Longest Overnight Burn Tactics?

[amellefson]

I know it is a common question, but it is a constant goal for all of us.

As I am closing the air down for the night I have a dilemma and I think someone hear could answer my question. I will close the air down as much as possible, which for this wood is all the way. But do I turn the fan up to get more heat out into the room while it is available. Or do I leave the fan on really low so the fire box stays warmer longer. My initial thought was fan turned up. The more I think about it low and slow would be better. The steel would hold the heat longer than the air in the house. Any thoughts?

Tony

 

[begreen]

I would guess low fan speed too.

 

[corey21]

Low fan speed removes less heat from a stove. High fan speed removes more heat from a stove.

 

[HighHeat22]

I would guess low to. At least low enough to circulate some air.

 

[LLigetfa]

I guess I don't really follow what the objective is. "Longest overnight burn" means what? The length of time is a constant, meaning the number of hours until morning never changes. If you want to put in less wood, or get less heat or have more coals, those are mutually compatible. If you want more heat, that's mutually exclusive. If you have to get up in the middle of the night to reload, then you don't really have overnight burns.

I load my stove a variety of ways and decide on fan based on how cold it may get. My primary objective is to meet demand and have adequate coals in the morning. Secondary is to not burn more wood than necessary (cool enough for sleeping), and third is to not dirty the glass. Since my stove has a thermostatic air control, I cannot exert total control. When it is colder out, it open up the air and consumes more wood. The fan will cool the thermostat.

If/when I fill up the stove, it will burn hotter so I use the fan on low to extract more to the room. If I only put in a partial load and don't run the fan, the thermostat will open less and will preserve more coals. Some mild nights I don't bother to put any wood on and turn off the fan and hope for enough coals come morning. The fan only ever runs on high during the day when I need more heat.

 

[tcassavaugh]

i really increased my burn time......when i bought a bigger stove. hard to get two pounds of smashed taters out of a one pound bag. i just make sure i have a good coal bed which i normally have after a full day of burning, and put some larger chunks on the fire and close it down and it keeps going ovenight.....most of the time. i always have heat coming from the box as its a cast iron jotul and normally have coals enough to get it going easily. the hard part lately seems to be getting this weather to quit fluxuating so much so the house doesn't get so warm......not complaning, especially when i look at my wood pile.

cass

 

[Huntindog1]

Loading technique will help your burn times.

Here is picture documentation of one way to load your stove by raking coals forward so wood in the back of stove is not on hot coals so you get a longer burn cycle.

https://www.hearth.com/econtent/index.php/forums/viewthread/88397/

 

[wkpoor]

I'm always looking to have long burns times with good stove temps. If I come down in the morning and the stove is still 400 degrees after 8hrs then I'm real good with that.

 

[amellefson]

Loading technique will help your burn times.

Here is picture documentation of one way to load your stove by raking coals forward so wood in the back of stove is not on hot coals so you get a longer burn cycle.

https://www.hearth.com/econtent/index.php/forums/viewthread/88397/

I just looked at that thread. Nice to have a visual. I have been soing a half hearted version of that so far. Your explanation makes good sense to me.

 

[Hogwildz]

My fans stays on high until reload, then after reload back on high.
For overnight burns in this place, Large on bottom, mediums on top of that, small to fill in the smaller gaps, Tight, Packed Full.... Repeat 12-14 hours later

 

[amellefson]

I guess I don't really follow what the objective is. "Longest overnight burn" means what? The length of time is a constant, meaning the number of hours until morning never changes. If you want to put in less wood, or get less heat or have more coals, those are mutually compatible. If you want more heat, that's mutually exclusive. If you have to get up in the middle of the night to reload, then you don't really have overnight burns.

My basic question is what speed do the insert folks run the fan at for the longest burn time? I believe it is common practice to prefer the fan on an insert, unlike a freestanding stove. Ignore the outside temp. With lows in the high teens lately I have not had a problem with the amount of heat it puts out. I just want the longest time between reloads at night or while at work.

I think better coal management and a low fan is the ticket. I also load n/s. I think my stove is designed better for that even though they advertise both.

Thanks for the input.

Tony

 

[Huntindog1]

Wkpoor, I agree , I can only get about 5 to 6 medium sized splits in my stove, Would be nice to have a NC-30 3.5 cubic foot box to load more wood but one of my objectives is too use less wood so I do like the size of my stove. Usually I am going with 5 splits that are like 4" approximate size , I can get and eight hour burn easy which means lots of coals to start the next load on. But I try to emphasize that its about getting the heatup in the stove fast with the good quality kindling like 1" split oak thats good and dry. This creates a small burn chamber in the front of the stove. I really like to see as the heat builds up in the top of the stove, the surfaces of the top of the wood in the back is starting to out gas , it looks cool as this piece of wood thats only burning on its top as its sides and bottom part is sitting there not on fire. I just created my own little burn chamber up in the front of the stove and on top of the wood around the burn tube secondaries.

 

[Huntindog1]

Tony, I dont have an insert but I have a blower. The blower will cool the stove so you have to get a feel for it. As if you cool the stove the fire may burn slower so keep a look out to see if the secondaries go out on you. Your stove has some kind of burn control mechanism in it so thats another variable on how it works. Your stove looks pretty big , what are the fire box dimensions.
North south loads tend to burn hotter and a little faster. Some people need that. If you want to apply the rake coals forward technique for a north south load , all you do is pull all your hot coals over to one side so that you clear an open area on the other side in which to load your wood all the way to the bottom so its not on any hot coals once you get that half of the stove loaded then level out your coals from the pile you raked to the other side, then load up that side on the hot coals. So lets say the door latch is on the left rake your coals left then loading north south the side closest to the door latch will have the hot coals and if you have to crack the door open for a few minutes air gets to that side best where you should have the last row on the left side loaded with kindling on hot coals to heat the stove up fast.

I might add guys are getting good results on just firing the stove up with big splits but what I am finding that your wood has to be under 15% rather than the 20% suggested most of the time. Plus how thick is your hot coals and how hot are they make a big difference on how fast of a restart with big splits only.

 

[WoodpileOCD]

I have a big cat stove and never have any problem with a full bed of coals in the morning so I haven't done any experimenting with burn times vs. fan on or off. My general observations and intuition however, tell me that whether the fan is on or off doesn't affect the burn time at all. It just affects how much heat gets thrown off into the room ( I have an insert). That being said, my fan always runs at night and when I'm not around. I turn it off when I'm in the room sometimes if it is plenty warm just to relieve myself of the noise.

Anyone else think that the fan has no affect on burn times. Maybe a non cat or a stove with a Tstat behave differently.

 

[LLigetfa]

I think a fan could take a stove out of the sweet spot and that could slow the fire if no thermostat is involved. Out of the sweet spot could yeild fewer BTUs for the amount of wood smoldering. You could end up with more coals but they might be black.

 

[eujamfh]

Woodpileocd - I completely understand about the loud fan. Fortunately our Buck is in the "formal" living room...so I can run it fan on with no noise concerns...but you can hear it upstairs when we go to bed. I think that is the ONLY draw back I have found of that stove. As for fan on or off...I do turn it off whe the temp drops below 500 degrees in the morning to get the cat back up and running. Once it breaks 500, I have the fan running full speed.

For the HI300, I run that high as well unless we have a room full watching a movie with the volume of the film varying on its own..then I turn it to low. Otherwise, I have noticed little burn time difference between the fan speeds.

 

[aussiedog3]

fan on high.
Rake the coals to the front. Important rake the coals to the front, so it burns front to back
Pack the stove as tight as you can!
Get it roaring as hot as you dare!
.....then start shutting it down.

 

[NH_Wood]

Here's what I do:

1) I load N/S. Two big rounds (oak usually) loaded on the bottom sides, then biggest splits I have until loaded full. Air ended up all the way down and key damper shut to about 1/2.

2) Also, for getting good overnight burns and heat - I load the stove full as late as possible. On the coldest nights, I'll load at 11:30 or so - gives more heat time for overnight. I'd rather stay up a little later, than get up early to feed the stove.

Cheers!

 

[LLigetfa]

Rake the coals to the front. Important rake the coals to the front, so it burns front to back

The OP burns N/S. The coals forward and slow front-to-back burn is a concept best realized on E/W loading.

 

[Seasoned Oak]

I think you have to be careful with a fan not to get your stove BELOW the Reburn temps especially with a non cat EPA stove. Once you stop burning smoke your stove will cool further and muck up your flue. I dont even have(or want) a fan on my 2 Englander 30s.If they get a little too hot i use and indirect fan like a ceiling fan or box fan near the stove.

 

[MofoG23]

fellow 4100i owner! :coolsmile:

What I do is rake the coals flat, maybe a bit more up front. Load the stove N-S with large splits on the bottom (oak/cherry), then fill in with medium and small sized splits to fill the box. Important part is to make sure you do not have too many coals in there before the nightly reload.

If I load it up around 9:30-10pm, then pull the air out around 10-10:30, I usually wake up (6'ish) to stove temps of around 300 and plenty of hot coals for the next reload. Very happy with the performance and burn times...

As for my blower settings...if its very cold (teens or lower), the blower basically stays on high, after the reload is going. If its in the 20's-30's, blower is near the middle setting. I have found the blower setting does not change my overall burn time - just the heat output during that period.

Hope this helps...

 

[amellefson]

fellow 4100i owner! :coolsmile:

If I load it up around 9:30-10pm, then pull the air out around 10-10:30, I usually wake up (6'ish) to stove temps of around 300 and plenty of hot coals for the next reload. Very happy with the performance and burn times...

Hope this helps...

Where do you locate your thermometer on the stove?

I know it is not the proper location, but I have mine above the door on the far right of the front flat surface. Next to the anlgle. The numbers might not jive with others, but it is still a good indicater. I usally stick to lower fan speeds. I will have to try higher. I can't say my burn times are much better than yours.

Tony

 

[webby3650]

Here's what I do: load it any way I want to, leave the blower on any speed I want to, and repeat 24 hours later. :coolsmile:

 

[amellefson]

I think a fan could take a stove out of the sweet spot and that could slow the fire if no thermostat is involved. Out of the sweet spot could yeild fewer BTUs for the amount of wood smoldering. You could end up with more coals but they might be black.

+1 I can regulate it up or down by varying the fan speed.

Tony

 

[amellefson]

Tony, I dont have an insert but I have a blower. The blower will cool the stove so you have to get a feel for it. As if you cool the stove the fire may burn slower so keep a look out to see if the secondaries go out on you. Your stove has some kind of burn control mechanism in it so thats another variable on how it works. Your stove looks pretty big , what are the fire box dimensions.
North south loads tend to burn hotter and a little faster. Some people need that. If you want to apply the rake coals forward technique for a north south load , all you do is pull all your hot coals over to one side so that you clear an open area on the other side in which to load your wood all the way to the bottom so its not on any hot coals once you get that half of the stove loaded then level out your coals from the pile you raked to the other side, then load up that side on the hot coals. So lets say the door latch is on the left rake your coals left then loading north south the side closest to the door latch will have the hot coals and if you have to crack the door open for a few minutes air gets to that side best where you should have the last row on the left side loaded with kindling on hot coals to heat the stove up fast.

I might add guys are getting good results on just firing the stove up with big splits but what I am finding that your wood has to be under 15% rather than the 20% suggested most of the time. Plus how thick is your hot coals and how hot are they make a big difference on how fast of a restart with big splits only.

This is my second season burning in a stove. Last year I got some of the basics down. Enough to burn about a cord of elm every 35 days or so. This year I am making a point to experiment w/different techniques, ask more questions, and try to make the whole process more efficient.

I tried a hybrid n/s tonight before reading this. I raked the coals forward, put two medium splits in back e/w. This basically made a level bed. Then I continued w/a normal n/s packing it full. I have always heard of raking forward on Hearth, but I did not take it literally until seeing your pics on the other thread. I was just raking most of them forward.

Tony