Burn Cycle...How long to keep a fire going? Another new guy.

I'm sure everyone here will tell you that it's going to be a trial and error kind of thing until you find the way burning your stove works for you and the space your heating. A nice bed of coals and a stove top temp around 300-325 will usually let me know I'm going to reload. A reload with a mixture of maple and red oak will get me cruising stove top temps around 500-575 ish. I'll get 6-7, sometimes 8 hrs out of that, then I repeat the process. This is daytime burning at it's best for me. Overnights are a little different. My reload is all red oak, packed in fairly solid. I get the coals to set up the stove top temps to about 500 and then I shut it down, choke it for the night. This will give me a small, sometime hidden, bed of coals for my morning startup about 8-9 hrs later. For the most part, I have come to know this particular system with the house I live in now (since march of 2008) and this particular stove (F500 Oslo).

jamendjr said:

I thought "choking it down" creates a smoldering fire?

Is the main reason to "choke it down" so that you have coals in the morning to relight? Or is it for a lower steady temp overnight?

Our house holds the heat fairly well right now, does it make sense to keep doing what we are doing? Meaning, burn a fire when the temp i snot where we want it if the temp holds for long enough?

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Yes, this "choke it down" will ensure I have even (yet lower) overnight room temps and coals in the morning to start again. My fuel supply is dry, 20% or lower, I know this for a fact and know the creosote issue will be lessened.
If you can burn your stove evenly during the day and get room temps you are comfortable with you have achieved something. Now ask yourself, are you getting long burns out of a load to get you comfortable room temps? if not
you could consider the wood being suspect, is it dry enough>? This of course would be a creosote concern if it wasn't dry enough.

jamendjr said:

So, my first thought is keep it going until you hit the temp range or slightly above.

Than, I worried that this could cause more creosote buildup, as once the fire dies down and the coals glow the flue temp drops.

Than, I worried that to keep the temp where we want it I would need to truly "smolder" a log to keep a small flame but I know this is a no go.

So we say you? Do I just burn for a few hours get the house where we want it and let the fire burn down?

It doesnt take much to get our place up t the mid 60's, after that it just feels to warm. The house holds that temp for a few hours so we are comfortable. It seems any more burning before the temp falls just gets to hot.

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For me it depends on the outside temp and forecast . . . in early Fall when it is cool at night and warms up in the day I will start a fire and typically let it die down if the temp inside is close to what I find comfortable. The heat radiating off the stove and the warmer temps outside will insure a warm house for most of the rest of the day.

This time of year I will reload when I get to the coaling stage . . . typically when the coals are about the size of large oranges or grapefruits.

Once you've reached the coaling stage most of the bad stuff -- especially the moisture in the wood -- has been burned off, so there is no serious concern about excessive creosote build up.

I think what you're doing sounds fine . . . in fact, it sounds like it is the right way to burn -- burning in cycles rather than just trying to maintain a small fire for a long time by keeping the fire suffocated or only adding a little bit of wood at a time.

jamendjr said:

So, my first thought is keep it going until you hit the temp range or slightly above.
.

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what are you running?

jamendjr said:

I meant the temp range in the house, I think you are asking for the stove or pipe temp tough. Our flue temp ( magnetic style ) is usually in the mid 300's to 400. That seems to give us consistent warmth without baking us out of the house.

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sorry, i'm asking what stove you are running. i don't see it in your signature.

Likely depends what you're running.

My rig burns wide open until the fuel is gone.

And I like it like that.

firefighterjake said:

For me it depends on the outside temp and forecast . . . in early Fall when it is cool at night and warms up in the day I will start a fire and typically let it die down if the temp inside is close to what I find comfortable. The heat radiating off the stove and the warmer temps outside will insure a warm house for most of the rest of the day.

This time of year I will reload when I get to the coaling stage . . . typically when the coals are about the size of large oranges or grapefruits.

Once you've reached the coaling stage most of the bad stuff -- especially the moisture in the wood -- has been burned off, so there is no serious concern about excessive creosote build up.

I think what you're doing sounds fine . . . in fact, it sounds like it is the right way to burn -- burning in cycles rather than just trying to maintain a small fire for a long time by keeping the fire suffocated or only adding a little bit of wood at a time.

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I agree that burning in cycles is better. My general and very basic rule of thumb is that I should not see much smoke coming out of the chimney. That means all or most of the gases are being burned up in the stove. I burn the same as the OP and do not get much creosote.

once in the morning(6:30am) then at night (8pm)

Another thing you can work on is experimenting with the size of the fire. I did not reload this AM before work so came home to a cooler house (about 60) I built a little larger fire to get the stove up to temp and get the CAT going. Now that the temp is where I wanted it I just loaded a couple splits on the coal bed as i am just trying to maintain not overheat.

Next time you have a couple days off, spend the time learning how the stove burns when you load it and adjust the air for a long burn.
Once you see it, the light comes on. Ding, ding, ding.
The fun begins when the real cold hits.