Heating home with wood while at work.

Hey guys. How many of you guys get up in the morn and load the stove and take off to work? My dad is retired but he packs it full when he gets up and forgets about it. Until reload time. I'll be honest, my stove would be on my mind all day at the office. My house is empty on the weekdays from 7:30 to 3.

Do you guys just keep it warm or load it up full before work?

 

I load it up before going to bed, or any time I won't be home for a few hours.
Get it set, and leave,.....or go to bed.
Oops, welcome aboard!
I'm retired, so...there's that.

 

Load it and forget it. As long as your install is correct and you keep your chimney clean you should not have any issues.

 

I would think the answers to that question will be *very* situational depending on insulation, chimney-pipe maintenance regimen, stove/boiler type, etc. Good question!

As for my garage stove, it will only be fired up in the evenings and weekends, and only five months out of the year at that. In the middle of installing it now.

 

All ya gotta do is Know your stove , know your setup and be comfortable with it.
Many of us here have no backup, hundred percent wood heat is it.
This might be a option for you
StoveDroid
Manufacturer - StoveDroid Wood Stove Monitor/Alarm

 

I load my stove up around 5:30 am and walk out at 6. My wife gives it a once over at 7 to 7:30 and we pretty much forget it till 5 or 6. Lacrosse alerts is what I use for cheap remote monitoring. By time it were to alert me, it might be too late. Spend some time hovering over that stove, your chimney, and the woodpile till you are comfortable.

 

The lacrosse alert is interesting.
A day to day basis is one thing.
If you are the solo wood burner, or if the whole family is leaving after a Reload it is more worrisome.

 

Personally, I've never had an issue with a wood burning stove. But. I never leave a fire going when I'm not there. A few pieces of firewood in a wood stove isn't worth my house and its entire contents. It just isn't.

 

Great ideas. I have also been brainstorming as I won't be burning again until around next October, I have 6 1080p cameras and I thought about running an auber flue temp gauge in t e basement and the wireless unit that comes with it upstairs near where I stay the most and then while I am at work (about a mile) I can point one of my cameras on the Auber readout and another camera on the stove itself (I have 2 in the basement) here's a shot of one right now as I lay in the bed. At my office, I keep the Camera screen up at all times anyhow. This could be a Great idea. Especially for paranoid folk like me. Here's a shot. .......

 

I/we load it up and leave. I've no issues doing so. As said above, I know my stove and chimney and trust 100% that it's in excellent working conditions. I can get a good 12hrs on a fully packed firebox with optimum wood.

 

I'm picking up what you are laying down. So what do you do when you get home and the thermostat says 59? That's happened to me and my wife freaks out lol. I usually just say "give me a few minutes and I'll have some heat right up" and she's ok with it

 

Really?
It is safe, No Worries, if you got it down.
Propane, gas, oil, coal, I it's all fire inside your house.
Maybe you just better off selling firewood

 

It's ok. I totally understand where he is coming from. It's all about the type person you are. I am naturally a worry type person. To add to that my dad had a bad chimney fire when I was young. Chimney looked like a Roman candle.

With the correct setup and dry wood, I am sure would just fine as long and you don't load up small, dry splits on a hot bed of 2 inch coals and turn the air all the way up and head out the door. Besides that, I truly see where he's coming from.

 

From the time my Woodstock is fired, I burn 24-7, I used to work 7 min from home, could come home for lunch,, not a big deal---for the last 18 mos I've been gone all day-I load it about 0700 and have nice coal bed when I come home---I burn from Oct-Nov til no need exists-like stated above-burn dry, burn clean and theres no difference in any other heat source...and the dogs love it too!

 

I reload the stove in the morning before I leave for work. It's all good. My SS liner is in the original fireplace chimney, and I have an insert.


While I have a natural gas furnace, it's a backup, or for use when we're away for a weekend or on vacation. My insert is now my primary heat source for my house.

I however have grown up with wood heat, cutting, splitting, and stacking since as far back as I can recall. I know we didn't heat the house with wood when we lived in southern California.

 

I make no attempt to keep the house warm while away. But I have no issue with leaving the fire going while I am out.

 

Just left the house for work... Put a load of wood on a good bed of coals from last night's fire. Got stove all fired up again, throttled her back and set into cruise. Left the wife and kids sound asleep. Wife just called and everything's just fine. I have done this many times over the last six years and have no second thoughts about doing it... but I am very confident in my stove and my routine of checking it and getting it set before I leave.

I will admit that it took me a few weeks when I first started burning wood to get to this point but it didn't take long. I had reservations at first before getting used to my stove.

 

Welcome akennyd !!!! Have a good day at work. When you get home, post some pictures of your setup and wood stacks!!!

 

Haha. These guys like pictures! I like them too!