in the stove pipes. The baro box says it will reduce creosote, I am not up to seeing if that is so. In 2007 we took the Warm Morning coal burner out of the shed and replaced it with a Toyo kero burner, takes up a lot less room and has much more controlled heat, glad we did that.
I suspect Freddy will be asking me for my skirt size after saying this.
Please keep us posted if you burn wood I will do likewise.

The advice I am getting is certainly pointing in one direction. Being that I learned to burn coal from the knowledgable folks here, tells me that now that I am burning coal successfuly, I had better follow their continued good advise. I no longer plan to burn wood in the Hitzer except to start a coal fire. Thanks for no doubt pointing me in the right direction again. :surrender: