Extended burn?

[mikebinthesky]

New member here from NE Ohio.First full year burning.I have a Napoleon 1402 insert.The stove is great,heats our small brick ranch well.I'm looking to achieve the best/longest overnight burn that i can.In the manual it says to damper down completely for an extended burn?Ive had people tell me to never close the air flow completely.Any advice on overnight burn techniques would be greatly appreciated.Thanks in advance.Great site

 

[jophysx]

My advice would be to try it and see how it goes. Modern stoves have an auxiliary air supply that is designed to provide a baseline air flow sufficient to keep burning cleanly. How well that airflow actually achieves its goal depends on many factors particular to your install - chimney height, type, door gasket seal, wood quality, insulation, outdoor temperatures . . . Try getting the stove up to cruising temperatures with a nice steady burn, and then working the air supply down to zero a bit at a time. If the burn goes to hell, the stove temperature plummets, the chimney is smoking, and the glass turns black with soot all over you definitely need some additional airflow. On the other hand, many people report their stove runs ok with the airflow fully shut down. To get long burn times you will want to shut the airflow down as far as you can without causing the problems listed above.

The stove needs to be at a certain temperature to maintain a clean burn. At that temperature, there is a certain rate of heat loss up the chimney, and via conduction/convection/radiation (hopefully most of that heat is going into your living space, and not out through the fireplace masonry). You have to supply enough air to maintain a combustion rate that generates heat at a rate that just balances the heat loss. Under those conditions you will cruise along at a fairly constant temperature and a clean burn. Of course, this will only remain approximately in balance over time. There's no practical way to keep everything perfectly balanced over the entire burn cycle. This is greatly oversimplified, but it's the right basic idea.

-Jim

 

[drewmo]

Welcome to the forums. Best bet is to experiment while the outside temps aren't super cold. You might wake up to a very warm house, in which case you've found success. Lots of factors at play. Size and dryness of wood, for example. If your wood isn't seasoned properly, it could be an uphill battle. As for dampering down all the way, I've had no issue with that in my PE, and I think most successful wood burners here have no issue either. Upon lighting the fire, let it rip for 10 minutes or so so that the wood is fully engaged. Back it off to about half for another 5-10 minutes, and at that point you shouldn't have a problem closing her down. It does take practice and you need to learn to read your stove and the fire in her for the best success.

 

[begreen]

You can turn the air all the way down on a modern stove as long as there is sufficient draft so that it doesn't snuff out the fire. In a modern stove some air will continue to be admitted to the fire even with the air control seemingly closed all the way.

 

[mikebinthesky]

Well i closed the air all the way down about an hour ago----secondaries are lazy and wicked looking lol,glass is clear,temp is holding.Thanks for the replies.Still learning

 

[begreen]

You'll get the hang of it soon. Don't be surprised if the nature of the stove changes somewhat when temps go below freezing. Draft will increase with the colder outside temperature. You may find yourself filling the stove fuller with larger splits to keep the burn times longer. Just don't bang up against the baffle boards. They are a pain to replace. Keep full loads an inch or so below the secondary manifold and it should be fine.

 

[BlueRidgeMark]

Larger splits take longer to burn. If it's dry, don't make kindling out of it. I don't split any rounds that are about 8" or less, and larger rounds get split to about that size. You'll need to play with it, of course.

Remember, dry wood is your friend. Most people burn fairly green wood and don't know any better. If it's wet, you'll have to give it more air to keep it going, and you'll go through the wood faster, and get less heat from it.

 

[mikebinthesky]

Im burning a 100ft tall pin oak that was cut 5yrs ago and has been laying in my field(full sun).I bucked and split it in the spring.The splits are rock solid,dry and burn great.Hardly any waste on a tree that had been laying there that long.

 

[Jearley35purdue]

I have the same stove and always close down before overnight. As others say, it never really closes 100% as the same air for the secondary burn comes from the single air intake. My cycle is: 1hr before bed, I put a full load in and bring it to temp which usually ends up being 550-650 depending on which wood stack I pull from. I reach this temp in about 20mins and then close in 1/3 increments from there every 20 mins. About 1hr after I load, I'm cruising around 550 usually with the air all the way down and secondary firing hard. I wake up and have more than ample hot coals for a warm start without kindling. This is my year #2 and finally have good seasoned wood, which I thought I had last year, but didn't. I finally got 1yr ahead and what a huge difference it made in heat output and performance that I didn't see last year. Shoot me a message sometimes and we can compare notes, I find myself constantly tweaking with this thing like all other hobbies..... Jeremy

 

[mikebinthesky]

Will do buddy.I'm figuring this thing out little by little.I am getting better burn times and being more efficient with my wood usage.
It really is a nice stove.My wife says its the best thing ive ever bought lol!
Last night was the first night my furnace kicked on this year!Set at 60

 

[DBoon]

Ive had people tell me to never close the air flow completely.

All of the advice you've already received on this post is spot-on. In regards to other people telling you how to run your stove, if it's not coming from this site, I would ignore it until you really learn how your stove runs. >90% of people giving you advice are just repeating something they heard from someone else without really understanding it, or are running an old smoke dragon in a completely different way than you have to run your new stove.

 

[mikebinthesky]

All of the advice you've already received on this post is spot-on. In regards to other people telling you how to run your stove, if it's not coming from this site, I would ignore it until you really learn how your stove runs. >90% of people giving you advice are just repeating something they heard from someone else without really understanding it, or are running an old smoke dragon in a completely different way than you have to run your new stove.

Very true

 

[Jearley35purdue]

This mild November in NE ohio is saving us some wood too! I think last year I was about a chord in or close to it by this time I've only really had to burn shorts, curlys, and uglies up to this point. Haven't even got into some of the good stuff.

 

[mikebinthesky]

We are very fortunate this year with the weather.Im about a cord or so in but furnace has only came on once.
Wife and four daughters like the house warm so im burnin lol.