Furnace guys.....poll within

[JRHAWK9]

On those borderline warmer days when you could let the fire die out and still have the house stay within your comfort zone but choose to add a little bit of wood knowing it wasn't necessary but you do it anyway to avoid having to potentially re-start a fire before bed. Do you guys keep the fire going or would you let it die out for 4-5 hours and take the chance you may have to re-light it? In these 20-30° temps I seem to choose keeping the fire going to avoid re-lighting even though the house is a bit warmer than I need it (75-76°). There's a struggle going on in my head; wasting wood vs the possibility of having to re-light. Pick your poison..... When I was gone for four days the other half tended to the furnace, looking over her loading records (I weigh all loads), she was able to get away with two partial loadings a day (skipping the small late afternoon one) and still keep from having to re-light and kept the house between 68°-72°. She said one time she was nervous by the lack of coals but it ended up taking. She used less wood than I would have.

So.....would you rather "waste" a little bit of wood or would you rather re-light the fire if you had to and save the wood?

 

[GENECOP]

All conditions will vary based on system design. On warmer days my house won't get warmer , my unit will idle longer, as more storage gets added things will change. Another option is smaller fires for me, that being said , sometimes on warmer days I can easily let the fire go out during the day and let my storage take me through until evening, maybe my house will drop down to 69-68, then I relight at dinner time and start to build up temp again. Depends on my mood and wood supply really...also my work schedule plays in...Both is my final answer..

 

[DoubleB]

Relight if necessary. And I also do option #3: avoid wood altogether and just use the LP furnace. Sacrilege I know, but if I really can't keep enough coals going, then the weather is so warm that I'm barely using enough LP to just make sure that backup even works.

 

[sloeffle]

Relight if necessary. And I also do option #3: avoid wood altogether and just use the LP furnace. Sacrilege I know, but if I really can't keep enough coals going, then the weather is so warm that I'm barely using enough LP to just make sure that backup even works.

I do option #3 also.

 

[jb6l6gc]

sometimes I'll keep throwing in a log or two just to keep it going, and load er up at night when it gets colder. Mostly depends on my schedule for that day, the weather, and how I'm feeling. Last resort is to turn on electric forced air. I cringe every time i do.

Absolutely cannot wait to replace hot-blast next year, strongly thinking of going with the tundra.

 

[JRHAWK9]

All conditions will vary based on system design. On warmer days my house won't get warmer , my unit will idle longer, as more storage gets added things will change. Another option is smaller fires for me, that being said , sometimes on warmer days I can easily let the fire go out during the day and let my storage take me through until evening, maybe my house will drop down to 69-68, then I relight at dinner time and start to build up temp again. Depends on my mood and wood supply really...also my work schedule plays in...Both is my final answer..

storage.....that's cheating! This is why I mentioned furnace guys, as I know you boiler guys with storage don't really have those issues. You have the ability to store heat.

 

[JRHAWK9]

Relight if necessary. And I also do option #3: avoid wood altogether and just use the LP furnace. Sacrilege I know, but if I really can't keep enough coals going, then the weather is so warm that I'm barely using enough LP to just make sure that backup even works.

Very true, however I'm also assuming the temps in the house won't drop enough to warrant LP use, that's why I mentioned "still have the house stay in your comfort zone" in my original post. It's basically let fire die out, house stays warm enough and having to potentially re-light 4-5 hours later vs put a small load in for those 4-5 hours, house gets warmer than you need it but you'd avoid the re-light.

 

[maple1]

Not a furnace guy here either. But a sideways slant on the topic, though.

I do the storage thing too - but that still means light a new fire every day. Or every second day if it's warm enough. But even that can get a bit old (funny what minor things can become perceived drudgery over time) - which is one factor that has me thinking more & more of a mini-split heat pump. Then I really wouldn't care if storage wasn't warm enough or my fire needed lit again on those warmish or shoulder season type days - I'd just let the heat pump take over, being so inexpensive to run on those types of days.

But I guess the point of that ramble is, I could see myself letting the fire go out & even relying on backup heat briefly if needed, as I also find myself thinking more & more about reducing the amount of wood I put up year to year. Plus re-lighting isn't really that bad if you keep a mix of some dry starter material in the wood supply - a trigger start propane torch is very handy there.

 

[jb6l6gc]

problem i found earlier this season with constant relighting and short burn is that my chimney seemed to dirty up more than usual when im running straight for long periods of time

 

[brenndatomu]

When I was gone for four days the other half tended to the furnace, looking over her loading records (I weigh all loads), she was able to get away with two partial loadings a day (skipping the small late afternoon one) and still keep from having to re-light and kept the house between 68°-72°. She said one time she was nervous by the lack of coals but it ended up taking. She used less wood than I would have

I would think if you are using hardwood that you could do a coals relight on one fire per day...or close to it anyways. I know my Tundra will easily do coals relight on 2 loads per day.
If the house is still too warm on 2 fires per day I choose option 4...let it go out and fire the lil stove in the fireplace

 

[laynes69]

I don't pay attention to the furnace when it warms up. If it goes out, it goes out. Many times however, we've had coals 16 hours later after the last fire. No need to use wood when not necessary. I've also fired the LP if there's little to no heat needed. A single cycle uses nothing, especially at .99 a gallon.

 

[JRHAWK9]

I don't pay attention to the furnace when it warms up. If it goes out, it goes out. Many times however, we've had coals 16 hours later after the last fire. No need to use wood when not necessary. I've also fired the LP if there's little to no heat needed. A single cycle uses nothing, especially at .99 a gallon.

This is my second year burning wood so I'm still learning. Last winter, my first year, it was MUCH colder so I could just keep the thing burning 24/7 and all was fine. This year I find myself feeling my way through things a bit more. I'm definitely erroring on the side of burning more than I need though.

One of the benefits of a overly warm house is at least the butter stays nice and soft in the butter dish! lol

 

[JRHAWK9]

I would think if you are using hardwood that you could do a coals relight on one fire per day...or close to it anyways. I know my Tundra will easily do coals relight on 2 loads per day.
If the house is still too warm on 2 fires per day I choose option 4...let it go out and fire the lil stove in the fireplace

I've been burning a lot of maple this year. It seems to leave a lot of ash, similar to pine, at least in my experience.

When it gets warmer yet, then I just do a fire a day at night. That works good, but it does require a re-light. Although I'm mainly using pine in that weather.

 

[JRHAWK9]

problem i found earlier this season with constant relighting and short burn is that my chimney seemed to dirty up more than usual when im running straight for long periods of time

That's another issue, as it's much less efficient to do re-lights than to just keep it going. May use less wood, but the wood you are using you are seeing less BTU's out of.

 

[jb6l6gc]

That's another issue, as it's much less efficient to do re-lights than to just keep it going. May use less wood, but the wood you are using you are seeing less BTU's out of.

agreed usually the first load in my furnace just gets it up to temp and going

 

[sloeffle]

Not a furnace guy here either. But a sideways slant on the topic, though.

I do the storage thing too - but that still means light a new fire every day. Or every second day if it's warm enough. But even that can get a bit old (funny what minor things can become perceived drudgery over time) - which is one factor that has me thinking more & more of a mini-split heat pump. Then I really wouldn't care if storage wasn't warm enough or my fire needed lit again on those warmish or shoulder season type days - I'd just let the heat pump take over, being so inexpensive to run on those types of days.

My hard and fast rule is that the wood furnace only runs when the temp is below 40F. It costs me .30 cents an hour to run my geo. According to my Efergy it costs me roughly $2 a day to heat my house last month with my geo. IMHO, it is not worth monkeying around with the wood furnace for that cost.

 

[joes169]

Option #2, as well as #3 mentioned above. Every house is different, but I personally can't stand when it's over 70 degrees in the house. Fortunately, neither can my wife.

This is certainly a strange winter, it's January, the house is overheating, and the sump pump is STILL cycling...........

 

[JRHAWK9]

Option #2, as well as #3 mentioned above. Every house is different, but I personally can't stand when it's over 70 degrees in the house. Fortunately, neither can my wife.

This is certainly a strange winter, it's January, the house is overheating, and the sump pump is STILL cycling...........

You've got that right. I'm expecting to come home to a 76° house again....although I'm rationalizing it as I'm "storing" heat in the house for this weekend when it's supposed to drop to below zero for the first time. ;-)

We don't have the sump issue though, as we live in a high spot. Don't even have a sump pump installed in the pit. Although everything is still super wet down low. Took a ride through the woods to scope out downed/dead trees to process this winter and my ATV was sinking into the mud in places. I want things to freeze before I go hauling things through the woods.

 

[DoubleB]

Took a ride through the woods to scope out downed/dead trees to process this winter

Yikes! So that means you're working on 11-15 years ahead by now??

 

[lexybird]

Assuming I had a nearly ful load My furnace will leave coals for around A day after fire goes out and burns down because it doesn't have shakers grates or underneath incoming air , the coals sit on a firebrick floor which holds coals far longer than an older style furnace .this really helps to keep from pulling your hair out in the starting stopping blues . If you can do that then great but if you have to start from scratch your best bet is small hot fires to take the chill off and just accept it . You don't want to add a bunch of wood to just keep it at idle so you don't have to play Boy Scout but the issue is You'll smolder and create little heat with alot of creosote .

 

[JRHAWK9]

Yikes! So that means you're working on 11-15 years ahead by now??

lol......if we have more winters like this one, yes. It's nice to be ahead, as I now can just do it when I feel like it and not feel like it's something I have to do.

It gives me something to do, although my time may be split between using the ATV for work and play, seeing the trails around Black River Falls are open to ATV's during winter.

 

[STIHLY DAN]

I do both. As said every situation is different. At current its been 30's day teens twenties night. This has been 2, 3/4 burns with coals left over. Any warmer out and its 1 -2 half burns with a re-lite. For me and my unit a re-lite is fast and easy, I get scrap 2X4 lumber cut to 6-10 inches then take the X7 grab 3 pieces and split them in 4. Pile them on the grate, open ash door and slide pan out 6 inches, stick torch in pan in between slats and presto bingo roaring fire. Let them burn down for 5 or 10, then load up as needed. I also would rather the house fall to 65 day when no one home and at night when sleeping rather than a 75* + house. Oh, and I'm a bit miserly.

 

[joes169]

I've only bothered with kindling a handful of times. I make up 150 or so "egg carton/sawdust/wax" firestarters and simply light the entire load with them and a lighter. It's rare to not have the fire take off on it's own within 5-10 minutes.

 

[1970roadrunner]

I voted for relight as necessary.

On mild days (anything approaching 0C or 30F daytime high), even with smallish fires going the wood furnace will cook us out of the house.

 

[Highbeam]

One of the benefits of a overly warm house is at least the butter stays nice and soft in the butter dish! lol

But then the chocolate you got for Christmas, those lyndt balls, get so soft that they just dissolve in your mouth.

My stove burns for an easy 20 or so hours between reloadings. I have the same problem, keep it going and overheat the house or let it die and let the house temp fall a bit before relight. Since my climate is pretty mild I just let it die out and restart a lot.