turbocruiser said:
Wow another wonderful thread! Thanks for all the advice thus far. I too have been thinking through whether I want to leave the stove unattended while at work or not once the colder weather comes.
Previously with our open factory built fireplace I would NEVER leave the thing unattended even when I was inside the house and wide awake! I mean I seriously stayed within eye-shot of that thing at all times from fear about how hazardous it was. Yes, I'm a worry wort but seriously I think anyone could argue that those things are dan-ger-ous if left unattended.
Once our stove is installed however I am already determined to gradually get experienced enough to run the stove while we're asleep because I have several smoke detectors throughout the house, there are fire extinguishers at every level, and I'll also have some of those stove-specific fire extinguishers within an arm's reach of our stove. So, my thought there is that if something happens I would know about it almost right away and could respond almost right away whereas with running the stove when away for any reason (errands, school, work whatever) I would not necessarily know about it right away and therefore could not necessarily respond to it right away.
I don't know now if I'm over-analyzing and over-worrying this! Are the experts that do true 24/7 burning really saying that nothing has ever happened that they had to respond to? I guess I thought that there was "always something" that could conceivably happen that would require a response (such as strong changes in draft, all sorts of situations that could cause "smoking", anything that went wrong with the stove through usage, etc.)? I also thought that 99% of these things are pretty easily solved by simple actions such as simple adjustments to the controls or simply safely putting out the fire as fast as possible if something indeed does go wrong with the stove. So that's where I was thinking that unattended usage was still a no-no.
If you all could answer whatever has happened that required a response, what the response was, and what would have happened if you were not right there to respond, I'd sure appreciate it. Thanks in advance.
Turbo, with the fire extinguishers and smoke detectors you have, that does not mean you are worried, it just means you are doing things right. One thing that has always struck me is that most folks have a furnace in their home and it is usually in the basement where one usually does not spend much time. Yet, even though that furnace has a bigger fire than a wood stove, it is the wood stove they worry about the most! Perhaps it is just that it is something different whereas I grew up with wood heat and it just seems natural to me.
Nevertheless, we do indeed keep a close watch on our stove when it is burning. But we do not let that stop us from going about our day as natural as possible. If we both need to be outdoors, maybe back in the woods cutting wood in the winter, we do not worry about the stove. We simply always double check the stove before leaving the house. The same thing if we have to go to the city. We make sure the fire is going good and we have the draft set low like we normally do and just go without worry.
So what has required a response? I can remember a few times when I was a young lad and whoever put wood in the stove forgot about it and left the draft open. Thankfully there were several of us there and it didn't take long for someone to respond and simply close the draft and damper. I also remember one time that I was the culprit and we had this old smoke dragon and some poor wood. I had the ash door open and even though I was right by the stove, we were deep in a conversation and suddenly I realized I forgot the ash door but the stove was clicking and snapping telling me to take care of things. No damage done in any of those times I mentioned but it is a wake up call for sure.
As for chimney fires, in our 50+ years of wood burning we have never experienced a chimney fire although I have seen some at other people's homes. Again, this is one of the biggest reasons I preach about having good fuel and having it on hand for 2-3 years so it has a good time to dry.
btw, in case you did not see a recent post, I have some white ash that was dead or dieing when it was cut during the winter of 2008-2009. The wood was split and stacked in April. It was stacked at 54" high. I measured that stack yesterday and it measures 45 1/4". That shrinkage is due 100% from the drying of the wood. Losing that moisture shrinks the piles that much. Just think now what might happen if one tried to burn that wood before the moisture was out. And no, all the moisture is not out of the wood as you won't get wood that dry. What % is it? I have no idea but will tell you that wood will burn like a dream this winter.
