Managing overnight burns

This is the first year I have owned a stove capable of overnight burns. Was curious to read how others manage overnight fires. Here are a few questions that come to mind:

• do you treat the overnight burn like any other load?
• what time do you load the stove before going to bed?
• what time do you expect to reload the stove after the overnight burn?
• what do you consider a reasonable temp drop during an overnight burn?

I like to keep temps between 69-73 during the day and temps can drop to 65 at night. At this point, I have been loading about 4 splits around 9 pm and turning down the air to get the black screen and then doing a reload around 7 am. While this routine has been pretty good so far, can't see this keeping the desired temp range when we get into single digits.

Any sage advice you would like to share?

 

HarvestMan, really I am in same boat and still burning junk popular.. but if Temps in teens full loads at 10 and at 1/4 air and I still have reasonable heat at 6 am.. not great wood.. my house is many levels and different to heat.. I think following well seasoned advice and each house stove combination will have a learning curve of what works for you.... good luck..

 

My house limits "burn time". Until it gets real cold out. the overnight load is the largest because I like to get at least 7 hours of sleep.
The rest of the day, I do smaller fires. I'm home most days, all day.
Every day is a little different, but similar.
I'm generally starting the overnight fire by 10:30-11, so it's all set by the time I want to be in bed.
Reasonable temp drop in the stove? In the house?
The stove does what it does, so not much to change there. However, if the house is well insulated, I wouldn't expect a lot of house temp drop overnight. Maybe a degree or 2, but I have no experience with a well insulated house. This house will be at 70-72 or so before bed, then be down to 65-67 by morning. Type of wood, outside temp, how I have the air set, how the stars are aligned, .......all have an impact on that.

 

Good thread HarvestMan. I usually put 4-6 splits in (nc30) at 9pm. Get it going turn air down low. House usually stays 69-72 or so when I get up at 3:22am. Now if I have enough coals to do a warm restart is hit or miss. This is my first year and am still learning whats best for my stove and house. I like the largeer round idea in the back of the stove!

 

My wood supply for this year is a bit light on the larger pieces for the back of the stove. I've been trying to split big square/rectangular pieces for future burning years. I do have some prime oak rounds like this in next years stack (hoping to resist raiding that pile, but if I need to I will do it). I have yet to fill up my stove; partly because it has been warm and partly because I have never completely loaded a wood stove.

I'm burning mostly black cherry right now; not the greatest heat and quite a bit of ash. Also seems to off gas pretty quickly - had my first ever back puff a few days ago while burning cherry with outside temps near 60 - learned a good lesson that day .

 

Burn hot before going to bed. Reload hot and close it down in stages. This keeps the chimney clean, boosts draft, and sets the stove and surroundings temperature so the overnight load doesn't have to do that before heating the rest of the house. Throwing an overnight load in on a colder stove will waste a lot of the fuel bringing everything up to temp.

 

This.
I aspire to this, but don't always get there. The late afternoon/evening load may/may not do the job.
Timing is everything.

 

This looks like where I may be heading. I really don't like going above 73, but raising the temp a couple degrees before the overnight burn may be what is needed to keep from falling below the furnace threshold (65). Will also experiment with bigger loads and burning on a higher air setting at night. I am already spoiled by not having to kindle a fire in the morning; need to learn the setting that will get me the most heat with still enough coals left to reload only splits. If daytime temps stay in low 40s here, I should be burning 24/7 from now on; nice not having to wait as the rock comes up to temp.

 

I don't pursue overnight burns, I just try to burn efficiently and let the house hold the heat. I will go to bed with the house around 75 and a full load in the stove and a flue temp of 350. The firewood is often pine, maybe douglas fir and tamarack mixed in. I dial it way back, but not closed, so it will maintain a 300-350 flue temp for most of the burn.

In the morning, with an outside temp in the teens or single digits, the house will be about 63-64. There may or may not be a few coals, but the stove remains warm to the touch, and relights fine. I throw some pine it, and within an hour we are at 70 again.

Next winter, I expect MUCH better results, after I install the 30-NC, finish insulating and sealing (some walls are uninsulated, some significant air leaks remain). Maybe next winter I will get overnight burns, but I still won't pursue that at the expense of efficient burning.

Greg

 

The 30 will help some Greg, but the air sealing and insulating will help more.
The combo should be killer.
Your place sounds like it holds heat about as well as mine.
I have similar results, even with Oak. Might be just a tad warmer in the am.

 

My house does the same as far as temp drop goes. Amazes me how fast it does it sometimes. I can squeeze out decent burn times and get the house to stay above 70 though throughout the year. Even when it was super cold last year it stayed above 70 almost all the time with just the stove and 2-3 loads a day.

 

Ok so I paid attention last night and took note of where everything was at. Loaded 4 splits in and set the air down low at 9:30. Downstairs was a balmy 77 in stove room and 75 on thermostat. Came down at 7am and stove room was 68 and thermostat was 69.

Overnight low was 38 or so. Thats a big temp drop obviously but i didnt pack the stove or anything and Im off today or I woulda messed with it at 3am or so. My firat level is lots of old windows and thats where the majority of the heat goes. Upstairs only had a 2 degree heat swing from 72 to 70.

 

We have good ceiling and wall insulation, but like you we lose a lot of heat because we have a lot of windows and because they leak quite a bit. I apply the 3M window film to all of our windows each year and this helps a great deal plus avoids any condensation issues. I have yet to apply the film this year and hope to get that started this week - will be interesting to see how that impacts my overnight burns.

Last night I did burn a bit hot and had the temp up to 75 before putting in my 4 splits @8:30 pm and turning down low. Woke up @6:00 am to 70 temps with outside temp of 28. Raising the evening temp helped but it was just too hot for me; 73 seems to be the upper limit for us.

 

Considering the load was so small, and you left it alone that long, not bad.

 

This is a timely post. We too are just novices with a cat/hybrid stove. Starting to notice a few things already. The house is well insulated and can get hot and stay hot. Burned pretty full loads yesterday to see if the glass would clean off more. Reverse seems to be the case. 2 full loads yesterday until this morning and glass has a lot of creosote build up. We are burning maple only at present and it has been 2+ years in the wood shed. I have sent pics and details to the dealer and the Regency tech rep. The house is large, 2000 square feet. the main area yesterday was 85-88 degrees Farenheight all day. T shirt and window cracked. LOL. Put another almost full load in last evening and the house was 80 F when I got up this morning at 8am. Fresh T shirt required. LOL Both fires burn down to a few large coals in 6-7 hours with air supply all the way off as far as it is possible to go. Please don't think we are nuts (though may well be) as outside temps consistently in the 20's are unheard of other years. I see the same is forecast for the next 14 days. whew! Last 2 years we were barely able to keep the house above 70 F for about 5-6 weeks when temps were minus 20-35F for days on end. We ran a Napoleon 1400 flat out and burned around 10 face cords, maybe more, when 7 is normal for us. It will be interesting to see what Regency has to offer in way of advice. Me thinks FHC may come to the rescue.

 

The low and slow burning is making the glass goop up.
Try putting less wood in the stove and burning hotter....should clear up.

 

Thanks Dave, I'm going to try that. Q#2 - When it gets cold is it then ok to burn a full load hotter, like say mid way on the air control lever? I am concerned with flames damaging the cat. I saw pics somewhere on here of a cat with indents in the cat attributed to flame damage.