24x7 or not?

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Got Wood

Minister of Fire
Oct 22, 2008
926
Dutchess Cty, NY
I have backed off trying to run 24x7 now that the holidays are over and the family has returned to work&school;. I work out of a home office but dont mind cooler temps in the house. I find I am running first thing in the morning for a load or two to take the chill off and keep it toasty for the ladies of the house, then let it die down until late afternoon when I fire back up for the evening with a last load up before bed time. Even with colder temps I'm finding the house is plenty warm enough, more cold starts and I'm burning less wood. I guess I'm starting to think more about wood as a fuel resourse that I should use wisely vs. just loading up and going full bore keeping the house much warmer than it needs to be (or I am comfortable with).
 
Works great in a well insulated house! some people have to run 24/7 just to fight the draft of their house!. Decided to do a inspection on linner today, so let the stove die for 5 hours. 20 degrees out max temp, and house dropped from 82 to 79 degrees.
 
PINEBURNER said:
let the stove die for 5 hours. 20 degrees out max temp, and house dropped from 82 to 79 degrees.

I guess my part of my point is 79 degrees is still probably too warm for me, why not let it die down even further and save some of your wood?
 
Force of habit for me at this point. This past weekend, weather was really nice, inside temp. was almost 80, and we're butchering a buffalo. Windows are open, doors are open, we're in T-shirts, and what do I do- yup, check the stove and reload. I am not too bright sometimes.
 
Got in an order of Super Cedars the first week of December because burning 24/7 is hard with our see-saw weather here. Before they got here a quarter of one of the samples started up the stove and it hasn't gone out since. Really cold December for us and January isn't looking any better.
 
Got Wood said:
PINEBURNER said:
let the stove die for 5 hours. 20 degrees out max temp, and house dropped from 82 to 79 degrees.

I guess my part of my point is 79 degrees is still probably too warm for me, why not let it die down even further and save some of your wood?

According to my thermostat my house never gets past about 65. The upstairs gets up to about 70 I guess.
 
I have been burning 24/7 for the last few weeks. Actually my furnace is running also. My stove is not quite big enough to heat the whole house so I just figure the more I burn the less the furnace burns. I don't know if I could have found a stove that would heat the whole house and still be an insert, and most importantly, make my wife happy. That was the most difficult sale I have had it quite some time. She likes it now, other than the fan noise. The fire is like an old friend now and we miss it when it is out. I have 23 acres of woods so the supply will never be a problem.
 
BrotherBart said:
Got in an order of Super Cedars the first week of December because burning 24/7 is hard with our see-saw weather here. Before they got here a quarter of one of the samples started up the stove and it hasn't gone out since. Really cold December for us and January isn't looking any better.
How are Thomas' kids supposed to eat at that rate?

Before, I would run 24/7 and remove hot ashes by raking the coals to one side. Now that Thomas/Lara sent my order of 100 green Super Cedars, I let the fire die out when it's time to remove ashes. No more eternal Olympic flame in my house and no paper bow ties.

As for keeping it 78 or 80, that's nuts. I like it to stay around 72/74. The wife is happier with it around 75/76. We dial back the stove overnight and through the day if we both happen to be out.
 
Over the holidays we had a houseful of guests so if anything we're more aggressive burners now that it's emptier. If the fire goes out now it because of negligence.
 
LLigetfa said:
[How are Thomas' kids supposed to eat at that rate?.

don't worry i use 1/4 SC every week day night to re-start my insert
 
24x7 Oct thru May here. Adjust wood quality, burn rate and blowers as appropriate for weather conditions.
 
I let my furnace handle the heat load until I can run my stove(s) 24/7. I keep my stove going just enough during the day so I have some coals to get it going again at night. probably couldn't do that with a new EPA model but I don't have one of those so it works for me. When it gets really cold(below 0 at night), I run another stove in my addition that is insulated to R54 ceiling R 42 walls, never put any heat in there and it works fine until its below 0
 
We burn 24/7 when it gets below about 40. But since the chill moved east, we haven't burned for several days. I'm going to start a fire tonight because I miss it. But I'm noticing that the filberts and alders already have their catkins (flowers) fully out.
 
Don't really go 24x7 unless it's major overcast, fortunately we have mostly sunny days around here so the house heats up nicely during the day- I can even go without a fire down to 36*. If we get a good low pressure hovering over us long enough and clouds sit then 24x7 becomes necesarry...........
 
The last load goes in my stove when I hit the sack - which varies greatly night to night. I would have to say I'm presently a 18/7 burner. The stove is going everyday but I generally have to re-light it in the morning. My main goal is to never let the flue get real cold...

Rob
 
I am 24/7 right now. It was on high for a few days back there where I was reloading much sooner to keep the stove temps up. Now it is running cooler and the fan is on lower and it is ~75 in here.
 
I think about this topic all the time. I am now burning two stoves 24/7 and I'm probably at 80% wood heat. I'm in and out of the house all day long do my quandary is; why do I keep my house so warm when I'm not going to be home to enjoy it? I could probably get by with only burning at night and maybe drop down to 60% wood heat, but save 2/3 of the wood I use. I just hate having to start the stoves up, not that it takes long, I'm just lazy.
 
It would be colder than a welldiggers @ss in this house if I didnt burn 24/7.
 
BeGreen said:
We burn 24/7 when it gets below about 40. But since the chill moved east, we haven't burned for several days. I'm going to start a fire tonight because I miss it. But I'm noticing that the filberts and alders already have their catkins (flowers) fully out.
Same here. Too warm for more than occasional fires. Good thing they sell Super Cedars at the local supermarket now.
 
24/7 unless it gets above 30 and very sunny. That hasn't happened for awhile.
 
got my stove nov 8 (first stove ) think it has ran 24/7 since i got it,probably will till june,after all ...this is canada eh
 
I guess I'd have to say that I burn 24/6.954 since I usually clean out the ashes about once a week.
 
we only burn 24/7 for days in a row a couple times a year. Wind and cloud cover are a bigger factor than the temperature. Last week when it was 25-30 with high winds and lots of clouds, we pretty much burned 24/7. The past couple days the wind died and the sun came out and passive solar takes over the daytime heating. I had a small fire this morning at 7am which went out around 10. It's been 32 all day but the sun is bright and the house has been sitting at 70 for the past 4 hours. Should stay like that til 3:30, then start dropping. It's all about windows, insulation and house orientation. I see no point in wasting the wood if it is not needed. It's not that hard to get a fire going.
 
Got Wood said:
I have backed off trying to run 24x7 now that the holidays are over and the family has returned to work&school;. I work out of a home office but dont mind cooler temps in the house. I find I am running first thing in the morning for a load or two to take the chill off and keep it toasty for the ladies of the house, then let it die down until late afternoon when I fire back up for the evening with a last load up before bed time. Even with colder temps I'm finding the house is plenty warm enough, more cold starts and I'm burning less wood. I guess I'm starting to think more about wood as a fuel resourse that I should use wisely vs. just loading up and going full bore keeping the house much warmer than it needs to be (or I am comfortable with).


If you don't mind the cooler house then that is fine to let the fire die out. We find that if we let things cool off a lot it is sort of the opposite as during summer when we run an air conditioner (not much here). If it cools off in the house you just need that much more heat to get it back to a more comfortable level. We prefer a more even temperature rather than the swings in temperature so that is what we try to do. It has been a long times since we had to start a fire from scratch here. That stove keeps on giving us that wonderful warmth.

My wife says too that if some guys are like that, that is, liking cooler temperatures and then stoke up the stove later, the wider temperature variations could have a negative effect on the females of the group.
 
I used to try to keep it going all day too but, as the years have gone by, once my body adjusts to cooler temps., I too tend to build one fire in the am to take the chill off and, depending on how much sun we have on any particular day, don't load it up again until the evening. There is a significant difference in how much wood I burn this way - and I prefer to conserve too since I have to pay for our wood to be delivered and stacked.....Plus, I am cheap at heart.

If it is a cloudy day, I will reload mid-afternoon depending on indoor temp.

Even with just 2 loads a day, we stay warm - 68-75* range which is fine with me.

I do the evening burn for my husband. He is the one who likes the warmer house temp.

Our therm. is set on 58* and will kick in at night if our temps. drop below 25*. ;-P
 
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