ok so when i'm getting ready to turn in for the night i get the stove really going and pack it with wood then cut the air back right? how far do i cut it back? i know its different with every stove but do you cut it back so there is still a flame or just leave it a crack open and the flame goes out but every thing stays bright red?
over night question..
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First off it you don't know your stove better than that do not do any thing at night other than let a hot fire go out at night. You need to know what makes it your stove tick,. Try out long burns on the weekend during the days so you know what your stove is doing.
....And burn it so you see at least a bit of fire. No flames=creosote, unless already in the "charcoal" stage.
What type stove?
You'll need flame to keep secondary going, or else make sure the cat is hot enough to light off the smoke, if you have one.
-- Mike
You'll need flame to keep secondary going, or else make sure the cat is hot enough to light off the smoke, if you have one.
-- Mike
Well then yes, you need to keep flame, and a high temperature going to keep your secondary burn alive, and to burn off smoke that would form creosote in your chimley.
Note, the tribute is a small stove, 1.2cu/ft firebox, specs say 7 hour burn time... which means your burning will be over by 4 hours or so after you add the wood, and all you'll have left after 7 hours are some coals on the bottom.
-- Mike
Note, the tribute is a small stove, 1.2cu/ft firebox, specs say 7 hour burn time... which means your burning will be over by 4 hours or so after you add the wood, and all you'll have left after 7 hours are some coals on the bottom.
-- Mike
Not true with a cat stove Jimbob. Once the cat is lit, shut er down. If shes thermostatic even better. ;-PJimbob said:
Coaster said:
yea its a really small stove but man does it get the living room and kitchen warm. atleast at the temps we have right now. think it went to about 39* outside last night. it brought it from 66* to 79* in a few hours. and the thremostat with the temp i am reading is down the hallway. it seems like it is gonna really work well. guess time will tell.
i i packed the stove for the night at about 10 to 11pm last night. its now almost 4am the following morning and like you guys said i only have coals left but they are nice and red and the surface temp is still 200* ( was almost 450* when we turned in last night). threw a few real small and thin logs in this morning and had no problem getting it to light back up...
i had the air just about fully closed last night and still had a pretty big flame that seemed to be slow burning. not sure if i can really cut back the air any more. i fully closed it off then slid the leaver open about 1/4" and kept it there all night. the glass didn't fog up over night so i guess thats a good thing right?
thanks for the reply guys.... i'm learning, slowly but i'm learning....
It will take some experimentation and tinkering but after about a season you should have it figured out.
The load of wood has much to do with it too. There will be a HUGE difference between keeping a house warm on a 35-40 degree windless night when compared to a 20-25 degree night with a 25-30 knot Northeast wind.
The load of wood has much to do with it too. There will be a HUGE difference between keeping a house warm on a 35-40 degree windless night when compared to a 20-25 degree night with a 25-30 knot Northeast wind.
I usually load on top of a good hot coal bed from the evening burn. I put in a full load at about 10-11, open the stove wide open and wait till the fire is really going and the inserts blower has kicked on. That means its up to temp on my stove. Then I cut the air control down all the way.
The flame pattern will change to a nearly all secondary burn with a large ball of flame that fills all available space not occupied by logs, and will stay that way for a several hours. Once all the fireball dies, it changes to lots of coals and a smaller whispering type blue flame until morning where nothing but coals are left.
The flame pattern will change to a nearly all secondary burn with a large ball of flame that fills all available space not occupied by logs, and will stay that way for a several hours. Once all the fireball dies, it changes to lots of coals and a smaller whispering type blue flame until morning where nothing but coals are left.
The thing about it is that the flame picture you see right after stuffing it full for the night is not the same as it will be during the entire overnight burn. Meaning that the stove can gain momentum and heat after you go to bed and who knows how hot it will get. The fresh load of wood that was stuffed in there contains a lot of energy and the amount of air entering the firebox varies with the heat being produced in the stove. As the fire gets hotter it sucks harder on the primary and unregulated secondary air inlets.
Ive stuffed the firebox and set the draft to within a pencil width of fully closed. Almost snuff the fire but then an hour later the fire is raging and burning up my fuel too fast so I shut it down to zero. These days I simply shut the draft to zero as soon as the wood is lit enough to carry on a slight flame. Remember, you're not actually stopping air from entering the stove, you are just switching the source of air from the primary inlet to the secondary by reducing the inlet air.
The overnight burns are going to be the creosote makers. You can't see the chimney smoke, you are sleeping so can't monitor the fire, and you really want to stretch out the life of the fire even if it means lower efficiency. Some mornings I have to use a raging hot fire to burn off a light film of gunk on the glass (as the manual recommends) and some days it is clean as a whistle. My Heritage will not make it through the night on one load.
Ive stuffed the firebox and set the draft to within a pencil width of fully closed. Almost snuff the fire but then an hour later the fire is raging and burning up my fuel too fast so I shut it down to zero. These days I simply shut the draft to zero as soon as the wood is lit enough to carry on a slight flame. Remember, you're not actually stopping air from entering the stove, you are just switching the source of air from the primary inlet to the secondary by reducing the inlet air.
The overnight burns are going to be the creosote makers. You can't see the chimney smoke, you are sleeping so can't monitor the fire, and you really want to stretch out the life of the fire even if it means lower efficiency. Some mornings I have to use a raging hot fire to burn off a light film of gunk on the glass (as the manual recommends) and some days it is clean as a whistle. My Heritage will not make it through the night on one load.
I've been doing about the same with my stove. I pack it full just before I turn in. Let it get going for maybe 10 minutes, then back the damper all the way down. I still have a good bed of coals in the morning, but the stove surface temp is down around 250. I've haven't tried using a little more primary air. In colder weather I imagine I will have to in order to keep the stove going stronger. That will require a reload in the middle of the night though.
north of 60 said:
Oops, my bad. I forgot those existed, nobody I know runs one of those. Not saying there's anything wrong with them, just that I have no experience with them... :red:
I have a Hearthstone Homestead and what you posted way up top is correct. Fill er up, get it going good and hot and then shut that vent down all the way. A huge helper in that endeaver is to create a 'trench' front to back about 1-2 inches deep in the coals. This will allow the air to get under the wood and let the fire get the much needed air it needs to keep going. The air wash/dam will create a roll in the firebox and it will keep going like that for hours.
My Heritage has a nipple on the back through which all combustion air enters. Once inside the nipple there are two paths. One to the front where the primary air shutter allows a controlled amount of air to the air wash on the glass and through a lottle hole in the doghouse. The other path sends air straight up into the secondary air manifold with no regulation of any kind. Wide open throttle.
The stove can have all the air it wants. The stove prefers air from the primary inlet but when the primary is shut down then it will suck air through the secondary manifold up top. The smart engineers made the stove more hunrgy for primary air, somehow. The only way to slow the air being sucked through the secondary manifold is to install a damper in the chimney.
The stove can have all the air it wants. The stove prefers air from the primary inlet but when the primary is shut down then it will suck air through the secondary manifold up top. The smart engineers made the stove more hunrgy for primary air, somehow. The only way to slow the air being sucked through the secondary manifold is to install a damper in the chimney.
We have the Homestead and agree with what Lignums said, but sometimes the fire will really get rolling off just secondary air if the load is not packed tight, and this is where the stack damper seems to help by slowing down the volume of air passing through the stove. It seems like a lot of the length of overnight burn time has to do with how the stove is loaded--packed tight or loose.
As it turns out, my wife is the one who fills it up mostly ans she liked the smaller pieces because they are lighter. These pieces were the off cut pieces that would allow the 18 inch piece to fit in the stove. The off cut pieces she was digging were only about 8 inches long, but stout. When she would load it up for the night, she would turn the pieces front to back, not the traditional side by side, and sure as rain is wet, it lasted longer, and burned more efficiently, no worries about trying to fill it up compact as we could for the night, three pieces side bi side with just a little space between the three. Smaller pieces for her, and when she is happy, I have an easy button.
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