need some info with long burns

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Mroverkill

Feeling the Heat
Aug 10, 2010
262
Northern nj
overkillauto.com
soooo im getting used to running this stove and all and i am trying to get the overnight or long burns down.


ok so i load the stove that has a nice coal bed going and close the door and keep the damper on min/closed and thats it ???


Ive noticed that when i do it this way it will smoke for a while
 
Most stoves don't respond well to sudden or abrupt adjustments in the primary air. My stove will lose all visible combustion and smolder like an old smoke dragon if I close the primary too soon and all the way. Most stoves respond better to gradual changes in the air control.

When I do an overnight burn, I usually load up on a nice coal bed with a stove top temp around 250 to 300F. I open the primary air and bypass damper (it's a feature on some Lopi stoves) all the way. I load up the amount I think I'll need and latch the door. Once the load is well engaged (i.e., covered with good, active flames), I close the bypass damper. Once I do this, I have strong, visible secondary combustion in the top of the fire box. I usually have a stove top temp of 400 to 500F at this time.

Then I begin making gradual adjustments to the primary air. My first adjust is the biggest swing I take at it: I close it down anywhere from 33 to 50% (these are rough guesses). I then let it ride like that for another 5 or 10 minutes, monitoring the fire and the temp. My next adjustment it smaller, much smaller. I use my ash lip and spring handle on the control rod as a rough guide. Looking down at the ash lip, my second adjustment leaves just the spring handle portion on the control rod visible from the edge of the ash lip.

For my third adjustment, I push the portion of the spring handle where the coils touch each other (about 4 coils) underneath the ash lip. Stove is usually cruising around 600F or so at this point. My final adjustment will then push about one to three of the "spaced" spring coils under the ash lip, leaving about 1/2 of the spring visible. The net result is visible, active secondary combustion and a stove that cruises around 650F or 700F during the initial out gassing of the wood.

Now, if I shut my primary all the way, my stove quickly loses all visible combustion, and I can go outside and see a trail of smoke a mile long. Some stoves can maintain a clean burn when the air is shut down all the way. Mine simply will not, so I adjust accordingly. You have to play with your stove to find that sweet spot.
 
Mroverkill said:
soooo im getting used to running this stove and all and i am trying to get the overnight or long burns down.


ok so i load the stove that has a nice coal bed going and close the door and keep the damper on min/closed and thats it ???


Ive noticed that when i do it this way it will smoke for a while

There is much more to it that this! Also, this time of year there are not many who want a fire to burn all night. One reason is that if you load up for an overnight fire that stove will be kicking out way too much heat and it may roast you out of house and home. Better to load a half or third of a load.

When the cold weather kicks in then comes the time for overnight fires. You will want a small bed of coals to start with. Most stoves now have air coming into the firebox in the front, which is the way ours too gets draft. I like to start by raking the coals towards the front and then placing a round or a large split on the bottom rear of the firebox. That becomes your overnight piece. You want to make sure this is some of your best hardwood. Oak is excellent. In the front I'll usually put one or two small splits of "softer" wood and faster burning. We use soft maple for this. This stuff is how you get that load of logs started burning. The rest of the stove is loaded with good hard wood. Remember that the larger splits or logs will burn longer than the smaller stuff.

When you get the stove loaded, leave that draft set at full open until the fire gets established. Once the logs get charred, that is the time to start dialing down the draft. How far? A generic set says about half open. That will stop the fire from roaring and shooting the heat up the chimney and now that chimney has good draft which you need for the full firebox. Generally within 10-15 minutes you will then dial down the draft more before sacking out for the night. But where to set the draft?

Realize that each stove and each installation can be different as well as each load of logs will be different. Sizes of logs will vary and types of wood will vary and all these things have a bearing on how that particular load will burn. On our stove we have learned that we generally set the draft to about .75 (on a dial that ranges from 1-4). That is 3/4 of the way towards 1 on the dial. Others with the same stove have to set theirs on 1 or maybe 1.5. Everyone has to learn their own stove.

Not sure if I helped or confused but hopefully this will help some. Good luck.
 
ok i understand the raking the hot coals to the front so the logs that you want to last for the "night" you want to sit towards the rear away from the air and NOT sitting on the coals the wood that you do want to take off sits on the coals to get it going.


BUT here is one question the logs NOT sitting on the coal wont that just smoulder untill something gets it to flame on ?
 
Not really. I've never worried about that log at all and have never had a problem. Here is a good example though. A couple nights ago I loaded 3 pieces into the stove before retiring for the night. The next morning the stovetop was at 250 degrees and I opened the draft full as soon as I got up. It took maybe a minute or less and there was lots of red showing through the glass. I then opened the firebox door and found about 1/3 to 1/2 of that log still intact. So I then rolled that towards the front and added a couple pieces of kindling and one small split. I had a nice fire going in no time. Of course then we just left that fire going and let it die out before going through the same thing the next night.

btw, we also can get our stove top to 700 degrees or more with just 3 splits.
 
Make sure you get your fire established before you start damping it down. My brother in law has a bad habit of loading his stove up with his unseasoned wood and closing the damper right away, then going to bed, and he acts surprised when he has a chimney fire every year. He really is a cement-head.
 
I close both of my air controls all the way once I have a nice fire going. As others have said its a process and can not be done all at once. I close the first one once the fire gets going and then the other about 50% then 75% then 95%. I sometimes leave it at 95% or just close it all the way depending on how hot the fire is at the time.
 
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