Would you add more wood now? or later..

I can usually open the air up a little bit with that many coals, and the stove top will hold 300 for quite a while. That works here unless it's pretty cold and windy out. I would want to get a big load in as late as I could, that way it will still be warm when you get up.

Looks like coals when I go out on the porch to have a half cigar before bed. I come in after my cigar, close the air to low, and go to bed. I don't burn overnight.

Unless it's real cold or im leaving for work, or going to bed let it burn the way it is.

Later...until you feel no more heat, then reload.

When coaling you keep the air off correct?

clipse270 said:

When coaling you keep the air off correct?

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I usually turn it up and burn the coals down. Try and time it so when the coals are burned down it's time to load it up before bed. Takes practice.

clipse270 said:

When coaling you keep the air off correct?

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No (post #3.)

I would not reload at this point...it is all about timing.....I run 12 hour intervals with my stove...first thing I do in the morning is crack the air wide open and rake all of the coals forward....20 minutes before I am ready to leave for work what is left of the coals are raked back and spread out and then I reload for the day...this scenario repeats its self when I get in from work.

is it time to add a full load for nighttime? or get some more heat from the coals first?


If it is time for you to go to bed then you could reload on that and feel.good that your stoves up to temperature and is ready to shut down for the night. If your not going to be, then it depends if you need more heat or not. Your past the part of the wood gassing off, so it would be safe to let it burn down some if no additional heat is needed.

Keep in mind that if loading on big bed of coals your wood may ignite much quicker than anticipated, so be on hand to turn it down as needed.

Generally speaking, I would get the coals burned down as much as I could, before I felt it was time the house needed the heat. Timing that to bedtime comes down to practice & getting the right load loaded earlier.

Having coals build up then having to shovel them out to make room for a load of fresh fuel is a situation to try to avoid - that can happen sometimes over time if you don't try to get the coals burned down as much as possible before reloading.

Also, some here will operate differently because they are only supplementing their other heating method, and still let their other heating method fill in the gaps once in a while. As opposed to others who will do whatever they can to avoid say the oil cutting in for the entire winter.

Depends on if you want to go to bed or not. You could wait a bit or load it up for the night and get some sleep. I wouldnt stay up waiting for it to burn down more just to load it back up before bed. Course my stove is super easy to manage, yours might be more finicky.

Jotel me this said:

doesnt your house get cold? my house at 78F without burning id wake up at 63 or lower 8 hours later and my house is beyond insulated

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House isn't set up for the den FP to heat the house. Wish it was. There are three FPs with one at each end of the house and one upstairs in the master bedroom. Might be able to heat the house, if I had inserts in all, and that isn't happening.

Later

PaulOinMA said:

Looks like coals when I go out on the porch to have a half cigar before bed. I come in after my cigar, close the air to low, and go to bed. I don't burn overnight.

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Hahah way to lead people on...

Jotel me this said:

i think you can do that but you then have a problem of possible carbon monoxide in the house, no?

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Only if you let it cool enough for the chimney to lose draft and then vent into the room.

My situation right now. Staying up late to burn down some coals for a reload for bed.

I've been using the stove as primary heat for house since power is out and it's in the garage so been running full rager with new wood every hour.

mcstatz5829 said:

Every time I open the door when my coals look like that I get blasted by heat. I’ve been tempted to just leave door open and let it radiate into the room, supervised of course. I imagine that’s probably not how the stoves were designed, so I haven’t done it. But exactly how bad of an idea is it?

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Bad idea. serious threat of carbon monoxide poisoning.
I left my door open one afternoon to let the hot coals warm up the room. Luckily I have a co detector & it started alarming, the levels were at a dangerous level. I had to air out the house and reheat.
Without a co alarm, it could have been a bad day. If someone tried this before going to bed it could be fatal.

Chippy Chaser said:

Bad idea. serious threat of carbon monoxide poisoning.
I left my door open one afternoon to let the hot coals warm up the room. Luckily I have a co detector & it started alarming, the levels were at a dangerous level. I had to air out the house and reheat.
Without a co alarm, it could have been a bad day. If someone tried this before going to bed it could be fatal.

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I’ll just delete that post so someone doesn’t see it and get any bright ideas before reading your reply

MAD MARK said:

My situation right now. Staying up late to burn down some coals for a reload for bed.

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I'd be tossing in my logs and going to bed, i dont know what you're waiting for there. Thats the perfect reload stage in my opinion.