Flight is 6:15am tomorrow morning. We have to leave the house about 3am or so. So how do you experienced folk do it? Should I keep with the concept that my PE Summit is a self-contained unit and just let whatever is left burn out while we leave for vacation is the same as letting it burn while leaving to go to work or etc? Or should I stop burning late this afternoon and let the coals get to a manageable point, then clean out the stove? It's going to stay cold at night here in MD and I don't want the pipes to freeze while we're gone so I'll be turning on the heat pump at some point.
How to handle the stove before leaving on vacation?
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I would let it burn out this evening and turn on the heat pump. When you leave in the morning it will be one less thing to have to worry about.
smokeater
Member
I would fill the firebox as normal and let it burn it will keep things warmer for a while anyway.You can clean out the stove when you get home.
Burn the Summit as normal. Turn the air all the way low and proceed with your flight. No need to do anything different than what you usually do every day.
No need to clean it out, just load her up and burn as usual upon return from your flight.
Def turn the back up heat on also before you leave. Make sure the back up still works before you leave with just in case you need to to schedule repairs if for some reason it don't work.
No need to clean it out, just load her up and burn as usual upon return from your flight.
Def turn the back up heat on also before you leave. Make sure the back up still works before you leave with just in case you need to to schedule repairs if for some reason it don't work.
If you are (like my wife) a worry type when you leave home, let it burn out the night before and then just close down air etc and leave it to sit until you return.
While I don't have any anxiety about leaving the stove burning, I generally am quite eager to get it going when I return. The last trip we took in winter I let the stove burn out the day before, then set a fire once it was cold so it would be ready to light when I returned. Was nice to just walk in and light it so it was getting going while we unloaded the car.
Now I do caution - be sure the stove is cold before setting the fire... I once had a fire start unexpectedly from coals that I didn't see (I had intended to light it a couple hours later anyway, but...). For this reason I leave the door shut, cat engaged, and air fully closed. I figure worst case it a long slow smouldering mess in there for a while - no way I can see it building up enough heat to really cause a problem.
While I don't have any anxiety about leaving the stove burning, I generally am quite eager to get it going when I return. The last trip we took in winter I let the stove burn out the day before, then set a fire once it was cold so it would be ready to light when I returned. Was nice to just walk in and light it so it was getting going while we unloaded the car.
Now I do caution - be sure the stove is cold before setting the fire... I once had a fire start unexpectedly from coals that I didn't see (I had intended to light it a couple hours later anyway, but...). For this reason I leave the door shut, cat engaged, and air fully closed. I figure worst case it a long slow smouldering mess in there for a while - no way I can see it building up enough heat to really cause a problem.
Leave it empty so that if there are any remaining hot coals in the ashes they burn out. And maybe leave the radio on so that it doesn't feel lonely while you are away. 
Dustin92
Member
I would load it to the gills before you leave, turning the air as low as possible. Just let it do its thing like any other day.
izzyq
Member
We just had this discussion before leaving for a week long vacation. We opted to let the fire run out the evening before, then we fully cleaned out what we wanted to in the stove and reset the stove up so when we arrived home late a week later we were ready to just light and get going again. It was really nice having the wood, kindling, supercedar, etc all ready to go so when we returned home we just lit the match. Ahhhh. I missed my stove while I was away. Enjoy the vacation.
I would normally do this to get a few more house of heat before the backup turns on, but considering you are leaving at 3am.....I say build a fire late in the evening and let it die out as you are leaving. Who can think straight at 3am anyways? Less to worry about.
Clean it out when you get home.
Agreed. I can't see adding any more stress or anxiety when leaving that early just to save a couple bucks. Be sure the main heating system thermostat is set to a reasonable enough temp to avoid freeze-ups, then relax and have a nice vacation.
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Good point - I generally 'test' my central heat about a week before leaving if I've not run it recently so I have time to get someone out to fix it if there is a problem.
Indeed. We bought the house in Mar 2012 and negotiated the price of a new heat pump into the sale ($6k). That July, the core started freezing up due to a leak somewhere. The wife's family owns a company and their HVAC contractor came out to take a look at it. A show of good will to try to bribe the family into re-awarding them the contract for their 2nd retail location that they had gotten booted from by not servicing the equipment in a timely manner. The leak was in the line going into the core right outside the housing of the heat pump itself, so the tech was able to weld/braise it closed. Then they filled it up with about a $1k in freon for free! But it's so old and inefficient; last February's electric bill was almost $600.
Tenn Dave
Minister of Fire
Let it burn out before you leave. And put the water heater on the vacation setting, and turn off the water main. Just common sense things to do and not have to worry about. Enjoy the peace of mind..
Paulywalnut
Minister of Fire
If you're going for a week, no woodstove can burn that long
. Let it go out and turn on some low heat. Any good neighbors that burn wood?
. Let it go out and turn on some low heat. Any good neighbors that burn wood?Well the ash level made the decision for me. Ash was piled up probably 4" from burning less than desirable wood at high rates to stave off the insane temps we've been having (I had a cord delivered last year in anticipation of burning this year and didn't know what good wood was). So after burning some poplar and who knows what else, the ash level was so high that if I kept on burning I would have to shovel out 2 gallons of hot coals to make room for more wood. So I figured I might as well just stop now and turn on the heat pump. It's running about every 15-20 minutes. The thermostat is at 67* and I don't dare push it any higher. On the bright side the wife did make the comment that wood heat is so much better and greenlighted a wood shed!
When you leave, set the heat pump down to 60F. That should suffice. Thumbs up for the wood shed.
I'm pretty cheap, but whenever I've escaped for a vacation in the winter I've just let the fire run its course the night before . . . I figure the oil boiler will be working anyways so what's a bit more oil use . . . plus hearing the oil boiler kick on before I leave gives me some peace of mind that it is in working order . . . and perhaps more importantly . . . my wife feels better knowing that the fire is pretty much out.
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