Managing overnight burns

I would open the windows and turn on the whole house fan if it ever got that hot in my house. I agree with papadave, burn smaller loads or just let the stove go out for a while.

I wold expect quite a bit more burn time than that. I get an easy 12+ hours on 4 splits burning on an air setting of .75 on a 0 to 4 scale (of course the heat output is greatly reduced).

Don't you have the big Regency that is supposed to be similar to the BK King model?

 

Yes indeed. that's the one.

 

Can't answer cat questions.
Although I have a cat stove in my sights, I don't have one.

 

My thought too, especially on a full or full-ish load.
I can do that on a non--cat stove with a smaller firebox.

 

Yes Dave. that is what has me puzzled. I look forward to the dealer and Regency tech support people responses. A few things I do know so far; it burns the wood right down, it throws all kinds of heat, and so far also fouls the glass up pretty good. It may be me.

 

I try to do at least 3/4 loads. (stove seems to operates better when full)
Stack the splits loose to the firebox pretty full.
I check the forecast & over the years have learned what stove settings I need .

I have black glass with the long burn cycles on the low burns above 25° outside temps.
I've quit fighting black glass, basement stove so not looking at it all that much.

 

Some things that come to mind with me is you have to manage your coals. I basically do 8 hour cycles. These stoves work best in cycles. So I load up in the morning on just a few coals enough to get the next load going. That way I have the ability to load a full load of wood when the coals are burnt down. If you keep adding wood to half burnt loads of wood in the stoves your coals build up and you will only be able to get partial loads of wood in the stove and that makes for short wood cycle times. When I come home from work at around 4 pm I am shooting for reload around 10:30 before I go to bed. I want the coals burnt back down to just a small amount before I go to bed as I want to be able to fill a full load of wood in the stove. Plus I will use kindling and a fire starter on top of those few hot coals as I want the stove to heat up fast and quick and get that air shut back down as quick as possible and that will get you longer burn times also. As if you fool around getting the heat built back up in the stove all that time waiting for the stove to heat back up your burning alot of your bigger splits that are needed for that all night burn. If you use kindling and a fire starter and have a few hot coals to get the heat built up fast in the stove you will be much happier with the stove performance. Learning how to shut the air down in small increments so as each time you limit the air flushing heat up the flue and still allow the fire to balance out with out snuffing the fire , its those small increments that gets your stove hot faster. A major point to point out is that the kindling and fire starter burns with less air and will burn hot with less air so you can turn the input air down fast and turning the air down faster since your are using kindling and fire starter , this limits the heat getting flushed up the flue and keeps the heat in the fire box for faster building of the heat in the firebox as its all about the heat in the firebox. Once the heat gets up in the fire box the wood will off gas and burn nicely. Its an art form for sure you have to learn your stove as all stoves are different and all wood loads are different and you will learn how to judge the loads you put in your stove and how each load starts up and such.

 

My main theory about burning hot before shutdown is mostly from my experience with the cat stove. If you don't get the entire stove temperature evened out before shutting it down all you really have is a hot spot around the cat. So as soon as that cat loses gasses to burn it dives in temperature quick.

If you get everything evenly heated before hand it has a better chance of keeping it even during the burn. This is more common in a steel only stove. The Ideal Steel has some soapstone to help even out the heat.

If the Regency is all metal as soon as the cat quits firing it's game over.

 

Sounds like us. 78-80 is just perfect. Radiant wood heat seems different than forced air. Maybe its just because we had something to do with it. Last time I was roasted was at a retirement party.

 

I agree with that for sure. I have turned the fans in our non-stove rooms so that they run backwards and pull the heat from the stove room to the cooler rooms. It seems to actually work better than turning our forced air (heat pump) fan on. There is no substitute for wood heat.

 

1+

If there is a big coal bed earlier in the evening I work to get rid of it by the final load so there is more room for wood. Bigger pieces are nice, but the females in the house tell me there is an upper limit, so I've had to back off that plan a bit. We generally go from 10:30pm, aiming to have the stove ready for the next load at 6am. In the colder weather any wood that isn't burned by 6am was wasted space in the stove. With the PH we can easily empty a full load in that amount of time without worry for the stove or cat.

 

This is a VERY interesting thread to me! I'm still learning every day what I can and can't do with my stove. I seem to always lean towards a hotter fire, or hotter internal chimney temp, rather than longer burn times. My wood is good and dry, however I always have creosote and chimney fire in the back of my head. I don't and haven't had any issue at all but don't want to find out the hard way that I should be burning hotter. I suppose that a sacrifice in burn time, and a bit more wood used seems to be a fair trade off to me as I learn more.

There were a lot of great posts so far! IMHO There is definately a learning curve with a wood stove. There are so many variables, as has been mentioned. Outside air temp, wood type, wood moisture, stove type, chimney setup... The list can go on and on.

Thanks everyone!

 

Appreciate your comment but am not so sure that is the main culprit. I've been back and forth with Regency and the dealer and sent pics and more feedback and they suspect air leakage. that's been my suspicion as well. I will be talking with them again today.

 

You've got the air turned down low, and the house is very warm. You're getting short burn times, which does seem to indicate a leak.
I forgot you have the new-ish 5100.
Can we get a pic of what you consider to be a lot of glass buildup? Have you done the door gasket test? Close and latch the door on a piece of newspaper, or a dollar, all the way around the door. If it pulls out easily, you may have some leakage. If not, then the culprit is elsewhere, although could still be a leak.
Have you checked the moisture content of the wood? I know you said it's been in the shed for 2 years, but if it was put in there wet, it may not have dried well.
Just throwing out some ideas.
Rereading your post....I may have rushed a little on my response.
I still think, all things considered, you could try smaller loads......unless you like the house that warm.
Had some buildup on the glass this am from a low and slow, air almost completely off, burn. Having a nice hot, 3 split fire this am, has cleaned the majority of the buildup. Of course, now the living room is too warm.

 

Done the door seal test and suspect a minor air leak with a 22 foot 8" chimney it may be pulling hard and sucking at the bottom of the door. buildup is worse with each hot fir not better. thick enough cannot see through the worst areas - bottom/mid left and right. So ... the saga continues. Wood is well seasoned. Went in as soon as split min 2 yrs ago more likely 3 or 4. For past 2 years have been taking from the other side of the woodshed. I'll update as soon as mystery solved and problem resolved to our satisfaction.

 

This is pretty normal on low air, slow burns. However, since your wood is burning up quicker than it should, and the problem is worse with hot burns, this is.......
Weird.
Maybe you got a dud. It's happened.
I think it was Oldspark who had a Summit that wouldn't run well, and golf66 had an IS that he had problems with too.
I hope this can be remedied for you. Looking forward to the happy ending.

 

My thoughts exactly. But will leave it with the dealer/regency to guide us through it.