Wood insert: burn overnight or not?

If i don't burn overnight right now (-11 forecasted tomorrow night) The upstairs will go from 68 degrees to 54 after 12 hours or so and then take most of the day to get upstairs back to 68.

Maybe if i had a tighter house? But I don't.

I burn 24-7 only stopping when we have a long warm spell. I may let it burn down in the day if its warm but I get it going again at night, even a warm night in the winter is going to be 30's. Otherwise the house would get too cold and its a fight or more oil to get it back up to a comfortable temp. I'd rather burn extra wood than have to use oil to warm the house up.
When I have my coffee in the morning I don't want to get up to a cold house and wok on getting another fire going, I'd rather turn the stat up or just load the stove and enjoy the heat before it settles in for the burn.

Like Bother Bart said, The wood heat is a little different form of heat. The wood heat warms the objects in the room and the air is warmed from the objects giving off their warmth. Is your fireplace on an inside wall. If so the thermal mas of the brick will warm your house for hours after the fire goes out.
If you let the fire go out, then you will need to warm all the surfaces and objects in the room before the house gets warm.
I try to avoid cold starts. I will open the doors and windows at times as not to let my thermal mas cool. It takes longer to get the house up to temp when the evening hour temperature drops if the thermal mas has cooled.

24/7

I let it go out, but that's because of my limited supply of wood. I totally agree with everybody else if you let your stove die and you house cools off it takes a lot of time to warm it up. Also I have a theory that you have more creosote build up if you have many cold starts up instead of running it hot 24/7. Next year I should have more wood and I will try to run the stove 24/7.

really? more creosote with cold startups? maybe, but wouldn't this be negligible? I do a cold startup every morning and this morning I have the entire common area of the house at 70 so far, from 64 in 1 hr. and that's just using 1 insert.

qwain76 said:

I installed a wood insert 3 months ago and we love it! It makes the house so comfortable.

However, I have a question I was not able to answer so far. From an economic stand point, is it better to let the fire run 24 hrs (load the insert before going to bed and reload it in the morning) or is it better to let it die (stop feeding wood 1-2 hrs before bed) and restart it the next day?

We have a 1400 sq ft cape cod home: the insert had blowers blowing warm air in the living areas, some war air reaches upstairs and warms up the upstairs floors.

However, most of the heat goes in the living room / dining room and it gets wasted at night when we are in bed. So is it worth it to let it run overnight?

Your thoughts?

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From an economic standpoint it makes no difference for me as I do not pay for my wood, but I do hate waking up to a cold house. I also hate coming home to a cold house. So I vote burn baby burn!

I have no scientific proof but I think that every time you start from scratch with cold stove and cold flue there is a better chance for a creosote build up than if you were to run it hot at all times. But I might be wrong.

Keep it going, many of us heat solely w wood. This is the norm Oct-April at our home.

Since you asked . . . just from an economic stand point . . . it depends alot I am guessing on how well insulated the house is, cost of the "conventional" heat source, etc.

In my own case, I try to burn 24/7 . . . even if I don't get to enjoy the full heat from the living room where the stove is located, the heat travels throughout the house all night long . . . and from the economic standpoint loading it up before bed generally keeps the oil burner's thermostats located in the living room, adjacent room and upstairs bedroom from kicking on the boiler unless it's quite cold . . . and for me any time the oil boiler isn't running = money savings.

As mentioned there are also other benefits from burning 24/7 such as the reduced time to get the fire going again in the morning, waking up to a warmer house, etc.

We try to keep it going overnight, as it does keep the entire house warm (except the family room that is unused -lower level), the most we have ever gotten is 4-5 hours out of a full load, and at my age, nature calls in the middle of the night keep the stove going, but there are those nights that I just don't feel like messin' with the stove, and just go back to bed.....the thermostat is set at 64*F, and figure we save enough on oil to leave the stove burn down once in a while......how much oil could we burn with the house at 75* at 1am, stove burning down, and me up at 6am reloading ???....the furnace might fire up once or twice. We also have 3 zones, which helps balance things out.

24/7 until shoulder seasons. Even on a warm night, I like burning overnight so that starting a fire in the morning is easier. I rake my coals, throw one or two pine splits in, open the drafts all the way, and then go up stairs and make my coffee. When I get the pot brewed and the first cup poured, I go back down and our family room is very nice to watch the morning news.

24/7. Haven't had to relight since November... so I save on matches.

We always burn at night, it is in fact the preferred time for us to get the biggest fire in the stove. If we aren't heating 24/7 we usually start the fire in the evening and get the stove the hottest just before going to bed and let it burn through the night. This works best for us on many levels, and makes for a healthier more productive way of life.
By getting a good fire going at night the living room can get uncomfortably warm and makes everyone, who happens to be in still up, sleepy, and want to go to bed and not stay up too late. As the fire burn through the night it continues to heat up that room and most of the rest of the houses, and by morning the house is still nice and warm, except for the bedrooms which are insulated from the heat to some degree. So, there is a desire to get out of bed and into the warmer rooms, thus motivating us to get out of bed in the mornings. If it is very cold out we will sometimes reload the stove in the morning so it isn't too cold in the house when we come home (adults go to work, kids go to school), but if someone is staying home we will often not bother lighting the fire again till later because the house usually still has plenty of residual warmth and loading the stove again right away would make it uncomfortably warm.
The other thing is, night time is when the house usually cools off the most, so by burning at this time, and not burning during the day ( when me are more apt to benefit from solar heating), we tend to have more even temps in the house.

24/7 if I could. Since I use mine as a supplement to a heat pump set at 67*, I want it running as much as humanly possible. I've come downstairs at 5AM plenty of times this year to find my emergency heat running. Not much is less economical than that.

Beer Belly said:

at my age, nature calls in the middle of the night

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I know this isn't about wood stoves, but getting up to use the can at night is more likely Sleep Apnea then age. Do you wake in the morning ready to meet your day and able to stay alert all day without the need of a nap or falling asleep in the easy chair? If not it's time to see a doctor. If you are on CPAP then you need to be checked to see if it's equipment or your settings aren't right.

Oregon aloha said:

I know this isn't about wood stoves, but getting up to use the can at night is more likely Sleep Apnea then age. Do you wake in the morning ready to meet your day and able to stay alert all day without the need of a nap or falling asleep in the easy chair? If not it's time to see a doctor. If you are on CPAP then you need to be checked to see if it's equipment or your settings aren't right.

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I appreciate the concern....no CPAP, and I average about 4 1/2 to 5 hrs. a night, but only 2 hrs at a time.....sometimes it's a nature call, sometimes it's the dog getting his call, and I figure "while I'm up ......", I make it thru the day, and will nap if I can. Thanks again for the concern....PS~ I'm also a light sleeper, the slightest noise or movement, and I wake up.