Ok I'm trying to use the stove as much as I can. I haven't tried this yet but I will have to soon. Im going to burn 24/7. SO far I have only used it at night. I'm worried about creosote build up. If I build a hot fire and then add wood and cut the air supply for a overnight burn(11-6). Then When I wake up I will fire it back up then before I leave for work (8-5:30) add wood then adjust the air back down for an all day burn and then start all over again. Will this be too much burning with the air adjusted way back. Will creosote be a problem?
overnight burn when im sleeping and all day burn when im at work. Is it too much....
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If you use wet wood and an inefficient stove- then you might have to clean it a few times in the season.
Load it up, get a good HOT blaze going and up to temp, then close her down. If your adding wood then cutting it right down, you may find some creosote problems.
Getting 9.5 hours out of a homestead would be a miracle. Expect to be restarting the fire after the long days and nights.
That is how I use my stove, and I burn nothing but mesquite - which is nothing but a creosote building material to burn. I clean my pipes out about 2~3 times during a burning season (I am in TX, so burning season is from end of Nov - beginning of April - I sure am envious of the folks who are already using their stove, it is still 70 degrees here).
I do the initial re-fires with something like cherry or poplar to get a nice, hot chimney cleaning burn to blow out anything that might have been sitting there from the previous fire. Let's face it, no matter how good the wood, after a certain point, the temp in the stack is going to drop as the thing starts to burn out. I make sure before I go to bed or leave for work, that the stack temp has stayed consistently around 375 for at least 15 minutes. It seems to be enough time to determine if there's adequate air to keep the load burning properly, at least in the case of my Heritage.
I forgot to add. The beauty of the Heritage is the soapstone holds the heat for a LONG time. If you can get the soapstone temp up into the 400 range, (500 is fantastic), it will continue to disperse heat for a good 3 hours after the fire's out, and relighting is a breeze. You don't have to actually "burn" 24/7.
When winter finally gets rolling along, I wake up at 4:30 a.m. and start a fire. I can have a hot stove and a full load by the time I leave at 5:30. I come home at lunch time to refill the stove and again 2 more times after work. By 8:00 I do not put any more wood in the stove. The stove stays warm and keeps the house warm. I figure one less load per day = lots of wood.
Andy as long as your burning properly seasoned wood I don't see any problem...only thing I can add is that when you are in and about your house try and make an effort to burn hotter like 550 stove top temp to lock down any creosote buildup from you slower burns. Just say'en we've been 24/7 burners since '77.
I keep mine going all the time, if I could do it 25/8 I would :lol: Burn good dry wood and get as dense a wood as possible to load up before going to bed or work and give it a try. Worst case scenario is you have to use oil or gas for 2 hours a day! Burn'em if you got 'em
I did that last year, but nobody's home during the day, so I'm not sure what to do.
Wood is not cheap either.
Wood is not cheap either.
I'm now running a Homestead and have burned 24/7 for about a week now, (shut it down today to scoop out ashes and fired back up). I can load at 9:00PM and can just throw on a piece on top of coals at 6:30AM with the door cracked for 10 minutes in the morning and the fire is going again. Burning red oak and very happy with the stove thus far. BTW restarted at 5:20pm tonight now 7:00 and stove top temp is at 510 degress.
I have a brand new Napoleon 1400pl and I have been burning 24 hr's the past five days. I work very similar hours but I have the luxery of comming home at lunch. I find that the red hot coals at 5 pm keep us warm until 9:30 or so. Then I load her up, get her REALLY HOT :coolgrin: and then shut her down for a nice warm night. Then i repeat in the morning. I have some pine chunks to help her heat up real well. ;-)
I use to have the Homestead and found it was just to small for my needs. I'm away from home at work for 10-11 hours. Sometimes the Homestead had enough coals for rekindle but it was mostly a cold start when I got home. If you had a reload schedule of 3-4 times per day this stove works great.
electromagn8 said:
HOW
I was worried about over firing HA! I cant get the stove top over 325. I loaded it up at 5:30 have been burning with the air control full open and I cant get the stove top temp to come up any higher....I reloaded it once around 8:30 with nice dry oak and its still only back up to 325.Andy,
Once the stove gets the wood going pretty good, start to back off the air. If I have a good base of coals, I'll go down in one step to almost nothing, if not a step to about half before backing all the way down. These steps will keep more heat in the stove and make the temps rise. It is almost the opposite of the older non EPA stoves. Semi-confusing and counterintuitive if you aren't sure of what is happening, but try it and see how it works.
Chad
Once the stove gets the wood going pretty good, start to back off the air. If I have a good base of coals, I'll go down in one step to almost nothing, if not a step to about half before backing all the way down. These steps will keep more heat in the stove and make the temps rise. It is almost the opposite of the older non EPA stoves. Semi-confusing and counterintuitive if you aren't sure of what is happening, but try it and see how it works.
Chad
Andy99 said:electromagn8 said:
HOW
yea man, at like 5:40 and 8:40 you need to start easing off on the air intake. keep the heat in the stove, slow the burn down a little.
I only have a 1.8 cu ft firebox, and I've been able to keep 8 hour overnight burns using 100% sassafrass (low btu) and one good piece of maple in the back bottom. I'm pushing it, to get these burn times, and I'm looking forward to colder weather when I start using my black birch, cherry, and various maple.
Most of my sugar maple, black locust, and apple will have to wait for next year.
Most of my sugar maple, black locust, and apple will have to wait for next year.
It worked! I cut back the air supply to 1/2 about 10 minutes after I lit the fire and the top of the stove is now up to 425 (my new High). I finally feel like im getting the hang of this. Thanks for all the Help.
Andy99, how is that chained-up, under-lock-and-key firewood doing for you? Has it tried to rise up and revolt yet? Up and runaway?
Few of my toys. They all have there place in different woods. Last tree I cut, I used 4: 372 for felling and the trunk, 361 for the major limbs, 637 for the small stuff and the 681 for cutting the butt off the stump.
Can't complain, wife lets me get my toys as long as I keep her warm.
Can't complain, wife lets me get my toys as long as I keep her warm.
Its really amazing what a strong draft will do for those damper settings... I added an additional 2 ft to the top of my chimney recently and boy what a difference, my old routine is out and now I'm cutting the air WAY quicker.. I bet this winter I will really be off on the air quick.. BTW Andy, don't feel bad I was puzzled at first as well, I could only get 300 stovetop degrees at first, and then VERY soon after damping down past halfway I got the temps moving up, pulled it down to under a quarter and the temps got where they should be and the auto draft control took over from there..
Jason
Jason
derecskey said:
So far its all in its proper place. Now that the price of oil is coming down I might take the lock off.
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