How much wood in the fire box???

[briduhunt]

I have searched the past post and have found some of my answers but on this I am still unclear. I have a 2x6 drop flue evaporator and I have been working on finding the best fire time intervials and I have seem to find that every 10 min. is working best for my boil.
My question is how much space should I have below my pans from my wood? I have been putting in as much wood as I can get in there but I am not sure this is the right thing to do. I was trying to sleep last night and upon tossing and turning I was trying to think when was the best boil working and I seem to think it was at the last 3-4 min of my intervials of firing. Which got me thinking that I might better lower my wood height to the pans. Am I on the right track or is it just that I need more sleep?
Any input would be helpful.

[PerryW]

I don't think it makes a whole lot of difference whether you stuff it full and have longer intervals between firing or run it about 3/4 full and throw a couple chunks in more often. I think running at 3/4 full is probably better (more even heat) but probably more work.

[michelle32]

WE fire every 8 minutes rist size wood and only put 6 to 8 pieces of wood in we just finished making 25 gallons on are 2x6 drop flue and used 1 and 1/10 of a cord of wood. If we are getting close to drawing off we my through in 10 or 12 pieces. We try to get long drawn out draws seems to keep everything moving along much better. We run are front pan about 1" deep. We average between 35 and 37 gallons boil off per hour. With out start up and shut down. Keith

[BarrelBoiler]

my dad was a small wood, load often, try for a steady fire, guy
the small wood was so it would catch fast and burn quick and hot, the load often came directly from small wood catching fast and burning quick and hot, a steady fire kept the boil rolling.
if you let your fire die down and than load the fire box up full you're almost soffocating the fire - it takes awhile for the fire catch and get going good again so you can lose or lessen the boil
if you can keep your fire going about the same by adding wood more often the boil and evaporation rate will be better

good luck

[RileySugarbush]

We run much like Keith does. Never over 3/4 full and about 6 to 8 minutes per charge

[nymapleguy607]

Leader recommends 6" below the pans at all times that and criss crossing your wood
Now if your arch is like mine there is no way I can have 6" under my pans
I simply would have no fire
I try to leave a 3" gap under my pans and cross my wood
Being that I have a blower I fire every 3-4 mins but I only put 3 or four sticks in and this keeps the boil roiling
and my stack temp the most constant
It took me alot of trial and error to get it right and I still mess up

[maple flats]

I ran at 6" below the pans, fueling every 5-6 min by timer. This year I added under fire and over fire high pressure air. Still testing to get best cycle times.

[markct]

my homemade 2x8 airtight with air over and under seems to run well firing every 5 min, and full as you can easily load, not trying to cram every stick under the pan, but not realy trying to keep airspace above either. 5 min is easy to see on the clock, and keep steady without setting a timer. if i am burning softwood i may have to add more, hardwood less, but always something to keep fresh flames every 5 min, seems to hold steady boil and stack temps this way. and the wood ignites almost instant, not re warm up to boil after each firing like i see some peoples rigs do

[maplehound]

I was always asking this same question my first fwew years. I have been told that if you play with a flame (froma candle or match)you will find that the tip of the flame is the hottest. So if you fill your firebox till the wood touches the pan you aren't making very good use of the flame. By keeping the box only 3/4 full the tip of your flames have a chance to touch right on the bottom of your pan. This is the reason that most here are saying that 3/4 full seems to work best. Also as some have said if you add just a few peices more often it is better than alot of pieces less often.

[vtsnowedin]

I'm afraid there is no correct answer here. There are too many variables of wood types and moisture contents. If your working with half dry softwood slabs you might want to stuff in all that will fit and let the moisture cook off in the first five minuets and then get the next ten minutes of good boil. Try to feed it more often and you always have moisture coming out of the fresh wood which is like throwing a cup of water into the fire box every time you open the door. Round hard wood is a different animal from round soft wood and the slabs from each are different from the parent wood then throw in all the possible moisture contents, it gets complicated.
Of course all of us here will tell you they never work with anything except primo kiln dried 50 /50 mixed hardwood to soft, round to slab, cut and split to the perfect size for their rig stored in a state of the art wood shed for at least a year and a half before March first. Let me be the first to fess up that that is not always the case. :emb: