overnight heating with wood sucks this time of year!

[CowboyAndy]

this being my second year, maybe i just havent gotten into the groove yet, but i have to say overnight burns suck this time of year! last night was a good example. we are at a natural disadvantage having a 30' outside chimney, which effects draft. its tough to keep a good draft when the temp is above 40. i have to keep the air on full and the tstat on to keep the inducer fan going, otherwise it back puffs.

last night around 9 i lit a fire. temp was 43, forecast was calling for mid 30s by 10pm. at 10 i loaded up a few decent splits, let them char, reduced the air to half and went upstairs. temp was still 43. kept the tstat up, waited till 11. temp now 46! inside temp at this point was 85, and the furnace was hot. opened doors and windows, got house back down to 73 by 11:45, but outside was still 45. left the tstat up all the way and went to bed. got up this morning and it was 63 in the house, outside temp was 29.

sorry for the rant, just frustrated in finding that balance for overnight burns this time of year.

 

[PunKid8888]

I had a similar issue. temps was only at 45F, but was suppose to get into mid 30s, which it never did. I loaded up the stove and got it going real good then over the course of the next 30mins turned back the air to almost nothing it was at this point 75F, getting way to warm. let it cook like that until the temps dropped while I watched a movie. I must have got one or two small back puff because I randomly had a smoke smell. I gave it a little more air and crack a window and it was fine the rest of the night.

 

[mike1234]

I can have the same problem, so my solution is to not turn the thermostat down, in fact turn it up, get the house to 75 to 76, let the fire actually burn itself out, don't let it smolder at all. When it burned out turn the thermostat off. The heat from your fireplace or furnace will last much of the night, but if it is chilly in the morning, I'll have to do it again then.

On a 40 or so night, like last night, I start my fire about 8, it's burnt out by 10:30 (house is 75), and then I start a small one in the morning (house was 67), and the wife either stokes the fire if she is cold, or turns the thermostat to off.

This means that I have build small fires this time of year, and I have to start many of them from scratch, rather than have the coals to start up the next one. I think this is a gigantic pain in the butt, but it's either do it this way, or smolder fires and have smoke issue, or use the propane furnace.

 

[Backwoods Savage]

I put in 4 small splits at 8:00 last night. Put in some more around 8:00 this morning. At first it didn't want to draw much when I put the splits in last night but after 20 minutes we turned the cat on and the rest is history. House was good and warm yet this morning.

 

[CowboyAndy]

I can have the same problem, so my solution is to not turn the thermostat down, in fact turn it up, get the house to 75 to 76, let the fire actually burn itself out, don't let it smolder at all. When it burned out turn the thermostat off. The heat from your fireplace or furnace will last much of the night, but if it is chilly in the morning, I'll have to do it again then.

On a 40 or so night, like last night, I start my fire about 8, it's burnt out by 10:30 (house is 75), and then I start a small one in the morning (house was 67), and the wife either stokes the fire if she is cold, or turns the thermostat to off.

This means that I have build small fires this time of year, and I have to start many of them from scratch, rather than have the coals to start up the next one. I think this is a gigantic pain in the butt, but it's either do it this way, or smolder fires and have smoke issue, or use the propane furnace.

typically i light several fires from scratch toughout the day. its just overnights, because the temp tends to hover mid 40s till 1 or 2am, then bam down to 30. our house isnt the most insulated, so on a 30 degree night if the house is 75 at 10pm, its 62-64 at 5:30am.