Happy dance! Successful overnight burn - finally!

[KarynAnne]

Thanks to everyone who responded to my rants about newbieness yesterday. Reader's Digest version - I used smaller splits on a flat bed of hot coals w/out raking to the front, open about 1/8 last night, and this morning my house was NOT frigid and the stove restarted immediately with all of the large coals still there.

Thanks again!

 

[DavidV]

Very nice. How many hours was that and what part of the country.....temps outside last night?

 

[suematteva]

Good Job!

 

[Mike Wilson]

To quote the great philosopher Stimpson J. Cat, "Happy Happy Joy Joy!"

Glad to hear that another wood-burner has discovered the secret of the true overnight burn. Welcome to the Guild.

-- Mike

 

[Jay H]

Connecticut River Valley - New Hampshire

It was very warm down here in NJ last night, temps only got to the mid to lower 30s, I didn't even bother with an overnight burn and had a moderate fire last night in my new wood stove.

I had my first overnight burn not last night but tuesday night, had the fire stoked and dampered down at 10:30 and by 5:30, it was hot ash that I could of easily relit but I didn't pack the firebox real tight so I know I still have more than enough room for an overnight burn. Congratulations. I don't know about you, but I didn't have the greatest sleep on my first overnight burn as I kept wanting to get up and check the fire!! It's my new toy to play with.

Jay

 

[jtcedinburgh]

Damn... why can't I get this to work in my Owl?

 

[K31Scout]

Hey, me too! I've got a new Englander 13 NCP and a 1350sqft ranch. I loaded last night at 10PM with a FULL load of beech and kept the damper open just a hair. It was 2F this morning outside at 6AM and the house was 65F when I got up with enough coals left for an easy restart. Now, when it gets to -20F with a stiff wind I think I'll have to get up once during the night but for now it's fine.

This is the first time I've fully loaded this stove at bedtime and the sight of all that wood aflame worried me a little. I checked the flu temp and put the thermo on the stove top which read 675F. I'm here writing this so all went well!

 

[Rich M]

Damn... why can't I get this to work in my Owl?

Too much draft?

 

[jtcedinburgh]

I don't know - when I have tried the overnight, I close down as much as I can, but sometimes the flames go out completely. I wish one of you lot were close by to pop by and show me how it's done!

 

[Andre B.]

I don't know - when I have tried the overnight, I close down as much as I can, but sometimes the flames go out completely. I wish one of you lot were close by to pop by and show me how it's done!

Looked on the Morso web site did not find a good picture/drawing of the guts of the stove but it did say something about grates.

I have found that stoves with grates are not as good at holding a fire for long times, unless there is a lot of room for a big pile of wood. With air flowing up thru the bed of coals they all burn up, and if the air is turned off there is a lot of heat is lost down thru the iron grates and that kills the coals.
With a wood fire on a firebrick bottom once it is down to coals they kind of collapse down to a pile and the air can only get at the top. As the coals burn down a layer of ash forms on top cutting down on the amount of air getting to the coals and also insulating them from loss of heat. The fire brick and maybe a layer of ash under the coals also insulates them.
______________
Andre' B.

 

[jtcedinburgh]

yeah, it's a multi-fuel stove - so can take smokeless solid fuel (e.g. coal briquettes) or wood. I think the grate may be removable, though if I did that I would probably be invalidating the warranty so I'll probably leave it well alone.

The air from below can of course be shut off completely - and I generally do when burning wood.

 

[begreen]

Thanks to everyone who responded to my rants about newbieness yesterday. Reader's Digest version - I used smaller splits on a flat bed of hot coals w/out raking to the front, open about 1/8 last night, and this morning my house was NOT frigid and the stove restarted immediately with all of the large coals still there.

Thanks again!

There ya go, congratulations! You'll find with that formula that you'll have a whole lot more heat and longevity with the daytime fires as well.

 

[Andre B.]

yeah, it's a multi-fuel stove - so can take smokeless solid fuel (e.g. coal briquettes) or wood. I think the grate may be removable, though if I did that I would probably be invalidating the warranty so I'll probably leave it well alone.

The air from below can of course be shut off completely - and I generally do when burning wood.

I hope KarynAnne does not mind me squatting on his/her thread.

Looking at this PDF.
(broken link removed to http://www2.morsoe.com/NR/rdonlyres/F2D43CA0-261C-4467-ACF0-238CF49E0D1E/0/3400.pdf)

Says max size of wood is 10cm by 36cm 4" by 14" with a three piece load. While I am sure you could fit in a bit more it is asking a lot for that to last overnight. Volume to surface area ratios, and the limited amount of insulation are working against you. For a fire to stay alive it needs to stay hot and to do that you either need to keep burning enough fuel to offset the heat lost or you need to keep the heat from being lost by insulating it. A very well insulated stove is not a space heater but and oven.

For example my stove, being the primary and only source of heat is much larger, I can get about 4 or 5 times as much wood in the box and after 8 hours there is normally a football size pile of hot coals left. But that is starting with a lot more wood, and a lot more already heated mass in steel and firebrick all with a smaller amount of surface area per unit volume of wood.

I think your only hope is with higher energy density fuels, which means processed or manufactured fuels.
______________
Andre' B.

 

[ourhouse]

Aint it nice when you finally figure it out