Overnight burn

[chad3]

WHOO HOOOO
I've finally figured out an overnight burn that works for me without any issues.
In the past:
Get the coals going and fill that sucker up (maybe 4-5 splits) in the Oslo. By morning, about 8 hours later, I had a few coals and needed to use kindling to get another fire going.

Now:
For the past 3 nights, I've used 2 huge splits (talking one in the 10" square range and another in the 4x12 range) and the coals in the morning were plenty to restart with just small splits. The temps have also still been over 200 instead of about 100-125 range. I think I may have something here.
Right now I'm doing it again, stove is rolling at about 400-450 with good afterburn. See what happens before hunting in the morning.
Thinking I'm on to something and am excited.
Chad

PS: Yes I have plenty of these, I can burn them now as well as the rest of the winter. Also have about 25 cords on deck for the next year OR SO.

 

[begreen]

I love that feeling when it finally starts to click. Kinda jealous because we are in a warm spell here and not burning at all.

 

[jkupcha]

25 Cords for next year!! Holy cr*p. How much wood can you burn in that thing?

 

[chad3]

Joking with the amount for next year (two houses use about 5 cords a year each). I did however get about that much out of the land I had to clear in the last 6 months. It is now in two stacks (one is about 17x14x7, stacked). Great score for free. Still getting a few load for the next two days. Can't complain about what I got, yes I feel that I got really lucky with it. Almost all of this was oak either white or red. Some was very large, over 20" at the trunk and straight. Would have brought some pretty good cash for lumber.
Chad

 

[80s Burnout]

Chad,

This is good to know. I also have the Oslo and have yet been able to wake up to sufficient coals to re-start fire. I'll stuff some fatter stuff in there.

Thanks.

Burnout

 

[BrowningBAR]

Good to hear you found a plan for a good overnight burn. As a newbie I was really concerned about the old stove I bought being capable enough to make it through a night as I didn't want to have to go through the process of starting the stove up every morning. But over the last week of cold temps I have been able to get 7-8+ hours of burn time overnight. The stove will be at about 200-275* and sometimes still be at or over 300. To get it going in the morning I throw one or two small splits on and the fire is roaring within a few minutes. I am surprised and quit happy.

This is truly the best 400 bucks I have ever spent. (Now, if any of you have a Napoleon 1101 wood insert they'd like to sell on the cheap, that would be super)

And I've already found a great wood supplier. I have four seasoned cords stacked, tarpped and ready to burn.


Just want to thank you all for the wealth of info you have.

 

[ansehnlich1]

Ain't no doubt the Oslo will give you plenty of coals for the re-start in the morning. You're definitley on to it. I've had no problems so far, loading chunk wood, ash and oak, around 9pm and having plenty of coals in the morning at 5:30am.

Now when it gets cold, I'll rake the coals to the front and put a big fat split or round along the back, right up against the fire brick, the bigger the better, then stuff whatever else I can into it.

You got a great stove, I know, 'cuz I got the same one %-P

 

[rudysmallfry]

I'm also having tremendous luck with huge splits this year. I think the trick is the huge splits are more dry than your average round, so you can put them in on virtually no air flow and let them simmer. Also finally figured out to have the pieces at least 2"s from the air source. Now they don't get cut in half within the first hour. Only took me 3 years to figure that one out!

 

[InTheRockies]

Glad you found the right routine for your stove. It's so nice to wake up to lots of coals in the morning and just put some splits on to get the flames going again. I had been worried about how well a new EPA stove would work and have been pleasantly surprised and impressed. Even though the firebox on the new stove isn't as large as the one in the old smoke dragon, the stove's handling overnight burns well and I wake up to a nice bed of hot coals. I don't regret getting rid of the old stove at all.

 

[fallsfire36]

I have also had my inaugural overnight burns with an EPA stove (Buck Model 74). The firebox is much smaller than the giant Brunco Hearthglow that I used to use, so I definitely had the same concerns. I am still tweaking and experimenting, but am quite surprised at how well the new stove appears to perform. So far, I have been able to have a.m. stove temps @ 200-250 with large amounts of coals after 8 to 9 hours and interior house temps in the 70's. Of course, it has only been in the 20-30's, so we'll have to see how well everything goes later.

To date this has worked well for me...about an hour before bed, I will stoke the stove up good and get a real nice fire roaring. Then right before turning in, I will put in a few more large splits and back down the air restriction to almost fully closed...So far so good.

 

[Thomask9590]

I'm still struggling, could be my partiality seasoned wood. :down:

 

[BrowningBAR]

I'm still struggling, could be my partiality seasoned wood. :down:

I thought I would have been struggling too, but so far this is frickin' awesome. It's been in the twenties at night here the last two days and I wake up to 71* in the house, the stove is reading 300* and I still have some wood in the stove after 7 hours.

And, the boiler has hardly run. I still have a full tank.

 

[Backwoods Savage]

Joking with the amount for next year (two houses use about 5 cords a year each). I did however get about that much out of the land I had to clear in the last 6 months. It is now in two stacks (one is about 17x14x7, stacked). Great score for free. Still getting a few load for the next two days. Can't complain about what I got, yes I feel that I got really lucky with it. Almost all of this was oak either white or red. Some was very large, over 20" at the trunk and straight. Would have brought some pretty good cash for lumber.
Chad

Chad, get that wood split and stacked ASAP. Red oak can take 2 years or longer to season. White isn't quite so bad but still will be best if you get it split soon.

As far as good cash for lumber, yes, at one time. Not quite as good right now as it was a few years ago.

5 cords per house still sounds pretty high for your area, but happy to hear you are all set. Now enjoy!