Middle of the Night Feedings
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fullbore
New Member
I'm fortunate as well with my Quad 5700. I pack it at 9pm, choke it down 90% by 10pm, and I find a nice bed of coals at 7am. The ACC sounds like a nice option if I have to leave the house in a hurry.
Henz
New Member
Yeah, and I still ahvent found out if I can get one for my Olympic! I dont think I can unless its an after market deal
Henz
New Member
Adirondackwoodburner said:
It is manual. Don't be needin no power. It is just a manual timer that closes the extra air inlet after something like twenty minutes or so. I have always wondered how cool Quad owners would think ACT is when it sticks open after they went to bed or to work. Kind of like if EBT stuck open on a PE Summit.
I dont think it could be added to other stoves as BB says its pretty much designed and built into the stove. It is a great time saver though
Henz
New Member
oh ok..gotchya.. My parents VC Vigiliant (1980's stove) has this flap style damper in the back that you can open/close and then it sort of regulates itself
Responding to Eddy’s comment:
“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.”
Eddy,
Please, don't think this is shameless spam. It's not. This is the only message I've posted anywhere about this.
I completely agree. Four years ago, after six years of heating with wood and sick of babysitting the stove, I developed exactly what you’re speaking of, and it works better than I had hoped for. It’s called SmartStove (TM), an Intelligent Control System for Wood Stoves. You can see it here: www.inveninc.com
This is the third winter I have been running various prototypes on my Napoleon 1401 insert, and it entirely eliminates all that hassle. I can start with a bed of coals, jam the box with wood, forget it for 9 hours, come back, take out some ash, level out the coals, jam it full again and it’s good for another 9 hours. No kindling!! :~) SmartStove (TM) manages the draft control and also manages the circulation fan speed to maintain a clean fire that needs ZERO babysitting between loads.
What I have found is that on the really cold nights, I can specify max heat mode. This means that when the fire is putting out lots of heat, the fans can run at max, but as the fire begins to slow, the fan speed needs to be reduced to keep from sucking so much heat out of the stove that it puts out the fire. So this is what SmartStove (TM) does. I get a lot more heat when I need it, and I no longer have to screw with the draft or fan controls – EVER. It’s load and go. We now have engineering evaluation units available, and the first stove company (need to keep that quiet) is pleased with what they are seeing. This is a product that will be integrated into the stove at the manufacturer. This is a comprehensive and feature-rich control system that includes battery backup for when you lose AC power, and it can even gently remind you when the fire is getting hungry (if you enable that feature). It also alerts you if you have left the door ajar, and the stove has become hotter than you want it to be - so your fire doesn't burn down your house. I wouldn’t dream of going back to living without this. My wife loves it too. She just throws in logs and the heat keeps coming.
By the way, if there’s anybody here that that wants to win an IPOD, we have a survey on our website. Please, take the survey and you’ll be entered into a drawing for the IPOD. We’ll announce the winner on this site when we do the drawing.
-- Dan McFarland, founder of Inven Inc.
Napoleon 1401 insert
SmartStove Control System
MTD splitter
Husq 350
Enviro Gas insert (not used because gas costs too much).
“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.”
Eddy,
Please, don't think this is shameless spam. It's not. This is the only message I've posted anywhere about this.
I completely agree. Four years ago, after six years of heating with wood and sick of babysitting the stove, I developed exactly what you’re speaking of, and it works better than I had hoped for. It’s called SmartStove (TM), an Intelligent Control System for Wood Stoves. You can see it here: www.inveninc.com
This is the third winter I have been running various prototypes on my Napoleon 1401 insert, and it entirely eliminates all that hassle. I can start with a bed of coals, jam the box with wood, forget it for 9 hours, come back, take out some ash, level out the coals, jam it full again and it’s good for another 9 hours. No kindling!! :~) SmartStove (TM) manages the draft control and also manages the circulation fan speed to maintain a clean fire that needs ZERO babysitting between loads.
What I have found is that on the really cold nights, I can specify max heat mode. This means that when the fire is putting out lots of heat, the fans can run at max, but as the fire begins to slow, the fan speed needs to be reduced to keep from sucking so much heat out of the stove that it puts out the fire. So this is what SmartStove (TM) does. I get a lot more heat when I need it, and I no longer have to screw with the draft or fan controls – EVER. It’s load and go. We now have engineering evaluation units available, and the first stove company (need to keep that quiet) is pleased with what they are seeing. This is a product that will be integrated into the stove at the manufacturer. This is a comprehensive and feature-rich control system that includes battery backup for when you lose AC power, and it can even gently remind you when the fire is getting hungry (if you enable that feature). It also alerts you if you have left the door ajar, and the stove has become hotter than you want it to be - so your fire doesn't burn down your house. I wouldn’t dream of going back to living without this. My wife loves it too. She just throws in logs and the heat keeps coming.
By the way, if there’s anybody here that that wants to win an IPOD, we have a survey on our website. Please, take the survey and you’ll be entered into a drawing for the IPOD. We’ll announce the winner on this site when we do the drawing.
-- Dan McFarland, founder of Inven Inc.
Napoleon 1401 insert
SmartStove Control System
MTD splitter
Husq 350
Enviro Gas insert (not used because gas costs too much).
Glad you posted Dan. I had bugged Corie last year about coming up with something like Smart Stove and after HPBA he said somebody already had done it. I just never knew who it was. I am sure I can't afford the darn thing but I am glad to see it. When/how are you going to be selling it?
wally
New Member
i only get up in the middle of the night if the forecast calls for low single-digits or lower. also, we keep the temp lower than most, as it's 64 day/61 night. if the boiler "runs out", then sometimes the temp is about 55 in the morning. not a problem, as we are used to the cool. it would be more difficult if we wanted to keep the house at 67 to 70.
stathouse
Member
I find it interesting to see how many people like to sleep with temps that are close to my waking hour temps! We wake up to low 50's in the main part of the house when I have to start a new fire each morning. Sleeping through the night makes more sense to me. Granted that my situation is a part-time cabin so maybe it does not get on my nerves like it would if I lived with it all the time. In order to be able to get dressed in the a.m. we use an electric space heater that comes on a couple hours before we get up to cut the cold. If the power has been out, we dress real fast! Also, our winters here in the California mountains are probable spring-like to some folks on this forum!
kb
kb
BrotherBart,
We were there exhibiting last year at HPBA, so that was us. We had a good number of people very excited about our product. I had one sales guy from a major stove company comment, "I've been wondering how long it would take someone to do this."
We're going back to HPBA this year, but not exhibiting so we can focus our time on meeting with key individuals and getting things kicked off. If all goes well, next fall you could see some existing stove models shipping with this, otherwise the following year for stoves with this designed in from the start. The closest thing to this is QuadraFire's ACC, but that's not really a proportional control system like this is. SmartStove is going to close the draft as the stove heats up, but it's also going to reopen the draft if the fire dies off. Some people have problems with an exterior chimney that cools off and kills the fire after they go to bed with the draft stopped down. This will solve that problem by sensing the loss of flame and reopening the draft immediately. Plus, it's modulating heat extraction combined with the draft control so that everything stays well balanced. A wood fire is a complex system that always establishes an equilibrium point. We keep that equilibrium point such that you get the best of everything: clean fire, the heat that you want, and hassle free. I'll start a new thread to begin a discussion about Intelligent Draft Control.
Dan
We were there exhibiting last year at HPBA, so that was us. We had a good number of people very excited about our product. I had one sales guy from a major stove company comment, "I've been wondering how long it would take someone to do this."
We're going back to HPBA this year, but not exhibiting so we can focus our time on meeting with key individuals and getting things kicked off. If all goes well, next fall you could see some existing stove models shipping with this, otherwise the following year for stoves with this designed in from the start. The closest thing to this is QuadraFire's ACC, but that's not really a proportional control system like this is. SmartStove is going to close the draft as the stove heats up, but it's also going to reopen the draft if the fire dies off. Some people have problems with an exterior chimney that cools off and kills the fire after they go to bed with the draft stopped down. This will solve that problem by sensing the loss of flame and reopening the draft immediately. Plus, it's modulating heat extraction combined with the draft control so that everything stays well balanced. A wood fire is a complex system that always establishes an equilibrium point. We keep that equilibrium point such that you get the best of everything: clean fire, the heat that you want, and hassle free. I'll start a new thread to begin a discussion about Intelligent Draft Control.
Dan
I get up at 3 each night to reload once the outside temps drop below freezing. Above that, I can maintain inside temps well enough without a reload. I'm sure that it's very dependent on what kind of stove you have and what kind of wood is being burned. I have a much better chance of making it all night with big oak splits compared to say cherry or maple. Just part of working with a cheapo stove I suppose.
Wolves-Lower
New Member
The first year I had my stove I always woke up to feed it. I found it just doesnt much matter.
I would rather sleep through the night and have less coals to work with in the morning.
Sure it is colder then crap.
But it gets the blood flowing getting that fire hot and drinking the java before heading to work.
I would rather sleep through the night and have less coals to work with in the morning.
Sure it is colder then crap.
But it gets the blood flowing getting that fire hot and drinking the java before heading to work.
ControlFreak said:
Thanks. Good luck. I have just bought my last wood stove so I will have to wait for somebody else to come up with an aftermarket unit.
fullbore
New Member
I think ACC is only available on the 7100 Fireplace. I haven't seen it available on the stoves and inserts.
ControlFreak said:
Won't using a thermostatic draft control to open the draft as the fire is slowly burning down for the night just wind up causing most of the heat that would have kept the stove at a reasonably stable temperature til morning to be lost up the chimney??? Am I missing something?
Woodrat Looking forward to info on Intel. Draft Control
Gunner
New Member
Todd said:
That makes two of us. Never had to get up to feed the stove in the middle of the night, that would take all the fun out of woodburning :lol:
Gunner said:
DITTO: No need to break a sleep. No furnace "kicking on", no backup, no wakeup @ 2 AM feeding. Temperatures below zero now, morning house ( 0530 H) is around 50 F, rake coals, add a fresh load, empty ashes, enjoy wood heat.
Tricks ? A good wood stove that will damp way down, EPA ( e.g. PE, Hearthstone, Englander, Woodstock, Morso, Jotul) or pre-EPA ( e.g. VC Vigilant or Defiant, Lange, Fisher, Tempwood, Jotul) . The right seasoned wood splits. Knowing how to use that stove for a long, clean burn. Simple.
Herculoy12a
New Member
I am new to the forum and new to posting so this will be short. I think it is all in the size of the firebox. A BIG, BIG, BIG fire box is the way to go. I recently bought a Hitzer 983 insert and I believe it is one of the largest fireboxes out there. If I pack it full-o-wood (large splits) and get it going, I have lots of coals to stoke after 12 hours.
MishMouse
Minister of Fire
On the Smart Stove posted by Control Freak.
What is the list of wood stoves does it work with?
Is it easy to install?
What is the list of wood stoves does it work with?
Is it easy to install?
Herculoy12a said:
I'm drooling on the keyboard now Herc. I had never heard of Hitzer and went to the site and took a look. My last stove was a 650 pound behemoth and I didn't know they were still made.
What is the tab for one of those muthas?
marky_mark896
New Member
BrotherBart said:
Same here BB. I tried to look up the specs on it, but couldn't find too much. I'd like to know the cubic feet of the firebox. Looks like a nice stove though.
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