lopi freedom insert has me not sleeping so well!

[fitter9]

Good morning everyone. My wood burning skills are getting better every day thanks to all the "seasoned" people on this sight. Morning, afternoon, and evening fires have been going quite well. Low wood consumption, steady heat, firebox not full of coals and long burn times. My question is about overnight burns. Around 9pm
i start to get my stove ready to pack it for an overnight burn. i give the stove full air to burn down the coal bed. I wait untill the stovetop thermometer is between 300 and 400 degrees. I then bring all the coals to the front of the stove in a straight line ,the coal bed is about 4 inches wide by 2 inches deep by about 24 inches long(the length of the stove) i then pack the box so the wood is about 2 inches from the air tubes.i can useuly get the box around 80 percent full (because of the length of my splits and the tapered firebox.) I start out full air untill the splits are good and charred. then i back the air off a little at a time untill its just about fully closed and i have good secondarys. I then shut the air all the way down and make sure the secondarys are burning. by now its around 10 and the thermometer is around 650. everything looks good and i go to bed.
2 nights in a row, around 11, 1130 the whole load of wood is fully engulfed and the t-meter is pegged. i cool the stove down by opening the flu bypass and turn the fan on full blast. cools down to around 650-700 after a half hour or so.
Is this something i should worry about.
Im still getting 8-9 hour burn times. The fan is still on and lots of hot coals for an easy relight between 5 and 6 am..the last 2 nights i havnt slept very well

 

[eclecticcottage]

You might be waiting too long to close down the air after a reload. No reason to wait for charring on the wood, just shut it down bit by bit as soon as it's good and caught. I usually shut the air about half way after it gets caught well (with a hot reload, that could be just a few minutes from the time it's loaded to when I start shutting down) , then back it down bit by bit from there (push in the control a bit and wait a minute to see how the fire reacts, then repeat) until there's lazy flames and good secondaries. Also, watch how much space you've got between splits-if there's a lot of air gap between them, they'll all try to catch and then you'll have an inferno.

 

[Grisu]

Some thoughts:
- Check with a dollar bill whether your door gasket is tight. Maybe you are getting too much air.
- Close the air control sooner when the temp is below 600 F still.
- Do the exact same procedure you are doing for an overnight burn during the day (e. g. this weekend) and see how the stove temps are.

What kind of wood are you burning?

 

[fitter9]

Im burning mostly well seasoned red and white oak.
i havent checked the door gasket, but i will the next time i let it cool. i could be wrong, but i dont think its the gasket because it controlls the air fine with smaller loads. i think its operator error

 

[trguitar]

When I load my Freedom for the night, I start backing off the air when the wood catches fire. I watch the stove top temp at the same time. I usually reload around 300. When the wood catches (about 5 minutes after loading), the temp gets up to around 400, and I pull the air out about half-way. I'll wait for about 10 or 15 minutes and then pull the air out a little more. Temp is usually up to around 500 - 600 now. I keep doing this every 10 or 15 minutes until the stove top is up to around 700 and the air is mostly pulled out. The whole process takes between 30 and 45 minutes.

Grisu has a good idea to do your overnight routine during the day when you're awake so you can see what's happening.

 

[fitter9]

I'm going to try it today. I think I'm not turning the air down quick enough. It seems once the whole load is engulfed the stove top gets hotter when I cut the air back because of the secondary's. I forgot to mention my chimny is 32 ft and it will pull a cat threw it when it's hot.

 

[mellow]

Your higher than normal draft sounds like it is supercharging your burn, you might need to find a way to close off some of your secondary air intakes to see if that makes a difference.

 

[begreen]

You can turn down the air quicker when the stove is already hot. Also try thicker splits at night packed tightly E/W.

 

[fitter9]

This is happening with 6" splits packed as tight as i can get them e/w. I'm going to try to cut the air back sooner like a few. Of you mentioned when I get home. If that doesn't work I'm going to find out wear the secondary intake is and see what I can do to slow it down.

 

[PLAYS WITH FIRE]

That's what I'd do and are you closing the draft completely?

This is happening with 6" splits packed as tight as i can get them e/w. I'm going to try to cut the air back sooner like a few. Of you mentioned when I get home. If that doesn't work I'm going to find out wear the secondary intake is and see what I can do to slow it down.

 

[lopiliberty]

If that doesn't work I'm going to find out wear the secondary intake is and see what I can do to slow it down.

Your secondary air enters were the air control is. Try loading it with a smaller coal bed and turn the air down sooner. Sometimes you need to go by the look of the fire and say the heck with stovetop temps when reloading. You don't want to be pegging the thermometer on a nightly basis but once in a while probably won't hurt a thing.

 

[fitter9]

yes. draft is closed completely. im about to do an overnight practice run. im going to start it on a smaller coal bed and close the air in steps a lot sooner. i will post in a few hours how it goes

 

[fitter9]

"overnight" burn a success!!
Thanks everyone for all the info on my overnight burn problems. I am about 5 hours into it and i have a huge bed of coals that should give off a ton of heat for the next 3 or 4 hours.
I cant blame the stove, the draft, the wood, or anything else. It was straight up operator error.
Instead of focusing on the thermometer i focused on what the fire was doing. As soon as my mostly loaded stove caught i started to lower the air. With in a few minutes the secondarys started to flicker.i lowered the air a little more and within a few more minutes the secondarys were really burning good. I then backed the air off a little more. This time the secondarys went out. i then gave it more air and within 5 minutes they fired up again. real strong this time. at this point i shut the air all the way down. they stayed lit for the next 3 hours or so. the stove top temp wile it was cruising was around 700-750. im told this is normal for a lopi freedom insert.
The fire never seemed out of control like it did the last few nights. i think i will get a good nights sleep tonight and wake up to a warm house and an easy relight.

 

[fossil]

Ferrets clean the flue much better than cats. Just toss one or two into the stove at mid-burn, and wake up to a squeaky clean flue in the morning. None of that stubborn singed cat residue to deal with. Nothing gets the creosote out like a clean-burning weasel.

 

[fitter9]

do i have to remove the chimnry cap to put the ferret in or can he climb in threw the firebox.(as long as the fire is small of course)

 

[fossil]

The ferrets go directly into the firebox during the burn.

 

[Grisu]

The ferrets go directly into the firebox during the burn.

But leave the bypass open.