Those that don't care for long overnight burns

Your right by mo, as long has your warm and the oil dont kick on if I got to build a fire just do it.

I don't try too hard. If it works out that I load the stove fifteen minutes before I go to bed, then I might have some coals left in the morning, but I don't stay up waiting to reload. Besides, you guys back east have all that great hardwood. I have to save mine until a nice cold snap.

You are right, my main goal is heating the house cost effectively 24/7. The icing on the cake is that I get overnight and day long burns while I am at work. In this cold weather(below zero) that keeps the furnace off. If I don't have to start a fire from scratch two or three times a day all the better.

I haven't lit a match or or touched a piece of kindling since before Thanksgiving. I think I have used something like 0.6 therms this year so far for some of those shoulder days.

I think you have a case of sour grapes. It's not like the house needs to be toasty warm while we sleep. Better IMHO to have some coals in the morning for a quicker warmup than have to start from scratch. I think the net BTUs you get from the load is close to the same regardless of whether you burn your load fast or slow.

If I run the wood stove overnight it will be a few degrees warmer in the morning. Not worth it. Instead I get the fire going, have breakfast, then sit near the fire in the 60 degree living room until things warm up.

I dont think 24/7 on how im going to get a nighter out of my stove, I mean it is what it is.

I load it up before I go to sleep and it is what it is in the morning. Though I am usually on the way to work anyway, NG is my primary heat, so I don't try to burn 24/7. If that had been my plan, I would have bought a larger stove. I usually have a few red coals after 7 hrs in the Castine. That's about all you can get out of this baby, maybe 8 if you try real hard and cram the firebox full.

This week has been as cold as I've ever seen it, here in the Coast Range of Western Oregon, with lows of 8F. My electric backup heat is set to 70F during the day and 63F at night. (I picked 63F because that's as cold as it ever gets overnight with the heat off). Because I can go to bed with a cold stove and wake up to a house where the electric heat has been off all night and it's still 63F or higher, I don't need overnight burns. The game is to build a fire and get the house up to temperature before the setback thermostat wakes up and turns on the electric heat.

I don't try for overnight burn real hard either, mostly because I get up once or twice a night anyway. Also because with my old stove if I load it up too much, then the house gets too hot, sometimes even in really cold weather. Besides, with the big firebox if I should happen to let it go all night without throwing a split or two in, there's usually plenty of coals buried somewhere in the ashes to start easily in the morning.

I don't go for over night burns either. I do not mind waking up to a 58* -60* house in the morning. (I set therm. on 58*. Cold nights - below 25* - it will kick on but I don't care. Rather have that than broken pipes.)

I usually build a fire in the AM that gets me to mid-afternoon. If it is sunny, I won't reload until about 7:00 P.M. so house is warm when husband gets home from work around 9:00. That load will usually keep things in the 70* range even when it is 5* out (Our insert really holds the heat for a long time.)

I do not mind building a fire from scratch. I have lots of kindling from garden work and scrap lumber people send our way. Husband loves to see it disappearing.

On just the 2 loads a day, our house stays in the mid 70* zone which I am happy about. (Temps. here lately have been in the single digits and still just 2 loads a day!)

(Should mention that I do not cut our wood. I order it annually and like to save as much as I can in costs. If it was all free I would probably build a 3rd fire at sometime during the day/night..... :cheese: )

If you have a quality stove and are using quality seasoned hardwoods, an overnight burn is no problem without even trying. I run 2 quadra-fires and have no issues with having a nice bed of coals and still 200+ degrees on stovetop thermometer at 6 am after filling at 9 pm the prior evening.

+1 On the sour grapes.

It's really, really nice not having to try. :cheese:

I work outside all day everyday no matter the weather and come home wet and cold most days in winter. If I wake up in the morning and it AIN"T 70,,, I'M PISSED!! So YES I obsess about an all night burn.

Well, I for one try like hell to get an overnight burn, for few reasons. One is that I hate to pay for propane. Two, is that I love to see what my old Timberline can do, and plan on future mods., in the interest of efficiency.And three, I burn Pine, so I want every minute of heat I can grab out of it. I got a solid 10.5 hour burn today, with stove top at 225 when I got home. But it was warm out (20f.)

I ain't scared of a chilly 63° in the morn :coolgrin:

so no, I don't load up the englandummerimberline for an overnight burn. But it is nice if there are leftover coals from the previous evening's burn

An overnight burn at MY house is 4 hrs. I load the stove at midnight and the wife reload she gets up a 4am. So I don't try too hard either.

I think most of the responses are going to depend a lot on what your winter temperatures are and the size or type of house you are heating. With my house and climate in order to heat 24/7 with wood and nothing else all winter a good overnight burn is almost required.

On sub zero wind blown days or nights I could not get by with a 6 hour burn in my house. If my stove was done giving good heat by 2 or 3 am and the house drops in to the high 50's low 60's I could not gain back 10 degrees unless the temperature during the day increases quite a bit or the furnace was turned on. If your stove setup gives a quick recovery time or you only want the house at 60 degrees all the time then maybe it doesn't matter as much.

I try to maintain the house between 68 to 72 degrees with my stove. On days when the temps are in the teens and 20's that is super easy on 2 loads with the fan on low or medium. The other night when the temp hit -7 degrees with -30 wind chills for 2 days it was at least 3 full loads refilling on very hot coals with the fan on high to maintain 68 to 70 degrees.

There is a saying for casual golfers, "Hit 'til you're happy!". For woodburners, it should be "Heat til you're happy".

I would be fooling myself and kidding you if I said I was not striving for overnight or day long burns. There is ample evidence on this website that I am not alone in this attitude. The difference among us is the definition of "overnight" or "day long." This is not a one size fits all issue. In my instance, achieving a long term burn is a worthwhile goal, but at the end of the day what I am really looking for is comfort and the desire not to burn fossil fuel.

Quite simply if my stovepipe thermometer is reading 225 - 250 degrees after 7 hours with a stove load, I am satisfied because I have accomplished my burn goal with an ancient stove that was manufactured between 1900 and 1905. In addition, I achieved my goal with wood burning practices that would probably make many of you cringe. A procedure that is most likely older than the stove, yet a procedure that is practiced under a watchful eye and frequent safety checks.

Once again, the ultimate goal is comfort. The stove and the design of the house work hand in hand to accomplish same.
jackpine

Im surprised by this thread, I thought everyone that lived in a reasonably cold climate and had a newer epa stove always had all night burns. I only let me stove go out once when the temps hit 60 and I cleaned out the ashes and cleaned the glass, other than that its always burning.

WarmGuy said:

If I run the wood stove overnight it will be a few degrees warmer in the morning. Not worth it.

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Same here. I time my last fire for the last fire of the evening to flame out at 10 or thereabouts and hit the hay. House is typically 65 when I wake in the morning and there are plenty of coals to get a new load started. I burn one full load, and if it's a sunny day the solar takes over from there, until 5pm or so.

Burning 24/7 isn't that hard with the right stove (i just found that out). we have no other heat but wood, and i don't work for over night burns any more, they just happen. JD