Middle of the Night Feedings

[Haston]

I'm begininning to think that they're really all not that helpful, as I'm finding that if I get up to throw on a few splits at 3 AM, I also have to stay around an open the air control. Leaving the air damped down often leaves the new splits to smolder (especially as the wood I'm burning this year is not completely seasoned), and leaving the air wide open wastes energy and wood. Do I leave the air control at halfway-- or just chuck the whole middle of the night feeding process? Nevermind that it's hard as heck to get back to sleep once I'm up. (And, with that, perhaps I just answered my own question). H.

 

[ozarkjeep]

Ive about given up on that too.

I have been just tossing a LARGE seasonsed round on the bed of coals before bed, and leaving the air control 100%

too large to burn fast and hot, and thats enough air to keep it from smoldering.

nice coals when I wake up to restart.

I wish I had not split so many of my large rounds now!

 

[swestall]

Well, its been said before, but...

In the old days on the Farm, we had only wood heat. We'd have the stove going. A large kitchen woodburner. We'd have that house nice and toasty in the day/eve. At night, we'd let the temp float down and then get up early (usually my job as "the kid")
And, the cycle would repeat.

That's how we handle it at our house. We get the house toasty, 70-74 when we get home, stuff it at 9, damp down at 10:30 to 11 and get up and get'r hot again in the AM, then go to work and repeat. 24/7....

It gets a bit cool in the early AM, but I sleep OK. And, cool sleeping is OK as my wife snuggles better in the winter too. LOL

 

[Corie]

Same story here. If I don't reload, we wake up to 60 degrees. It isn't great, but it isn't cold. If I get up in the middle of the night, load the stove and wait for it to take off, I never get back to sleep. The only time this process is successful is if I'm getting up at 3AM for hunting. Then the reload not only makes sure SHE wakes up to a warm house, but I almost guarantees I'll come home to a happy SWMBO.

 

[Henz]

I did that last year with my first stove the Avalon rainier..I would have to re-load at like 2-3am..Pissed me off..so I had that one taken out and brought the Olympic In..No more reloads for me at night..I fill her up at 9pm, get her rippin hot, 90-95% damper down, hit the feathers and have really nice coals come morning (7am) and always at least 300 degrees on the blower. Doesnt mean that on a sub-zero windy night my house wont be 65 degrees or so but thats fine..Oil doesnt kick on so I am happy!

 

[nshif]

Except on the coldest of nights I dont need to reload to have a nice bed of coals and 60s. But on really cold nights reloads on the Quad with ACC are nothing, throw in a few splits, set the ACC, and back to bed. I had to get up to water the toilet anyway.

 

[MishMouse]

I have the same issue with my Drolet stove, the 2-4 hours feedings, the every 24 hours ash cleanings, and the poor performance is the main reason why I am looking into the larger stoves like the Quarda Fire IsleRoyal or the Harman TL-300. Getting up at 2:00 in the morning gets old very quickly, especially since it is not just a add wood and leave situation. Though I must admit I get allot of exersise with it constantly running up and down the stairs, to keep her fed.

 

[EddyKilowatt]

The more I run my stove, the more convinced I get that a simple thermostatic draft control, that looks at flue-gas temperature and adjusts draft to maintain a setpoint, would really reduce the amount of tending that our stoves require. In particular, the need to hang around for 10-15 minutes after reloading while the new burn gets established and stabilized.

Meanwhile, I've found that if I load my Pendleton with a couple big (6") splits at 11-12 PM, I'll still have 200-300 degrees and coals when I get up at 6:30, along with a warm house. Works for me.

Eddy

 

[nshif]

The more I run my stove, the more convinced I get that a simple thermostatic draft control, that looks at flue-gas temperature and adjusts draft to maintain a setpoint, would really reduce the amount of tending that our stoves require. In particular, the need to hang around for 10-15 minutes after reloading while the new burn gets established and stabilized.

Meanwhile, I've found that if I load my Pendleton with a couple big (6") splits at 11-12 PM, I'll still have 200-300 degrees and coals when I get up at 6:30, along with a warm house. Works for me.

Eddy

The Quad with ACC eliminates the need to hang around and readjust the air. Engage the ACC and set the air where you want it and forget it

 

[Hubjeep]

the need to hang around for 10-15 minutes after reloading while the new burn gets established and stabilized.

Meanwhile, I've found that if I load my Pendleton with a couple big (6") splits at 11-12 PM, I'll still have 200-300 degrees and coals when I get up at 6:30, along with a warm house. Works for me.

Eddy

That is exactly what I have been doing. Four large logs at damper wide open for 10 minutes or so, then turned all the way down, result in warm house and good coals for re-start. :yup:

 

[jpl1nh]

I load at 10PM, final air adjust by 10:45, get up at 6, house is 68, load and start the new day. On nights with windchill or temps below 5F, I need to add wood 3-4 am. Coals are so hot it takes 2-3 minutes and then I can re-engage cat, set air a bit more open since it only needs to burn for 2-3 hrs, and back to bed.

 

[eba1225]

The story of my life. Load up at 9 draft down by 9:30. Wake up btwn 1-3 to reload and hit the head. Wake up at 5:30 for work and reload at 6 aand off to work I go.

 

[RonB]

Thankfully I do not need to do a mid-nite feeding. The large quad has plenty of red coals in the AM and our temp is about 72.

 

[Cearbhaill]

Ahh.... finally a situation where my poor sleeping habits help me instead of hurt me!
I'm up and down all night anyway so a midnight feeding is SOP around here. Plus I like to have it extra toasty when the husband gets up in the 'dark and early'.

 

[lotust]

Im new to this all. Good reading here for sure. Im not getting out of bed to feed my smoke dragon! lol The Weil Mclain oil burner kicks on. Are you guys that need to load more wood have older stoves?

 

[RedRanger]

Interesting observations.. I too, have to get up at around 3 am to water the toilet, and can usually get right back to sleep. Except when I get the "brilliant idea". to stoke the insert and get it going again. Well, after waiting to get it red hot, and then damper down, (20 minutes) Good Luck Trying To Get Back To Sleep!! :roll: Maybe someday I will learn that it`s just better to get up to a 55 degree temp and start a morning fire.

 

[Burn-1]

I have a one month old daughter and a PE Vista. Both need to be fed every 4 hours. Soon one will be mostly fine through the night. Unfortunately, it's not the stove.

 

[ozarkjeep]

YES.

the next stove I buy will have this feature for sure.

The more I run my stove, the more convinced I get that a simple thermostatic draft control, that looks at flue-gas temperature and adjusts draft to maintain a setpoint, would really reduce the amount of tending that our stoves require. In particular, the need to hang around for 10-15 minutes after reloading while the new burn gets established and stabilized.

Meanwhile, I've found that if I load my Pendleton with a couple big (6") splits at 11-12 PM, I'll still have 200-300 degrees and coals when I get up at 6:30, along with a warm house. Works for me.

Eddy

 

[jeffman3]

We burn a Hearthstone Tribute. (Tiny fire box) It works for us, as I work swing shift at the plant, and don't get to bed till about 2:00 AM or so. I load it up about 1:30-2:00 and when my wife gets up at 7:00 to get the kidlet to school, and herself to work, she loads it again (still have decent coals, I'm told) This works till the temps get below zero, and then she will bump the furnace on, till the stove come up to temp. I load a small load at 9:30-10:00 and fill the box at 1:30-2:00 before I leave for work. She has coals to work with when she gets home at 5:30-6:00. So far the furnace hasn't run, except for one morning after an extremely cold night, and my wife bumped it to get a quick warm up while the stove was coming up to temp. A longer burn time would be nice but we really don't NEED it at this point.

 

[Todd]

I guess I'm spoiled. I get a good 8 hrs sleep every night and never have to worry about reloading in the middle of the night. Even the coldest nights below zero the house is still about 65-67. Furnace has only kicked on a couple times and it's been a cold winter so far, -20 yesterday.

 

[crazy_dan]

the whole going back to sleep is not an issue with as it takes me a couple hours if I wake up to get back to sleep. That being said if I wake up in the middle of the night I will filler up, which BTW is the rule in this house if you get up you have to fill the stove up as well no exceptions. Hopefully this will change when I get the new stove in.

 

[Henz]

tell me more about this thermostatic draft control????can you get one for any stove??

 

[derbygreg]

I have a five month old daughter named Isle Royale and she likes to be fed about every five hours to keep her, me and the wife and the cats happy. Normally, I let her burn down durning the night, but with this single digit cold snap (to us Ohioians) I am getting up probably around 4 to 4:30 to feed her.

Tho we have this big stove, the 15 foot ceilings on average demand a lot of heat and it sure is chili in the morning, but the stove is almost always around 250 degrees.

 

[derbygreg]

The Quad with ACC eliminates the need to hang around and readjust the air. Engage the ACC and set the air where you want it and forget it[/quote]

Not familiar with this does it automatically adjust the air?

 

[nshif]

Yes, you engage the ACC then set your air controls to the desired settings and it opens the air all the way for 25 min then resets to the preset level