Overnight Burns

[G6 at Snook TX]

It looks like we are going to have a handful of cold (for Texas) days ahead. I have a Castine 400 from Jotul, but have not had to do the overnight burns before, and I will do it for this cold snap. For those who experience with this stove, how full do you load it when you go to bed, and where do you set your lever. For my stove on an average burn, I load at half open, and then fall back to 1/4 and let it go. That is with a temp ~35 F. We are supposed to get to the teens.

Just looking for a tip or two for overnight burns on this stove.

 

[begreen]

I normally ran full loads in the Castine when temps got below freezing. The trick is to pack it full and tightly, using smaller splits to fill the gaps between large splits. I filled it to within an inch or two of the secondary tubes on the coldest nights. Start with air control wide open and let the wood start to catch fire, then close it down in 50% increments. Draft will increase with colder weather. We were able to close our air almost all the way with a full load of dry wood burning. Your mileage may vary depending on draft.

Practice full loads with your morning loading and observe how the stove burns over the day.

 

[dafattkidd]

You may want to put Jotul Castine 400 in the title the thread.

That being said, the general non stove specific overnight burn technique is: fully load the firebox up to an inch or two of the baffles with mostly large splits or well seasoned rounds over a bed of coals, allow it to catch and get up to a good temp, closing down the air intake in 1/4 intervals until you can close down the air fully or mostly.

The whole process generally takes half an hour. You may want to do a practice run during the day so you can get a good idea of what to expect with your specific set up.

I like to have a few smaller splits mixed in to help with ignition. Hope that helps.

 

[dafattkidd]

I normally ran full loads in the Castine when temps got below freezing. The trick is to pack it full and tightly, using smaller splits to fill the gaps between large splits. I filled it to within an inch or two of the secondary tubes on the coldest nights. Start with air control wide open and let the wood start to catch fire, then close it down in 50% increments. Draft will increase with colder weather. We were able to close our air almost all the way with a full load of dry wood burning. Your mileage may vary depending on draft.

Practice full loads with your morning loading and observe how the stove burns over the day.

Ha...we must have been replying at the same time!

 

[begreen]

With the Castine I found that the foolproof way to get good ignition on a cold start was to lay two, 2"x2"x10" "sleeper" splits aligned N/S in the center about 4" apart. Put 1/4 of a SuperCedar between them or some wads of newspaper and kindling at right angles to the sleepers. This orientation allows the boost air to go between these sleepers providing good air for igniting the wood above. Load logs above and then ignite the SC or paper. At some point this became noted as the "tunnel of love" method of burning.