Shoulder season advice for a new wood burner

My wife and I are loving our new wood stove. We've already used it a few times when the low at night was reaching the low 40s. I filled up the firebox, got the load fully engaged then backed the air down a quarter at a time till it was on low. Waking up to a nice warm house was amazing!

What wasn't so amazing was that the stove kept on putting out heat well into the morning and afternoon even though I never added any more wood. It was 3pm the next day and the stove top was too hot to keep your hand on. And since it's the start of the shoulder season it was a nice 73 outside but inside (with all the doors and several windows open) it was 78 because the stove was still putting out the heat. This awesome stove performance will be a real blessing when it's cold and nasty; that's for sure!

What techniques can I use to heat during the night but have the stove cooled off by mid-morning?

Fsappo said:

I would load less wood in there>

Click to expand...

Last attempt I did a half load. And I had the air opened up a little more to burn through it faster. I also turned the fan up to pull heat off the stove quicker. It was better. But was still warm the following afternoon.

My latest idea is to put in a real small load and open the air up all the way. I'm thinking that would burn up all the wood quickly and the cast iron will radiate during the early part of the night and be cool by morning. Thoughts?

I

Frank625 said:

What are you burning for wood. Smaller splits of softer wood like poplar will not last nearly as long if you are burning hardwoods. poplar is very we when you cut it but it seasons pretty fasy and it is very easy to split. Where are you in the South East. I am in NC and I have access to some poplar. Help me haul some wood and i'll give you some.

Click to expand...

I'm in SC and I burn primarily hickory and oak. Pretty much just hickory this year because the oak isnt seasoned yet. Thanks for the offer but I'm fortunate to have plenty of wood on my own property.

blades said:

Now this a twist as most of us are out desperately searching for some of those two holy grails and generally have more than enough of the lesser species .

Click to expand...

I never knew how lucky I was till I joined this forum last year to build up my wood stove IQ. But yep, hickory, oak and a fair amount of cedar on the property too. I used to think I had a lot of maple too because of the leaf shape. But earlier this year I realized those were maple imposters and were actually shagbark hickory.

begreen said:

I burn smaller 3" splits of softwood, 3-4 are often enough.

Click to expand...

Okay, I guess I've found a niche for the cedar then. Perfect! I'll try that next. It'll get down to 39F tonight. I'll be really happy if I can keep my hand on the stovetop on my way out the door to work in the morning.

dafattkidd said:

What are your house temps when you start a fire? For me the outside temps are far less important than the inside temps this time of year. If it hits the 40s at night but was in the 60s and sunny during the day, my house will hold heat fine through out the night (this is a new miracle in my home owning experience, as my house used to be SUPER drafty, but that's besides the point). I usually light a fire when the house temps hit 66 or so. And even then, sometimes I'll just let the boiler run for 20-30 minutes to bring the house up to temp and save some wood for when I have time to enjoy a fire.

Also it is probably very difficult to run your stove correctly with that baby necklace you seem to be so fond of.

Click to expand...

Well, we've burned 3 fires for warmth so far. I'd say the house has to be around 66 before we even entertain the idea. Last week and this week we decided to see how well the house holds its warmth when it's cold out. And the house only drops 7 degrees on nights where it gets down to the mid 40s. Then when my wife wakes up she just open all the blinds and the greenhouse effect kicks in and we're back in the 70s in no time. So we're learning about our house as well as the stove.

And my necklace there is big enough to help put wood in the stove now. Not to worry though, we just brought a new baby boy into the world on Oct 8th. I'll have another baby necklace shortly

Shane Collins said:

I'm in a similar situation to you. My BK Ashford stove was installed just a couple of weeks ago. I've found what works best for me is burning very little wood. I usually put on 4ish splits. The smallest I can find in my pile, usually around 3-4 inches. Wake up and it's nice and warm and the fire lasts a few more hours but it's not putting out too much heat.

Click to expand...

When you say 3-4" splits do you mean width? I assume they are still 16" long though, right?

Joful said:

Congratulations!

Click to expand...

Thanks Joful Just one more reason to keep the home cozy this Winter!

Total success! I loaded 3 cedar splits with some small hickory limbs and pine wood working scraps for kindling. Stovetop was cold this morning. Opened the door and put my hand inside to confirm no smoldering embers. Zippo. Room temp inside the stove. It got down to 37F outside. Temps inside the house were 67 this morning. So this small load wasn't quite large enough to hold the house at a nice warm temp. But the exercise was a total success. This stove can be run low and slow to put out heat for 20+ hours off of one full hardwood load. Or can burn through a small softwood load quickly to dump some BTUs into the inside air and be totally out by the time the Sun is up too.

I didn't get home till 9p last night. But the babies were sleeping and my wife and I got some quality time by the fire before retiring. It was just perfect.