Safely Burn Overnight?

[Walt_85]

Ok, so I posted a question in the "Carbon Monoxide Emergencies related to wood fired appliances" thread, but maybe it deserves its own thread since that one was directed primarily to awareness.

Admittedly (shamefully), this isn't something that had crossed my mind before, and now it has me a bit concerned. I do plan to get and install a couple alarms this evening, but I'm not sure alarms are enough.

While CO alarms are intended to notify you when a danger is present, what are the preventative measures against rising CO levels in early morning hours after an overnight burn? Do you all simply not attempt overnight burns and make sure the fire is completely out before turning in? Or do you all wake up periodically throughout the night to manage reloads?

I'm very curious as to how the community here mitigates this risk as it is one that I haven't considered before.

Thanks in advance

 

[Fsappo]

I burn overnight, use detectors and I can still type.

 

[begreen]

A proper installation with good draft is essential. Good CO detectors will provide peace of mind. FWIW, in 7 years ours have not gone off, ever.

 

[DougA]

If the stove/insert is installed and operated correctly, you should never have a problem with CO at all. My CO detector has never gone off in 6 yrs since I bought it and I burn 24/7 all winter.

The risk in a stove/furnace/etc. is that if the chimney or stove gets plugged with crud or a dead bird, the exhaust has to go somewhere and it will go in the path of least resistance, which is into the house. With a wood stove, you should be smelling a lot of smoke but when you are sleeping, you may not notice it. I think all of us have hesitated a bit when doing our first overnight fire. As someone posted recently, it may be best to have a fire running all weekend so you are at home to monitor everything. After a short time, it becomes second nature.

My mother refused to allow a natural gas furnace in her home for decades because she worried about CO and explosions. Oil is no safer but she thought it was. It wasn't until the last 10 years of her life that she finally relented and then she discovered that she had worried about nothing.

 

[Grisu]

Yep, proper installation is key. And put the furnace thermostat on a reasonable temperature to keep a sufficient heat differential between inside and outside. I have a CO detector just a few feet from the stove around the corner and no alarms so far.

 

[tomc585]

knock on wood, no issues here. I burn 24/7 also.

 

[Seasoned Oak]

Or do you all wake up periodically throughout the night to manage reloads?

If you have a quality EPA wood stove, there is no need to get up during the night to reload. Only reason you would need to do that is if you are operating an old style smoke dragon or a very small EPA stove with a short burn time. Most Quality med to large EPA approved wood stoves will burn at least 8-12 hours. I get up to 17 hours. ALso if you were getting any CO you would likely also have smoke in the house.

 

[Dakotas Dad]

Would be no reason to heat with wood if we didn't burn at night.. We have a proper instal, have smoke and cO detectors. We have 26' of triple wall insulated chimney in an enclosed chase. We have NEVER had any kind of backdraft or loss of draft event. I do load in the middle of the night if needed, and don't if not.

Now, many years ago, ok, a few.. My first couple over nights had me sleeping/napping on the couch.. But now.. pffft. The stove is no more likely to do something crazy at night as day.. and I burn well seasoned wood, clean my chimney regularly, and as stated have a safe and proper instal. No worries. If an alarm ever goes off, I will deal with it then. We have 2 cO monitors, 1 on each floor. One is battery, one is plugged in w/ battery back up. One has a digital readout, has never shown anything over "0"..

 

[firefighterjake]

See answers above.

Install it right. Maintain it right. Learn how to run it right . . . have safety measures in place (detectors, escape plan, etc.) in case.

Sleep well. Wake up. Rinse, wash and repeat . . . well maybe just repeat.

 

[Walt_85]

Alright, seems there is a consensus. My setup is installed correctly and I've never had a draft issue so long as I don't try to start a fire while the furnance is running (go ahead and laugh, I did as soon as I stopped panicing and thought about it for a second). So, I'll just get a couple alarms and deal with the issue if it happens.

 

[Grisu]

Alright, seems there is a consensus. My setup is installed correctly and I've never had a draft issue so long as I don't try to start a fire while the furnance is running (go ahead and laugh, I did as soon as I stopped panicing and thought about it for a second). So, I'll just get a couple alarms and deal with the issue if it happens.

No one will laugh. Better safe than sorry and the threat of CO poisoning is certainly not something to take lightly.

 

[Walt_85]

One additional question, when you all burn overnight do you keep your central furnance on in case the house dips below a specified temp while you're asleep?

 

[Fsappo]

I did, because I wanted the comfort factor. Didn't want to walk out of my bedroom in my boxers into a cold kitchen! So I kept the thermostat on furnace at 65 all the time, just in case.

 

[bholler]

my furnace is off downstairs untill it drops to 10 degrees or so

 

[DanCorcoran]

One additional question, when you all burn overnight do you keep your central furnance on in case the house dips below a specified temp while you're asleep?

I don't have any thermostat, so it just gets colder and colder in the cabin until I decide to get up and reload the stove or I freeze to death. So far, I've convinced myself it's worth getting up for...

 

[Dakotas Dad]

Our heat pump is "on" set at 66 degrees.. If it gets below that SWMBO becomes... unreasonable.

I do my very best to never hear the clickswooshhum of it turning on though...

 

[Walt_85]

I guess I'm not familiar with that acronym Dakotas. But, IF you DID hear the pump come on in the morning after an overnight burn, would you be worried about pulling CO or other gases into the house form the stove?

 

[begreen]

A heat pumps cycles whenever it wants. It is not exhausting air so no negative pressure. All it is doing is recirculating the indoor air and warming it as it passes the heating coils in the plenum.

 

[nyny]

I guess I'm not familiar with that acronym Dakotas. But, IF you DID hear the pump come on in the morning after an overnight burn, would you be worried about pulling CO or other gases into the house form the stove?

If you have a quality EPA wood stove, there is no need to get up during the night to reload. Only reason you would need to do that is if you are operating an old style smoke dragon or a very small EPA stove with a short burn time. Most Quality med to large EPA approved wood stoves will burn at least 8-12 hours. I get up to 17 hours. ALso if you were getting any CO you would likely also have smoke in the house.

is that a fact about smelling smoke? i remember a post about co levels being very high in a house with no smoke smell. i always assumed i'd smell smoke before i read that.

 

[Walt_85]

AH HA See now you're talking technical which is my language! Unfortuanately, my knowledge of the heat pump stops at the power supply. By the way, what I've been calling a furnace is what I refer to as the heat side of my A/C, which is indeed a heat pump. But, from your explaination begreen, my principle concern of drawing poisonous gases in the house from my stove due to my heat pump kicking on in the morning is an unlikely event?

 

[Dieselhead]

my principle concern of drawing poisonous gases in the house from my stove due to my heat pump kicking on in the morning is an unlikely event?

Borderline impossible

 

[begreen]

AH HA See now you're talking technical which is my language! Unfortuanately, my knowledge of the heat pump stops at the power supply. By the way, what I've been calling a furnace is what I refer to as the heat side of my A/C, which is indeed a heat pump. But, from your explaination begreen, my principle concern of drawing poisonous gases in the house from my stove due to my heat pump kicking on in the morning is an unlikely event?

Our heat pump runs whenever the thermostat tells it too, whether the stove is running or not. In shoulder season burning it's not uncommon for it to come on during the coal burn down stage. As a matter of fact, it just did.

 

[Lumber-Jack]

One additional question, when you all burn overnight do you keep your central furnace on in case the house dips below a specified temp while you're asleep?

I leave my HVAC system on circulate all the time so the air circulates through the house even when the heat pump doesn't kick in. However I have 3 vents in the stove room and no return air vents in there (they are in other parts of the house), so if there is any detectable pressure differential in that room when the air is blowing through the HVAC vents it would only be a positive pressure in that room. It could also be one reason why I seem to have so much success with using my HVAC blower to circulate the stove heat around the house when so many others don't.

 

[CenterTree]

is that a fact about smelling smoke? i remember a post about co levels being very high in a house with no smoke smell. i always assumed i'd smell smoke before i read that.

http://medical-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/Carbon+Monoxide+Poisoning

I think CO is "carried" differently depending on the circumstances.

A wood stove can produce smoke in the room without dangerous levels of CO.


Propane appliances are to me the most dangerous type as far as CO is concerned. (same as automobile exhaust) No smoke, but possible CO levels.

ALL fossil burning devices produce CO.
The safety factor all depends on proper install and ventilation (ie sufficient oxygen supply)

(broken link removed to http://www.telegraph.co.uk/health/healthnews/9688902/Wood-burning-stoves-can-cause-lethal-carbon-monoxide-poisoning-warns-HPA.html)




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[nyny]

http://medical-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/Carbon Monoxide Poisoning

I think CO is "carried" differently depending on the circumstances.

A wood stove can produce smoke in the room without dangerous levels of CO.


Propane appliances are to me the most dangerous type as far as CO is concerned. (same as automobile exhaust) No smoke, but possible CO levels.

ALL fossil burning devices produce CO.
The safety factor all depends on proper install and ventilation (ie sufficient oxygen supply)

(broken link removed to http://www.telegraph.co.uk/health/healthnews/9688902/Wood-burning-stoves-can-cause-lethal-carbon-monoxide-poisoning-warns-HPA.html)




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i'm worried about co without smoke, not smoke without co