Hey all, I was just wondering.....is it better to burn short duration fires when its semi warm out , or just keep it hot? I have been doing fast, quick burns, then let it die down, then re-juice it. I clean my flue monthly, so I think im good to go but wanted to check on here first. I restart when the flue is still pretty warm, if that matters? It just gets too hot somedays, but not warm enough to not have a fire. We have all been there...Thanks for any replies!
Quick Hitter
- Thread starter BillBurns
- Start date
-
Active since 1995, Hearth.com is THE place on the internet for free information and advice about wood stoves, pellet stoves and other energy saving equipment.
We strive to provide opinions, articles, discussions and history related to Hearth Products and in a more general sense, energy issues.
We promote the EFFICIENT, RESPONSIBLE, CLEAN and SAFE use of all fuels, whether renewable or fossil.
I do the same thing. Im always cutting kindling up. My theory is the more the merrier. I have been trying to use the least amount of kindling, just to see if I can start a fire from basically nothing.
I just burn a short load (cat stove..not sure what yours is,) then let it go out for a while, or burn a somewhat bigger load with some lower-output wood like Red Maple or whatever.
If it's really mild out, I might just cook a pizza and let the oven heat carry the load for a while. 😏
If it's really mild out, I might just cook a pizza and let the oven heat carry the load for a while. 😏
I never have enough kindling but I scrounge and one of my favorites is pine cones
PAbeech
Burning Hunk
That's what I did today. Trying to keep the chimney warm and a good coal base because it'll be colder tonight. I had a small fire in the morning that I let die out around 10 then another small fire at ab 2 that died out at 5 and I just put 2 more logs on at 7pm to ensure I have good coals for 10pm to load over night
I used to chop kindling up from Pine or other fast-burning wood I came across, but it's labor-intensive. I just look for good, straight fallen dead branches when I'm in the woods, and snap those to length by stepping on them. I also mix in some smaller sizes when I'm splitting, and if they're dry, those will start from a small piece of the firestarters I use, the Meeco squares.
stoveliker
Minister of Fire
What stove?
If you can't dial down the stove enough for what you need, either small hot fires , or a minisplit (or a tiny bit of oil or nat gas - usage will be low anyway if it's warm outside).
Long smoldering fires (if no cat stove) can be problematic. Yes you may sweep often, but smoke stinks and is not good for the great outdoors.
If you can't dial down the stove enough for what you need, either small hot fires , or a minisplit (or a tiny bit of oil or nat gas - usage will be low anyway if it's warm outside).
Long smoldering fires (if no cat stove) can be problematic. Yes you may sweep often, but smoke stinks and is not good for the great outdoors.
What the OP is describing is what the older Norwegian designed models were designed to do. The background was that when houses had a lot less insulation and lot more air infiltration it made no sense to heat the entire house 24/7. The family would hang out in the core of the house around the woodstove staying warm by radiant heat from the stove and then when they went to bed they let the fire burn out and slept in a cold bedroom. Then in the AM they would go down to the core of the house and restart a new fire by digging down in the ashes and have another hot fire. This approach meant short hot burns in the shoulder seasons that increased in duration as the temps dropped. Indoor plumbing was not an issue. When Kristia Associates started importing Jotuls in the early eighties they just were buying the original models and Jotul's got a rep as "house burners' as they were much more air tight than the US stoves on the market, they also had the well deserved rep that they were super efficient so people really wanted them, but would not follow the instructions. Folks would get them hot before bed, fill them up with large splits, then crank the air way down to make the fire burn (smoulder) longer overnight. Wood seasoning back them was far more casual then now and the result was that Jotul's run that way could plug a chimney monthly. I a have a Jotul 606 in storage that has an extended heat exchanger like the Morso's that Jotul only sold in the US for a couple of years as too many people were having chimney fires. Its one of the efficient stoves they sold and if used as intended with short hot fires its hard to beat for radiant heat but use it wrong with marginal wood and its either a chimney fire in waiting or a monthly scrape down of the interior of the heat exchangers.
Ideally everyone should have two stoves, a spring and fall small stove so it can be burnt hot and a large winter stove to handle the coldest weather. Stove tech has improved substantially along with a big drop in typical home heating demand so modern stoves with cats can burn longer at lower burn rates while still having full combustion as long as they are burning truly dried wood.
Ideally everyone should have two stoves, a spring and fall small stove so it can be burnt hot and a large winter stove to handle the coldest weather. Stove tech has improved substantially along with a big drop in typical home heating demand so modern stoves with cats can burn longer at lower burn rates while still having full combustion as long as they are burning truly dried wood.
We have this issue in spring when early morning temps can be 40ºand then 55º by afternoon. Our house has a lot of windows and by around 11am, the sun can be warming the house nicely. During that kind of weather, I will burn a 3-4 split fire starting around 6 or 7am and will not reload, probably until around 7pm or not at all if the house has retained the warmth.
Or an alternative. I added a heat pump in 2006 and that solved the mild weather heating dilemma.
I use my oil furnace 1 time in the morning, then light a fire. As far as I can tell, I only used around 1/8th of a tank, but really not even that much. I keep checking the oil level, and it dont move much, which is great. Its been in the 20s at night, high 40s during the day, so Im not complaining, lol...December can be outright cold. I will take this any day. I still have a small fire thru the day, and rainy days are great time for a fire. There are a LOT of grey rainy days here in PA.
PAbeech
Burning Hunk
Grey rainy days in PA are common for sure. A good fire cheers me up
30WCF
Minister of Fire
I was just thinking a while ago, profiles have a location, but should also have stoves.
Click my profile, and BOOM! NC and VC Aspen.
US stove company makes lots of different stoves. It's hard to know what would work the best
Do you have the manual? If not, what does the UL label on the back list the model as?
I figure i work too hard making fuel wood so I hate wasting it which for me is any house temp over 70 *. Lately the outside temps here have us running a hot fire to run up the temp and then "coasting" through the next 6-8 hours or so until we get uncomfortable which is the mid to low 60's.
I grab anything that is free and looks like potential kindling when I come across it for these repetitive restarts.
I grab anything that is free and looks like potential kindling when I come across it for these repetitive restarts.
Similar threads
- Locked
