How to just cruise when it is 73 indoors and 32 outdoors'

[mcollect]

i have the Jotul 550 for three years and can get the house up to temp easily. What I don't know is how to just not overheat or let the fire go out. I have been getting a good fire in the aM then only adding two small at a time through the day. It works but not sure how economical my method is? BTW my unit is in a huge central stone faced masonry central fire place a good 6X3 feet around and 12 ft tall.

 

[HotCoals]

Get a BK and set the thermostat to below 1 and don't touch it for 17-24 hours during warmer weather.
Joking..I bet your stove does just fine.
But you can't just load it up and let it cruise on low air?

 

[wahoowad]

I know what you mean. Past day or two have been like that for me. One load gets me where I want the house, another full load would get too hot and waste wood. If I let it set then I don't have good enough coals later in the day to get things going again. Soon it will be cold enough where running the stove gets easier - just keep filling it up!

Sometimes I will sat a single split on top of my coals and not give it any air (other than what an EPA stove will give it whether you want it to have it or not). That will keep a stick of wood going and give me something to work with for later.

Another option - just have a good supply of fast-take-off splits/kindling of softer woods like poplar or pine to help get it going again when you only have a few coals left. That is how I do it.

 

[BrotherBart]

Bank the fire my friends. Bank the fire. Burn your morning load down to a good pile of coals and then push them to the back of the firebox. Then scoop up the ashes and cover the coals with the ashes. The coals will keep the stove hot/warm for hours and hours during the day and ten or however many hours later you drag that pile forward and there will be a nice mess of hot coals to fire off with again. I do it every morning and then drag'em forward and start again after sundown. On mild nights I wait until nine or ten o'clock and there is still plenty of coals. I just did the light off using coals banked at ten o'clock this morning. It is five thirty or so and I am burning early because we are going into the twenties tonight.

That is the way folks used to keep the house warm with open fireplaces in the "olden" days. And how wagon train cooks keep a fire ready to go.

 

[snowleopard]

Bank the fire my friends. Bank the fire. Burn your morning load down to a good pile of coals and then push them to the back of the firebox. Then scoop up the ashes and cover the coals with the ashes. The coals will keep the stove hot/warm for hours and hours during the day and ten or however many hours later you drag that pile forward and there will be a nice mess of hot coals to fire off with again.

I really like this idea in theory, and plan to give it a whirl. Newbie question, though: if you're burning at that temp range (the one my thermometer identifies as the creosote zone), logic suggests that you can't be depositing creosote if you're not burning wood. But I find myself wondering about this anyway. Does a banked bed of coals make the pipe (and the glass door) prone to buildup?

Thanks.

 

[BrotherBart]

Bank the fire my friends. Bank the fire. Burn your morning load down to a good pile of coals and then push them to the back of the firebox. Then scoop up the ashes and cover the coals with the ashes. The coals will keep the stove hot/warm for hours and hours during the day and ten or however many hours later you drag that pile forward and there will be a nice mess of hot coals to fire off with again.

I really like this idea in theory, and plan to give it a whirl. Newbie question, though: if you're burning at that temp range (the one my thermometer identifies as the creosote zone), logic suggests that you can't be depositing creosote if you're not burning wood. But I find myself wondering about this anyway. Does a banked bed of coals make the pipe (and the glass door) prone to buildup?

Thanks.

When you are down to coals there is nothing left to crap up the pipe. I have been banking the coals in my EPA wood stoves for four years and have zip for accumulation in the liners when I brush'em. The caveat as always is that you have to burn good DRY wood. And I clean the glass once a month whether it needs it or not.

 

[Wild Fire]

Bank the coals. That is a good tip. Thank you!

 

[Backwoods Savage]

And burn less wood. It is still economical to burn small fires. Small with good flame is the key. Sometimes we will only have one split in the stove. If you only need a little bit of heat, then use only a little bit of fuel.