Best way to burn for overnight burn?

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Yarzy

Member
Dec 27, 2010
40
Chalfont, PA
Hi everyone

Well, I am about 22 days into owning my Jotul Oslo and I want to know how to burn (and load) for an overnight burn. I am still a little nervous about it since I can't be in the same room, but I need to start preparing for this. Now, do you pack it tight, then turn the air vent all the way down, or leave it in the middle? Any suggestions would be great. Thanks again!
 
I like to load mine about 1/2 hour before I go to bed. Get the fire going for about 15-20 minutes then cut it back . Check it before going to bed make sure you have a nice slow burn. Not smoldering just a nice easy burn. As long as it is hooked up okay no worries get a nice nights sleep and you should have some nice hot coals in the morning to start over.
 
You do your first overnight burn when you are going to be home all day and do it in the daytime to get a feel for how your stove does and to adjust technique.
 
I rake all of my coals to the front of the fire box. Then I stack 3 Maple splits at the back of the stove, these splits are loaded directly on the firebox floor. Then 1 final maple split lies on top of the coal bed that I raked to the front. Note that I have to load my stove E/W orientation. Loaded like this and I wake up to house temps of 65 °F and enough coal to get the stove going again with ease.
 
So you are only putting 4 splits total? I think that would be gone in 2 hours in my stove.
 
I agree with BB.

My technique: pack as full as I can on hot coals, let the load get engaged, turn down the air in stages until the secondaries are strong, and if I can pull myself away from watching the light show, go to bed.
 
Overnight burns for me in a fairly large house with a medium sized stove is all about minimizing damage. Using large well seasoned pieces of oak and loading N-S while turning the intake down almost all the way after I have the wood good and charred allows for a long slow burn and the temps may only drop a few degrees depending on overnight temps. I think the key is using large splits and getting the intke set just right, you'll figure it out.
 
When I load my stove full and if I don't turn the air down enough there is a tendency for it to reach temperatures that are too high after about an hour of burn - once all of the wood is hot enough to give off gases and I get a lot of secondary burn. On the other hand, if I load the stove and turn the air down too soon I will get only a small fire and tons of smoke. So, for me to get a long burn I load the stove full using the most dense wood I have handy (typically oak, hickory, ash). I let it get going strongly then turn the air down over a few minutes until I have the air at about 1/3 or 1/4 open. Then I can go to bed. I want to keep a secondary burn going so I am burning clean, but with the least air required to do so. I don't get overnight burns with my stove. With a nice load of oak I can have a fairly hot stove (300 or 350F) after 5 hours. I can have hot coals a lot longer than that, but I don't really count the long, slow process of coals burning out as part of my 'burn time.'
 
All about the wood and the air. Get a roaring fire going and let it settle down to hot coals, rake coals to the front and stock about 2-3 medium splits and fill the rest with rounds, 3-4 should be good. Get the flames going and start turning the air down until it is past the "L" setting on the control. Once all the wood is fully engaged, knock it back to near closed and wake up to a warm house and a nice bed of coals, 8 hrs later. Works for me.
 
Yarzy said:
So you are only putting 4 splits total? I think that would be gone in 2 hours in my stove.
I can't even find 4 splits in my stove! ;-P With my Oslo I would load it as full as I could, let it rip until the load is charred and then kill the air completely, but my wood was stacked for a couple years, if your wood is wetter,then you won't want to kill the air all the way. Just test it out when you are around to observe it.
 
Yarzy said:
So you are only putting 4 splits total? I think that would be gone in 2 hours in my stove.
Everyone splits in diff sizes. With some of my splits, I can only fit 2 maybe 3 in the Oslo. With my smaller splits, I can get up to 10. I like having all diff sizes in my stacks.
 
About an hour before bed, I put in a couple of splits and open the primary to get the stove hot, then I shove in enough wood to fill the stove about 3/4 full without trying to pack anything, shut the door, and close off the primary air supply. I then go to bed smiling. There will be a coal bed left when I get up.

Having watched it several times, after about 10 minutes, it will show yellow flames, and these will cease and secondary burning will start in about half an hour. Wood type might matter, but since my wood is delivered, I just burn what is in the wood box, some oak, some hackberry, some elm, some maple, and now and again some ash.
 
My overnight burns depend on when I go to sleep and when I'm getting up, and outside temps. The stove is larger than I need, so i almost never fill it up. I'm still experimenting, but thus far the best method I have is around 60-30 minutes before I'm ready to go to bed I load it up about 70% NS- let it all catch, close down the draft all the way once it's all caught, and secondaries are cooking. It's been very cold here lately so I've been filling it up almost all the way with the largest splits I have mixed in with some med-small splits. I have woken up every morning to a warm house and a hot bed of coals. I'm burning mostly locust, oak and sugar maple.
 
The line between smoldering smokey fire and over 850-900 is very small. My stove seems to be playing cat and mouse with me on this learning curve. If I start shutting down the air too early I get lots of smoke, if I wait too long I can't control the temps and it just keeps climbing. I have gotten to the point that these high temps don't freak me out like they did the first time it happened and I began to unload the stove for fear of damaging my new stove, it was quite a sight to see. The darn thing will start burning the wood gas in the secondaries with the primary air all the way closed and get really hot, then after the gases are burned through it starts to smoke because the primary is closed too much.
 
roberth42 said:
I rake all of my coals to the front of the fire box. Then I stack 3 Maple splits at the back of the stove, these splits are loaded directly on the firebox floor. Then 1 final maple split lies on top of the coal bed that I raked to the front. Note that I have to load my stove E/W orientation. Loaded like this and I wake up to house temps of 65 °F and enough coal to get the stove going again with ease.


I have the same stove so I'm just curious as to what you think you gain by raking all of your coals forward?
 
I load mine when we get home about 6pm with small 2"-4" rounds of once standing dead hicory, about 6" high, N/S. I leave the door cracked enough to get a good flame underneath, then shut the door and close the damper all the way. My Magnolia has no way of limiting the scondaries on top and in a way the design is good. The primary was made to never shut down all the way, so I adjusted the slot so it could. I close it down just enough to allow a little airwash on the glass that in turn feeds the coals N/S. With the secondaries wide open, all my flame is on top of the stove. After that burns down, (about, 9:00- 9:30pm), to coals, I put 3, 6" to 8" splits, middle one wedge down, sides wedge up, and one more on top running NE/SW. Get a flame again and close the primary all but 1/16 shut. Keeps our living room, bedroom and bathroom average 75 all night. At first, (depending on outside tepm) it gets too hot and we have to open a window. I still have at least 70 in the morning before going to work. Our average night time temps have been between 32 and 40 degrees, and daytime, around 50 to 60.
Please take into effect that Im heating about 600 to 800 sq ft, with a stove designed for 1800 to 2000.
 
CJW88 said:
roberth42 said:
I rake all of my coals to the front of the fire box. Then I stack 3 Maple splits at the back of the stove, these splits are loaded directly on the firebox floor. Then 1 final maple split lies on top of the coal bed that I raked to the front. Note that I have to load my stove E/W orientation. Loaded like this and I wake up to house temps of 65 °F and enough coal to get the stove going again with ease.


I have the same stove so I'm just curious as to what you think you gain by raking all of your coals forward?

I have a very different stove but I was wondering the same thing. I like to put new splits on hot coals so I sure don't rake the coals out of the way.
 
This is what works for me . . . first off . . . it helps to have the fire going for some time and have the stove nice and warm.

About a half hour before bed I will get the stove set . . . which may require burning down some coals . . . I then stir the coals and tend to pull the coals close to the doghouse . . . I then plunk a small split on top of the coals . . . and then put in some larger splits or rounds in the rest of the stove . . . filling it so that about 1-2 inches of space is left at the top of the firebox. I then bring things up to temp and then start to close down the air incrementally . . . with my wood and draft I typically can close the air to the quarter mark or less and get 5-6 hours on a load.
 
Kenster said:
CJW88 said:
roberth42 said:
I rake all of my coals to the front of the fire box. Then I stack 3 Maple splits at the back of the stove, these splits are loaded directly on the firebox floor. Then 1 final maple split lies on top of the coal bed that I raked to the front. Note that I have to load my stove E/W orientation. Loaded like this and I wake up to house temps of 65 °F and enough coal to get the stove going again with ease.


I have the same stove so I'm just curious as to what you think you gain by raking all of your coals forward?

I have a very different stove but I was wondering the same thing. I like to put new splits on hot coals so I sure don't rake the coals out of the way.

On my stove, most of my primary airflow comes in through the airwash system, down the glass and under the front of the new splits, S/N. That pulls all the heat to the back, under the new splits catching them quickly. As the flame evolves from under the back of them, the secondary in top burns off the rest of the smoke and it reapeats.
 
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