Wood stove makes you late

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westkywood

Feeling the Heat
Oct 14, 2009
420
Kentucky
How many times has your wood stove made you late getting somewhere or getting to bed because you have to wait for the coals to burn down enough to load more wood? This happens to me more at night like planning to go to bed at 10:00 but there are too many coals to fully load the stove so I end up getting to bed at 11:00.
I have to time how much wood I put in the stove depending on what I have going on that day. Sometimes I over estimate how much wood to put in the stove knowing I have to leave to go somewhere in a few hours and need to load it up before I leave. If I leave at 6:00 and figure I'll be home at 9:00 and want to go to bed at 10:00, I'll want to only put in enough wood to last only about 4 hours so I can load it up at 10:00 for the night.
I burn 24-7 and hate for the furnace to kick on so it's a constant timing game..
 
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Having a medium size stove makes the fire PRIOR to the overnight burn the most important size fire for me. And yes, I have been late from poor planning at times.
 
Not sure how long you have been burning but once you get used to your stove you can usually plan ahead. First year or so I had the same problem, the stove was rarely ready when I was. Now it is second nature.

KaptJaq
 
This is a regular occurrence to me, with the exception of work, I will NOT be late for work.
 
Happens alot. I load up, then wait for it to start cookin'.....then choke it down, and wait again for it to adjust....then likely choke it down more, and so on, till I get it cruisin' before we leave.....depending on the load, this could take some time....then I turn on the thermostats in case it burns down before we get home.....don't want my doggie to get cold while we're gone
 
I rarely have that problem because my stove is so big but one guy I know with a smaller stove will pile all his coal/ashes to each side of the stove.
His stove will take like a 22" piece e-w and his wood is like 16-18".
He only cleans it out about twice a month doing that..same as me.
 
Burning a 2 cubic foot stove, I often run into issues when I'm trying to light off of coals in the A.M. and need to go somewhere. I get around that somewhat by having plenty of small 2X4 sections that I can toss onto the few remaining coals confident that those will take and then the wood on top of them will go.
 
A former member Gunner called the night coal bed the art of wood burning. I keep small stuff to carry it over the nine o'clock when I load for overnight. If it looks like I am gonna be short of coals I will toss them on an hour or so before. If there are gonna be too many I drag them to the front and lay a little guy on top and open'er up.

Worst is that sudden surprise and you have to leave. "Hello. 911? I need an ambulance but could ya wait thirty minutes or so to send it?"
 
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Going to bed at 10:00, I'd open that draft full around 9:00 and let that stuff burn down. 9:30 load it up for the night. 10:00 all should be well. Go to bed now...
 
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Well i open my draft to full 30 minutes before the bed load if i have to many coals. Now if something came up and i had to all of the sudden leave i would just leave the stove alone. When it stays cold outside life is good cause I have loaded the bed load got it going good then wake up the next morning and have a huge bed of coals.
 
give it time and you'll get into a rhythm and know the burn cycles inside and out. I've learned just how much to throw in and at what time for a 6 hour burn, 8 hour burn, 10-12 hour burn. It helps having a consistent fuel supply too.

Occasionally something comes up but you learn to adjust and it's not the end of the world if the stove temps drop to 150 or so or even lower. Keeping various sized splits around is a good idea. As mentioned earlier you can "extend" a load by raking the coals forward and tossing one smaller split on it.

I live alone so there's no one else to tend to it, then again from what I hear most married guys are better off running their stoves by themselves too ;) . If you're going to burn 24/7 you just learn to adapt.
 
Luckily in the mornings I get up with my kids around 6 am when I have to leave at 7:40 ish for work and I hardly ever have so many coals that I'm not comfortable loading it at that point but the first thing I do every morning is go downstairs and open the catalytic bypass and the air all the way.

I always plan ahead when we have plans, if something comes up I improvise and leave it good enough to keep the house warm...

It does take planning, this whole week I'll be going into work early which means I get up an hour earlier than I need to be there to ensure the fire is where I want it when I go, small price to pay for a very warm house!
 
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I go through that in the morning when im getting ready for work. Lately I have been getting up half hour earlier just to get a new load going nice enough to damp the air down so i can leave for work. Its all in the timing with my 30.
 
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I've not bee late but a couple times - I've had to leave and come home to a cold start a few times though. As to bedtime, my problem is that I load up that final load and get it all set, then sit there in front of it watching the flames and/or feeling the heat and it is so relaxing that I just don't want to leave.. then I sit on the beanbag there in front of the stove "just for a few minutes"... well, you can guess where that leads. I've crawled into bed at 2-3am more times than I care to admit, but at least I wasn't cold, ha!
 
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Can't argue with the fact that wood burning takes more planning and preparation then most other heating systems, it's good to understand that before getting into it, especially if you are trying to use it as your sole source of heating.
Yes, I've been late before, and stayed up a little later than I really wanted too, because I spent the extra time fooling with the wood stove, getting it into a good burn. I've also come home to a cold house too, because I just didn't have the time to play with the stove before I left. Neither case was ever life threatening, nor particularly upsetting. If it ever does becomes too much for me to deal with I'll just turn up the thermostat on the heat pump and let it take take over when I just don't have the time, but for now I like playing with the fire, it's kinda fun. ;)
 
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Happens often here. I don't have a lot of any particular type of wood or size so every load is different. Never can be too careful but sometimes I second, third and fourth guess myself, ruins my planning and makes me late but keeps my house safe and still here when I get back.
 
I usually get home around 6 pm and have to time my wood load for a 10 pm full load. Sometimes it works, sometimes it don't....I always leave time to load the stove before going to work in the morning, even if it means getting up at 4:30.
 
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remkel said:
I always leave time to load the stove before going to work in the morning, even if it means getting up at 4:30.
Click to expand...

I'm in the same boat, 6 am start for the rest of this week means I'll be up at 4:30... I have a 3 year old and a 5 year old so sometimes it's the only time I get to myself...
 
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katwillny said:
I go through that in the morning when im getting ready for work. Lately I have been getting up half hour earlier just to get a new load going nice enough to damp the air down so i can leave for work. Its all in the timing with my 30.
Click to expand...

katwillny said:
I
Click to expand...

That's my problem exactly. Although at night when I'm waiting for it to burn in to get the air turned down, I've been known to fall asleep on the couch/chair :)
 
Cross Cut Saw said:
I'm in the same boat, 6 am start for the rest of this week means I'll be up at 4:30... I have a 3 year old and a 5 year old so sometimes it's the only time I get to myself...
Click to expand...
This week will be slow for us, so 5:30 should do. Mine are 10, 9 and 4 so I can appreciate the quiet peace watching the fire rise in the morning.
 
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I try to time it the best I can. If not, oil takes over. And that hurts. But hey, even monkeys fall out of trees now and then.
 
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herdbull said:
give it time and you'll get into a rhythm and know the burn cycles inside and out. I've learned just how much to throw in and at what time for a 6 hour burn, 8 hour burn, 10-12 hour burn. It helps having a consistent fuel supply too.

Occasionally something comes up but you learn to adjust and it's not the end of the world if the stove temps drop to 150 or so or even lower. Keeping various sized splits around is a good idea. As mentioned earlier you can "extend" a load by raking the coals forward and tossing one smaller split on it.

I live alone so there's no one else to tend to it, then again from what I hear most married guys are better off running their stoves by themselves too ;) . If you're going to burn 24/7 you just learn to adapt.
Click to expand...

This is my third season with my wood stove and have been burning for years. A lot of times its my fault for letting time get by before burning the coals down or loading it up to get the stove temps up before shutting it down so I can leave. Sometimes I may over estimate how much wood to put in the stove say at 6:00 when I want it to be burned down by 10:00.
 
Yup, I've failed to plan. That sometimes results in flipping the switch on the thermostat to turn on the propane furnace.

The shoulder season is rough for me with an oversized stove. I have to be careful not to heat the house up too much. Too much heat is a waste of wood. Timing is everything.

I like to go to bed at 10:00, but sometimes 11:00 or midnight is it if I have to wait for the house to cool off first. For me, house temp dictates reloads more than stove temp or coal status.

-SF
 
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