How is it best to manage the stove in the evening?

[Prometeo]

Hi,
as the title, how it would be better, let's suppose that in the evening I load the stove at 8 pm, I have dinner, with the flames, and towards 11 the flames are long gone, at this point, it's better to turn off the air, or put more wood, leaving open air, all night? supposing we return at 7 am from the stove. Thank you

 

[Ctwoodtick]

Depend on what is needed. Dead of winter when you want as much heat as possible overnight, fill stove with wood and then turn way down once it’s all ignited. It takes practice to know when in the afternoon to load wood so that stove is relatively empty when refilling for overnight.
For milder temps, just put wood in as needed.

 

[EatenByLimestone]

In that situation, I’d load the stove differently, as my stove won’t run from 8pm through 7am on a single load.

Gentle verbal encouragement of the stove can only go so far. “Come on stove, you can do it!”

I’d either push the 8pm stove loading back to 10 pm or so, or throw in a partial load of quicker burning pine or other similarly low btu wood that can give you a burst of flames/heat at dinner time and be ready for a reload closer to bed time. This strategy also can help burn down coals so you can pack in a little bit more wood for the night.

 

[EatenByLimestone]

Throwing fresh wood onto a load of wood that just had its flame die off can be done, but it risks a run away stove and that isn’t fun.

 

[Gearhead660]

As others have said, depends on what amount of heat you need. Need to learn how long it takes to go from loading it up to air closed, cruising along. I like to plan out when I am going to bed and load according to that. I like the stove to be cruising with air closed down in steady state before I leave it for the night.

 

[Todd]

I try to plan a head and watch the weather to figure out my burn schedule. Milder whether I can get away with either 1 evening fire or a 12 hour reload schedule. As it gets colder I try to maintain a 8 hour reload schedule but there are times when I need even more heat and reload times drop more to keep the stove good and hot.

 

[Prometeo]

Thank you all,
if the internal temperature is already sufficient, very hot, and I have only a good bed of coals, Is it better to close the air completely or leave the setting used for flames? I mean to conserve the heat of the coals. (I can't close the air completely in my stove when there are flames, or they would die)

 

[rijim]

Can you give a little information on the stove you have.

 

[Ctwoodtick]

Thank you all,
if the internal temperature is already sufficient, very hot, and I have only a good bed of coals, Is it better to close the air completely or leave the setting used for flames? I mean to conserve the heat of the coals. (I can't close the air completely in my stove when there are flames, or they would die)

You can but it will likely be a smokier reload. Tough to answer that question though. All answers will sound something along the lines of “sure… I guess so, right?”

 

[Prometeo]

my doubt is whether the bed coals still needs oxygen, or is it better to limit it a lot, and more heat remains in the house ( jotul f 500 eco )

 

[Ctwoodtick]

The oxygen from having the stove at whatever setting should be enough for the coals. I wouldn’t think anything would be truly air-tight.

 

[weatherguy]

I time mine so that my coals burn down and I'm ready for a big load an hour before bed, I get it up and running then put it on cruise control before I go to bed. Mine will burn a good 12 hours so I have a little time in the morning before I have to reload so a lot depends on your stove.

 

[xman23]

I get the house a bit warm with the stove before bed. Then let the house cool all night, until the thermostat kicks in and the electric baseboard gets us to the morning. I like it cool at night.

 

[Prometeo]

However, in general it is better not to leave the stove when wood makes flames!? But wait until the flames end up reducing the air and in this way the coal bed should last much longer, if I leave the stove with flames, and therefore more air, the following morning will be almost cold (I speak for myself)

 

[Woodsplitter67]

Me personally.. I load the stove up completely before bed. I turn the air all the way back.. You need to time it so your not doing this on a monster bed of coals.. It the morning.. turn the air all the way up.. get her going ..

 

[EatenByLimestone]

Everybody’s stove runs a bit differently. I load my stove and slowly reduce my air to the point I want. Then I go to bed.

 

[ericm979]

Depending on the wood my stove takes 15-30 minutes between a reload on a small bed of coals until it's fully turned down and I can go to bed. I usually reload it an hour before bed time.

The hard part for me is timing the loads during the day to get to a small coal bed at the right time. If there's too large a coal bed the big evening load will burn faster and hotter but not last as long.

 

[Prometeo]

now I understand, after reload, leave enough time for the wood to heat up and start burning well to the point of reducing the air enough to let the fire burn slowly, this also allows me to recharge after 6-8 hours but I think there is another possibility: I remember once when I almost completely shut off the air, and after 12 hours or more I found the stove still hot, despite much time having passed, Certainly, I have to try again, that is to say close the air further after the flame phase, when the flames are over, close further the air, it's a test.

 

[Prometeo]

after another test I can say that the air setting is very important, I can almost venture to say that if I reload around 8 pm and let it burn normally, I can reduce the air further before going to sleep, in my case around 11 pm and find the room warmer in the morning than if I reload
and leave the stove with higher air setting.
Certain, it's all relative, if need more heat or just temperature maintenance, and after how long will there be a new reload however, after 2 hours of flames, I closed the air completely, and after 17 hours I found this, note are celsius