Do you leave your fire unattended? To what extent? (while sleeping, while at work, only if I run to the grocery store etc.) Pellet or Wood stove?
How many people leave their fires unattended?
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I've been letting it go longer and longer since I am still new to the woodburning, however, my unit is older and when I get my new unit's I will be going 24x7 and damp it down during the 'away' hours (extended burns). I let mine burn last night (full load) and woke this morning to enough coals to relight todays fire without having to start from scratch...just tossed in a few pieces of kindling and p00f...fire going good and it's been burning since.
I did just do a mid season sweep out and looked at what had accrued prior to starting extended burning for my personal peace of mind.
I did just do a mid season sweep out and looked at what had accrued prior to starting extended burning for my personal peace of mind.
I burn mine in the evenings when I'm home, and over night (for as long as it lasts w/a small fire box).
If I'm home over the weekend , the stove is going . I have run an errand or two and left it burning .
But my work days are long and I am more comfortable just starting a fire when I get home from work.
I just keep my thermostat on low so when the fire dies, the furnace kicks on .
I admit to being a little apprehensive about having a fire going when I'm not there to tend it (tho the logic of that is goofy considering i'll go to sleep with a fire going...).
I just worry that if something were to happen , I wouldn't be there to save my dog.
If I'm home over the weekend , the stove is going . I have run an errand or two and left it burning .
But my work days are long and I am more comfortable just starting a fire when I get home from work.
I just keep my thermostat on low so when the fire dies, the furnace kicks on .
I admit to being a little apprehensive about having a fire going when I'm not there to tend it (tho the logic of that is goofy considering i'll go to sleep with a fire going...).
I just worry that if something were to happen , I wouldn't be there to save my dog.
We pretty much burn 24/7, and pretty much live as if there's no fire; running errands, going to work, church, whatever... I used to be more paranoid about having a fire going when no one was around... but in reality, what's going to happen that wouldn't happen if I was sleeping. The worst that can happen, I suppose, would be if there were a chimney fire and I wasn't around, but I get the chimney cleaned every season, and damp down the stove when no one's around...
Another 24/7. I also worry about the furry children while we are away however. If there were to be a fire while we were sleeping, I am confident that the dogs and the alarms would wake us. But what if no one was home? Our dogs are still young and get crated...what a nightmare to think about the house burning with them trapped.
Leave mine "unattended" during the night, but I only burn about 6pm to 6am on the weekdays and 24x7 on the weekends. Also, if I know everyone is going to be out of the house for a while, I usually let the fire burn down, then stoke it when we get back.
So far, only a little over a cord of wood burned this year...recent warm weather has helped a lot! I like a nice fire, but I'd rather just have the warm weather!
Corey
So far, only a little over a cord of wood burned this year...recent warm weather has helped a lot! I like a nice fire, but I'd rather just have the warm weather!
Corey
24/7. Or as close to it as I can. Don't have the furnace even turned on right now. It's 38 degrees outside and comfy inside. 3rd year burning the stove. Each year at the beginning off the season I am antsy about the stove. wake up in the middle off the night thinking I hear something. Come down to check the stove. Yadda yadda. have even called home to hear the answering machine so I know the house hasn't burned down. At this point of the season, I sleep soundly unless it's really cold and I am coming down to load more wood. I use a carbon monoxied and smoke detectors also.
I would do it too...but my phone has voice mail through the phone co. instead of an answering machine and I think that works even if your phone does not .
I would actually prefer an answering machine . I don't like not being able to hear when someone is leaving a message.
and now for the kookiest part : I wouldn't mind leaving a message that my dog could hear when the work day is particularly long. Whacky. I know. But friends always talk to my dog on voice mail when they call, and then they say "oh yeah, you can't hear me .I forgot."
So I am not the only one.
but I digress...
I would actually prefer an answering machine . I don't like not being able to hear when someone is leaving a message.
and now for the kookiest part : I wouldn't mind leaving a message that my dog could hear when the work day is particularly long. Whacky. I know. But friends always talk to my dog on voice mail when they call, and then they say "oh yeah, you can't hear me .I forgot."
So I am not the only one.
but I digress...
I try to keep my wood stove going 24/7, but sometimes I can't. I try to wait a half hour or so before I leave my house (or go to bed) after I load it. I figure that if something is going to happen, it will happen right after I load it and the stove is burning wide open. May be faulty logic, but I've never been to a chimney fire (I'm a firefighter) where the homeowners weren't there. When I first started burning a long time ago, I would wake up pretty much every night thinking I heard something. One night, and this a bizarrely true story, I heard a low whump -whump -whump sound. As I got up to investigate my wife told me i was crazy. I looked out my front door and my neighbor across the street was out on his stoop, as it's 3 in the morning, I figure I got myself a chimney fire. I go outside to look and it wasn't my chimney at all but a low flying black helicopter (this was around the time of Waco and Ruby Ridge, etc.). It was some distance away but we could see it in the moonlight. I went to get my wife, who admitted she heard the helicopter, but she still called me crazy. I couldn't wait for the end of the season.
Rick
Rick
Ooh, good thread. I've been wondering this as well. My dad used to burn our stove 24/7 no problems whatsoever. For the life of me, I don't ever remember him cleaning the chimney, but he always burned so hot, there was probably nothing going up the chimney anyway.
Mine is a new stove for me, so I'm just getting couragous enough to leave the house while mine's burning. I'm taking advantage of the soapstone's heat holding abilities and have been faking it. I'll get a good hot fire going, and then let it die down if I'm going out for a few hours, and then get it going full again when I get back home. I can be out for almost 3 hours before the soapstone starts to lose temperature, so that's a big plus for my sanity. I've just started trying to burn it through the night, although I've been conserative about how much wood I'll load. It probably only burns for about 2 hours before it's all coals. Once I see how well or poorly I did on the creosote factor after my first season of burning this stove, I'm sure I'll be more brave next season.
I also have a dog and birds in my house. I'm thinking of setting up a web camera so that I can check in on the stove from work. In this age of computers and cool gadgets, I'm surprised there does not exist a device whereby you could set up a smoke alarm that would prompt your computer to call your cell phone or email address to alert you of a problem.
Mine is a new stove for me, so I'm just getting couragous enough to leave the house while mine's burning. I'm taking advantage of the soapstone's heat holding abilities and have been faking it. I'll get a good hot fire going, and then let it die down if I'm going out for a few hours, and then get it going full again when I get back home. I can be out for almost 3 hours before the soapstone starts to lose temperature, so that's a big plus for my sanity. I've just started trying to burn it through the night, although I've been conserative about how much wood I'll load. It probably only burns for about 2 hours before it's all coals. Once I see how well or poorly I did on the creosote factor after my first season of burning this stove, I'm sure I'll be more brave next season.
I also have a dog and birds in my house. I'm thinking of setting up a web camera so that I can check in on the stove from work. In this age of computers and cool gadgets, I'm surprised there does not exist a device whereby you could set up a smoke alarm that would prompt your computer to call your cell phone or email address to alert you of a problem.
Burn the pellet/corn Quad 24/7, but took some time to get confident enough to do so and still make comments like "Cool, house hasn't burned down" when I get home which makes the wife worry. Part of the confidence came from challenging the stove a bit with over fills, plugged up feed shoot, unplugging, etc. Works as designed, always shuts itself down. Call me paranoid, but also took temps of every surface I could find when running full bore, including the entire vent, hearth, pad, etc. Those point and shoot temp checkers are great. Also have multiple CO and smoke detectors, although they won't do much good if we're not home I guess. Now that someone posted about calling home and hearing the message machine, I'll also confess. About a week after install, I noticed the term cap was not within spec by about 1/4 inch (needed 7 inches out, had 6 3/4). I ripped it apart and re-vented, just made me feel better being above and beyond spec. I still go out at night to see if any fly ash is flying, waiting for the neighbors to call the cops because I'm just standing in the dark next to the house. BTW, I'd suggest a Sawzall if you need to get the Selkirk apart, not a fun job!
B
B
For the really paranoid they do sell home security systems that you can hook up to a phone line and it will call you and tell you if something is up. The smoke detector is in contact with the security system. I believe X10 has one that will do that.
X-10 will do it, I used to watch my twin premee boys that way when at work (don't panic, Mom was there!). X-10 will do anything you want it to. I know a guy who has a 'cabin' in the Santa Cruz montains, place is totally off the grid, wind, water, solar, etc. He monitors the place from the valley, gets auto emails or can dial in to see and/or adjust everything from video to voltages. I myself just have the basic X-10 stuff hooked up, lights, video, etc, but no longer dial up. Think I'll have to mess around with this idea tonight....
B
B
I leave my stove going all the time. Now, when my stove starts acting funny, i.e. smoking, hard to start, sluggish, i dont. If i have time to clean it no problem, otherwise i dont run it unattended.
Ryan
Ryan
I run mine 24/7, I just clean it at least 3 times a winter to make sure I don't get any build up of cresote.
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