Shoulder season - overnight fire?

[Ken45]

Is there any way to have an efficient (non smouldering) overnight fire during this time of year? It was a bit chilly in the house last night so I started a fire. By bedtime it was burning down and the house was nice and warm (60 outside). I added a few logs and cut the stove back (checked the chimney, it was smoking) but it was too much heat for us at that point so we closed the bedroom door and opened a window. It was in the mid 40's this morning.

I would prefer not to wake up and have to start a fire and wait for it to warm up the house. I know the recommendation is "small hot fires" but those obviously don't give you a warm house in the morning.

So how does everyone handle this environment?

I'm thinking the best solution is that this is the season to use the pellet stove, set the thermostat and let it come on at 4 am or whenever, LOL.

The stove is a new PE Summit (love it!). Previously we used a Hotblast wood furnace but that didn't get used until cold weather.

Ken

 

[Henz]

60 degrees outside = no fire for me.way too warm. even 40 degrees in the am is too warm for me. I dont light a fire until the nights are into the low 30's high 20's on a regular basis. Its just a waste of wood

 

[Ken45]

60 degrees outside = no fire for me.way too warm. even 40 degrees in the am is too warm for me. I dont light a fire until the nights are into the low 30's high 20's on a regular basis. Its just a waste of wood

So how do you keep the house warm the rest of the time?

If I waited until we had low 30 degree temps "on a regular basis", I'd only burn wood about 4-6 weeks per year. Nothing is "regular" about the weather here except it's variability.

Yeah, I know I was rushing it last night, but the stove is new I had filled the pellet stove yesterday but decided the wood stove would be nicer.

Ken

 

[Highbeam]

If the high temp of the day is 60 and the low is 40 then how do you folks get your house into the mid 70s without burning a fire or, gasp, using some kind of furnace. It's only a waste of wood if you wouldn't be using some other heat source.

I have been using the full comfort range of 63-77 as tolerable in my home in these shoulder season times. This means lighting a fire when the inside temps are near 63 and then letting it die out as the house reaches the upper 70s. These short fires allow the house to heat up and then the house can cruise on down to 63 over the next day or more. I suppose the more important thing to consider is how well your house can hold the heat between stove fires vs. the outdoor temps.

This is the perfect time of year for a pellet stove, gas stove, or even an electric heat pump. Our powerhouse woodstoves are just not easily able to be run on low output.

 

[Adios Pantalones]

mid 70's inside is too hot for me. My house warms up a fair bit if it's sunny out, but I get a chill if it's not sunny.

 

[karl]

Ken,

I live pretty close to you and I'm in the same boat this time of year.

I light a fire in the evening when I get home. I make it a pretty decent one and then I go close my bedroom door, so that room doesn't get to hot to sleep in. The fire burns out when it burns out, sometime after I go to sleep. This morning I woke up to a 65 degree bedroom and a 70 degree house. That's about perfect for me.

 

[Henz]

I burn OIL! yup, in the early am, like this morning we had 42 outside. I had 61 in my house. I cycled the furnace once to bring it up to 65. It took roughly 5 minutes.

 

[SlyFerret]

I'm a little norh of Ken, but the climate is probably pretty similar.

At this time of year, just get the stove good and hot and hope that there are enough coals left to help you coast through the night. Its still to warm for overnight burns.

I lit up my stove last night with just one medium sized load. The house was ~63 when I lit it at about 9:15. By midnight when I went to bed the house was about 73 degrees. This morning, the house had coasted down to around 69 degrees.

For me, a quick shot of heat was all I needed.

I'm finding that I'm lucky enough to have a house that is pretty well insulated (11 years old), picks up a little bit of passive solar heating durring the day, and allows for decent natural convection to move the heat around farily evenly when the stove is running.

-SF

 

[Tfin]

I do the same as others have stated. Plus I'm only concerned about inside temp, not outside. If the inside of the house is down to 65F or so, I'll light a decent fire in the evening and keep it going until I go to bed (nothing big, just enough to keep the glass clean). At this point the inside temp is in the upper 70's (bedroom door stays closed to keep it cool for sleeping).

When I get up in the morning the inside temp is down to anywhere from 68F to 72F. Ahhhhhh, perfect!

 

[Joey Jones]

I noticed the temp was down to 49 last night at about 11PM and it was 63 in the house and falling fast....I did light a small fire with the stove blower on and the ceiling fan on... Things did heat up nicely within 2 hours and I went to bed with a couple of good splits on a good amount of coals...I woke up to find good coals and a house temp of 70 degrees

 

[firefighterjake]

I've been lighting a fire in the mornings or evenings as needed (i.e. inside temp is down to 60 degrees or so). Most of the time I've been able to burn just small fires and bring the house temp up to a very comfortable 70 or 72. However, the other day I came home to find that my wife had started a fire around 10 a.m. and had been feeding it all day . . . the place was 82 degrees inside and only 64 or so degrees outside.

Holy Cow . . . had several windows opened in an attempt to cool down. My wife said (and I understood) that once she had the fire going she just hated to let it die out . . . she has since reconsidered this thought process.

 

[billb3]

You get up at six.
Pee.
Make a pot of coffee.
Start a small fire in the stove.
Go back to bed.

If you're still young you might get lucky.

Get back up again later.

When you get good at lighting fires, you're not out of bed very long.
Unless you like watching the fire from the couch.
With a cup of fresh made coffee.
(and peace and quiet)

 

[btj1031]

You get up at six.
Pee.
Make a pot of coffee.
Start a small fire in the stove.
Go back to bed.

If you're still young you might get lucky.

Get back up again later.

When you get good at lighting fires, you're not out of bed very long.
Unless you like watching the fire from the couch.
With a cup of fresh made coffee.
(and peace and quiet)

HA!

 

[caber]

We had our first fire last night. It's been getting down to the low 40's at night and low-60's during the day. I got home last night at 7 and the house was 63. After cleaning up around the stove, clearing off plants, dusting, etc., I loaded it 1/3 full and fired it up. Mmmmmmm fire. By 9:00 it was 77 degrees. Changed into shorts and enjoyed the smooth enveloping warmth of the woodstove. The fire burned out around 11 when I went to bed with the bedroom window slightly open. It was still 70 in the house this morning when I got up. 43 outside. Very nice.

 

[caber]

You get up at six.
Pee.
Make a pot of coffee.
Start a small fire in the stove.
Go back to bed.

If you're still young you might get lucky.

Get back up again later.

When you get good at lighting fires, you're not out of bed very long.
Unless you like watching the fire from the couch.
With a cup of fresh made coffee.
(and peace and quiet)

And if you've been doing it long enough, you don't even need to wake up completely.

 

[Patapsco Mike]

Shoulder season = oil for me too. Doesn't cost squat this time of year, heat is instant, and the heat is more even throughout the house. Unless I can burn 24/7 it's just not worth it. I won't light a heat fire until November, not counting fires for fun on cold weekends this month while watching football...

 

[N/A N/A]

I do the same as most of you. I now consider it the beginning of the official wood burning heating season for me. Not 24/7 for sure but...Two nights in a row I built a fire for warmth. Get the stove good and hot and let it die off. Its not much work for that big Harman to get the house nice and toasty. Then off to bed I go. The fire goes out through out the night and the temp begins to drop. Still nice and warm at 345 am when I am up getting ready to go to work. Its really only waisting wood when you dont have it to burn. And its really no more of a waist to fire up the oil or gas furnace. As long as it is for heat and not just for something to do.

 

[the_dude]

It's not a waste of wood for me. The last few nights it has been in the mid 60's when I get home. I have been building small fires and getting the house up to about 75 or so, then letting it die off. It was 71 in the kitchen still this morning. I have no idea how using the wood I busted my hump for to keep my home at a comfortable temp in October can be considered a waste. For me to use LP right now would be a waste of a good fireplace.

 

[Hiram Maxim]

It's not a waste of wood for me. The last few nights it has been in the mid 60's when I get home. I have been building small fires and getting the house up to about 75 or so, then letting it die off. It was 71 in the kitchen still this morning. I have no idea how using the wood I busted my hump for to keep my home at a comfortable temp in October can be considered a waste. For me to use LP right now would be a waste of a good fireplace.

Same here!

I specifically keep a lot of small piece around for this time of year.

When I'm cutting & splitting there ends up being a ton of small branches and split debris that I stacked separate.

Been burning Pine and Cherry the last 3 rainy cold nights so that it keeps a nice 74* in the house with a cooler 68* in the bedrooms.

I load the stove right after dark and then some more before turning in. It ends up about 70* in the morning.

It has been in the upper 30's at night and mid to upper 50's during the day so its nice to take the chill out of the air and watch the flames.

Cheers, Hiram

 

[Jags]

Anytime I get a chance to burn wood instead of oil/propain, I do. Otherwise its just a waist of oil/propain. ;-P

 

[Burd]

HELL I like what Jag says The hell with the oil I came home from work and the heater was running. I did to much work splitting and stacking wood. Ill save my tank of oil for three years if I can. So for now I light the box on weekends and keep a low temp No higher then 350 then before I go to bed ill load it up and get the temps up to around 500.In the morning if Its to cool in the house ill light a morning fire till the sun warms up the house.

 

[Highbeam]

Anytime I get a chance to burn wood instead of oil/propain, I do. Otherwise its just a waist of oil/propain. ;-P

Bah! Freaking hilarious. I tried to give your username more "rank" but it wouldn't let me. That was awesome.

 

[ansehnlich1]

....here in south PA I roll up a bunch of newspaper, throw some bark and kindling on top, throw 3 or 4 splits of boxelder on top of that, and fire it.....usually around 7 or 8 pm, then go into meditation mode, repeating

don't put any more wood on the fire
don't put any more wood on the fire
don't put any more wood on the fire
don't put any more wood....

 

[crazy_dan]

It's my and I'll burn it if I want to.
Besides what else are you supposed to do with Junk wood like cedar, pine, sycamore, walnut,and cottonwood or anything else that is not oak or hickory???
Don't you have to make sure your wood is flammable?

 

[Girl]

Nice & hot in the evenings keeps it cozy till the morning, that's what all the chunk, punk weirdo pieces are for.
I still try to hold out burning & I do not turn on the thermostat this time of year either.

It has been so damp here this year though that I think I maybe doing more of the small fires.