I F'ed up last night...overfired

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bigdaddybry

Member
Jul 3, 2008
40
N. Prov. RI
So I'm reading Hearth.com last night and decide to take a break. I go upstairs and throw a few splits on the nicely glowing coal bed, open the air all the way and figure I'll take a leak, make a sammich, close down the air and head back downstairs. Well, that last part was forgotten, unfortunately. I think the bell went off in my head about 45min to an hour later. Approaching the insert I could tell it was really hot, so hot it turns out the top of the insert was glowing a little orange. I immediately shut the air all the way down and took a reading with the infra-red therm...975deg.!!! top side in the middle. The small part a the flue that I can get a reading on was just under 900. Needless to say I nearly shat myself.

I stayed with her until she slowly got back down to around 600, went to bed, but couldn't sleep wondering what sort of damage might have been done. Is there anything a newb like myself can take look at to determine if I screwed something up.

And I was doing so well up until last night. I won't make that mistake again.
 
We've all done this at some time or another. A phone call happens or your wife asks for a little help and then... I try to use a timer now if I think I am going to be away from the stove.

As for checking, with the fire out and cold, vacuum it, then closely examine the interior and exterior. Look for warped parts. Check the door fit with a dollar bill.
 
BeGreen said:
I try to use a timer now if I think I am going to be away from the stove. l.
Click to expand...

Hi BeGreen-
Just curious about this statement, because I'm sure you have (or consistently do) burn overnight. When you say set a timer if away from the stove, do you mean when air intake is all the way open? I ask because I've not yet done an overnight burn, but plan to in the coming days (maybe tonight) as it is getting colder here.

For a newbie - such as myself - what are some of the indicators that it is okay to be away from the stove for, say, 7 hours.
 
Great Question Chutes. I have been doing overnight burns but I have been shutting the air all the way down when i head off to bed. I was wondering the same thing. Can I set it to 50% air and not sweat it...no pun intended. Of should I always close it down when I will be away.
 
chutes said:
For a newbie - such as myself - what are some of the indicators that it is okay to be away from the stove for, say, 7 hours.
Click to expand...

When the stove has been loaded, charred, tuned down and is maintaining your desired temp, you are golden (as a rule of thumb).

Sometimes it is human nature to try and rush these (due to schedules or commitments), but don't. You will be rewarded with a safe and happy heating appliance.
 
I suggest operating your stove say, on weekends, at different air control settings, with different wood loads, until you get a firm idea how the thing operates, what settings produce what temps, etc.
 
TGun9590 said:
Great Question Chutes. I have been doing overnight burns but I have been shutting the air all the way down when i head off to bed. I was wondering the same thing. Can I set it to 50% air and not sweat it...no pun intended. Of should I always close it down when I will be away.
Click to expand...

Can you run your stove at 50% open with a full load of wood?? (serious question, cuz I can't)

If your stove can be run safely at 50% open and maintains constant (safe) temps during that time frame (meaning you don't have to fiddle with the adjustments), then it is probably a safe operating procedure for night time use as well. Most users will typically set the over night burns a little lower than a "normal" daytime burn to extend the heating period.

Edit: keep in mind whether it is daytime use or night time, you are looking for SAFE operation of the stove. If the stove being set to 25% open keeps you humming at 450F, then why not use it - sleeping or not. (simply an example, not factual numbers) Some stoves may require a setting somewhere above fully closed (as mine does, ~5%), and as highbeam below pointed out, some can be slammed to the min.
 
I always slam the draft to zero before going to bed and after charring the full load. Any other setting and the fire will accelerate over time to the point that I am required to slam the draft to zero. The longest burn at a healthy burn temp is achieved this way anhow so why not? I sleep much better knowing that the stove is choked.
 
Highbeam said:
I always slam the draft to zero before going to bed and after charring the full load. Any other setting and the fire will accelerate over time to the point that I am required to slam the draft to zero. The longest burn at a healthy burn temp is achieved this way anhow so why not? I sleep much better knowing that the stove is choked.
Click to expand...

Same here!
 
chutes said:
BeGreen said:
I try to use a timer now if I think I am going to be away from the stove. l.
Click to expand...

Hi BeGreen-
Just curious about this statement, because I'm sure you have (or consistently do) burn overnight. When you say set a timer if away from the stove, do you mean when air intake is all the way open? I ask because I've not yet done an overnight burn, but plan to in the coming days (maybe tonight) as it is getting colder here.

For a newbie - such as myself - what are some of the indicators that it is okay to be away from the stove for, say, 7 hours.
Click to expand...

I only use a timer for when the fire is starting up or has a fresh load of wood in it. I got into the habit, because I might be here at hearth.com in the interim and that can be really distracting at times. Usually I set the timer to 10 minutes. The Castine was pretty quiet warming up, but the T6 makes a ticking sound as it heats up, so I 'm finding myself using it's audio cues more often now.


For overnight burns, I prepare ahead and try to time it so that I need to load the stove about 30 minutes before I go to bed. That means a bed of hot coals that are starting to lose their heat. After adding the fresh load of wood, air control wide open, I wait about 5-10 minutes for it to start burning thoroughly. Then I'll close the air down about halfway until it's mostly just strong secondary burning. Go wash up, brush teeth, come back and then shut the air all the way down.

However, this varies with the stove. On the Castine, for overnight burns I would shut it down to about 25%. Less than that might have smothered the fire. With the T6 and EBT, I close it all the way down and let it take care of itself. But I've only done a few overnight burns so far. It's still too warm (60 out now).
 
My Jensen boiler has a small electric draft fan on the rear. I found it runs way too hot if I leave it hooked-up, but for getting the fire going I'm considering hooking a bathroom heat-lamp type timer switch to it so when I fire-up I can set the fan for 5 minutes and not have to worry anout forgeting it.
 
Wow, you are burning precious wood and its 60 degrees :lol: I have burned on wet 51 degree days a quick fire but usually low 40's or lower is the goal.
 
No burning here right now. We've been on the heat pump and will be until it gets down into the 40's. We've done some shorter night and morning fires a week or so ago, but this week has been warm.
 
That makes sense. Heck in my 1400 square feet the oven heats it up when cooking! R7 in the walls but R55 in the attic and mostly new argon low e windows so that has helped tremendously! I think I ran my furnace for 5 cycles in the last 2 weeks. No electric for the ac and no gas for the furnace, love this time of year the utility co's must be starving!!!
 
I live near BG but inland. In the daytime we are seeing 60 degrees but we have already had several mornings just above 30 and frosty. Most mornings are in the low 40s. Winter and its rains haven't really struck yet.
 
You'll find overnight burns to be less in danger of running away than mid day burning if set up properly.
Try to time it so you end up with a good coaling load 1-1 1/2 hours before bed time. Gather the coals to the front of the air inlet in a heap. Load it biggest piece in the back, smallest piece on the coals, middle piece above it. (with lots of room to vary as needed) ant let the air light the front loaded wood and the front of the back piece up well 'so they want to burn'. Then choke the air back to maintain a low but steady burn. You can generally use more air, the larger your splits. (lots of smaller pieces= less air & 3 or less larger pieces more like a third [in my setup]) From there on out it's more about the wood than the stove.
 
really curious about some of the feedback here, everystove I've ever had, started w/fisher, went to Hearthstone & now Lopi, I could open wide & burn hot but would never over fire. Are there issues with draft here? Wondering what the draft would test at if the stove goes that hot. What type of wood are you burning?
 
Your safe bet is certainly to choke it down all the way before leaving it unattended.
If it's an EPA stove, in good condition, with a proper chimney, it will burn down and should not overfire.
That said, once you get to know your stove and your wood you may be able to get more efficient burns with a different air setting.
I think the best way to learn is to take a weekend day and pretend 8:00 a.m is 8:00 p.m. and load it up. Get it cooking and set it as if
you were heading to bed. Watch it through it's burn cycle and you'll have a good idea what will happen while you're not watching.
There are many variables but you'll learn where the critical zone is and stay safely below that before heading to bed with the mindset
that smoked glass is preferable to overfire. That's where I'm at right now anyway, as a newbie.
 
However, this varies with the stove. On the Castine, for overnight burns I would shut it down to about 25%. Less than that might have smothered the fire.

Thank you BeGreen.
I've been trying more and more to get this right and I've found that turning the Oslo down to nothing does not produce the effect that I'm looking for. I am somewhere between 25 and 33 open for the overnight burn and am getting coals in the morning so I am good to go. I would like a bit more action on the stove before I go to sleep and a bit more heat (usually around 350, but like I said, I have coals in the am, so the thermometer may be off). Good advise for me.
Again, thank you
Chad
 
Each stove and flue combination will be somewhat unique. We can give general advice here, but that needs to be modified by the actual conditions you are experiencing with your stove. Wood burning is part science and part art. Consider yourself the artist, coaxing fire out of wood and stove and making some beautiful heat when all is right.
 
BeGreen is right as usual. How the stove is installed, lined or unlined chimney, how high the chimney is, the varience in temperature between outside and inside...all this plays a role in how far you can damper it down. In my hampton I could never damper it all the way unless it was 10 below 0 or colder outside. Now at 35 I can choke it all the way with the liner. I am learning the stove all over again!
 
This thread makes me feel a bit better. I too have been curious/nervous/anxious about overnight burns. Lots of good info here. I haven't been able to make it happen yet. It seems I can't get my stove hot enough. I read a lot of posts on here about people overfiring and people not being able to run their stoves at 50% because it runs away. Or running their stoves at 500+ degress.. I'm jealous!! I've been having a hard time getting my stove up to 450 and keeping it there. i think it was starting to happen the other night. It took more than 3 hours to get there. I finally saw the elusive secondary burn..... although it was only for about 20 seconds!! I'll get it firing pretty hot after having the door open for a while, close the door and watch things really slow down(with the air all the way open). After about a half hour it just seems to die. If I get busy and forget about it, it's down to almost nothing in an hour. Could one of the reasons be the the Class A Chimney needs to heat up? I have a lot of tinkering to do.

How does that Eagles song go? "One of these nights...."

Good thread.
 
Drumz,
You probably have wet wood.

Try picking up a package of wood at your local grocery store, and try burning that. You will be amazed at what dry wood can do for you.
 
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