All night burn-what's the trick?

[thewoodlands]

So as I learn this new Jotul, I have been trying to achieve an all night burn. More than once I have loaded the fire box as much wood as I can, splits a little bigger in size. Once I have shut the air down all the way and let the design of the stove feed in the air. Once I have left the air open a crack and both times I woke up to just a pile of ash. Last night I loaded the stove up with big splits of Maple and one split off White Birch that the tree was very old in age when cut, the Birch seemed harder and denser than normal.

I loaded it up at 10 or a little after at night and woke up at 5 the next morning. Nothing glowing in the fire box.

Could it be the grate, letting the ashes fall into the pan resulting in not keeping hot ambers in the fire box?
Could it be the wood?
Could it be that I just am a Dork?

opinions would be great! Thanks

Loaded the Liberty with 4 pieces of Maple ( nothing HUGE) at 11:00 pm and shut it down for the overnight burn at 11:15, woke up at 5:15 with coals. Put some Cherry splits in and took off from there. Loaded my overnight burn east/west.

Zap

 

[TomB]

I've had the best luck with hardwood, well seasoned, and a 10 inch round and other full rounds to stuff the firebox.

my best was 9 hours with a reasonable coal bed at 6 am

 

[Skier76]

A really well written post Jake. Thanks for taking the time to put that together.

I'm a government employee . . . we have lots of time on our hands.

Actually, all kidding aside, I figure helping folks burn cleanly and safely and efficiently . . . regardless of where they live . . . is important.

Besides . . . I learned a whole lot from other members when I was a newbie and first starting out . . . and I'm still learning (re: learning about the top coming off the Oslo in that recent thread) . . . figure this is just one way to give something back to others . . . and hopefully they'll stick around and offer good advice to others.

LOL!

It's great because it helps the poster asking. And it also helps when people dig a post up via a search. I know I did a lot of searching for my stove before buying it. I'm sure this will pop up when someone searches for "Oslo".

 

[grommal]

A really well written post Jake. Thanks for taking the time to put that together.

x2

 

[Wood Duck]

Not all maples are created equal, as others have said, and neither are all birches. Black Birch is a nice dense hardwood, close to oak in BTUs, whereas white/paper birch is is the middle of the pack. I think BLack Birch may be the best of the woods you listed for this year. Try a box full of that for overnight, if it is dry.

 

[BucksCounty]

Jake, very informative! Just the info I was looking for. Thanks.

 

[gibson]

I think that there is a significant learning curve with a new stove. The first year is going to be a little bit bumpy with figuring out the operation of your stove and chimney, in your home. With my Jotul, I have found that once you have a good fire going you can shut the air all the way down and the stove will provide enough air to keep the secondaries going for quite a while. The air intake on my Jotul is very simple and effective as it keeps a good flame going, but when the stove has gotten too hot from giving it too much air, shutting it down and turning up the blower to high always cools it right down.

That being said, with a 3 cubic foot firebox, the best I can do is about 8 hrs. That leaves me some coals that I can throw some kindling on, many times I need newspaper. I have gotten an occasional 9+ hour and sometimes a cold stove when I wake up. I packed her pretty full last night and was able to start up with paper and kindling this morning. Be patient, have fun, and manage your expectations. When you are sitting in front of your stove on a cold Saturday night with a cold beer and some good reading material, who cares about 8 hour burn times?

Good luck.

 

[Green Energy]

I am new to the EPA non-cat stoves. But experienced with a large cat stove that I had no problem having a solid bed of coals, sometimes even some chars, after 8-10 hours. I do burn mainly red oak. I really enjoy keeping the stove going for weeks at a time in December and January.

So I now have to make the transition to the F500 and am a little concerned that I will have to restart the stove more often. A key strategy seems to be to have one or two large splits or rounds in the back and make sure everything is cooking before throttling back the air. I read above that someone uses up to a 10" split. As I get ready for my first attempt for an overnight burn, that is what I am going to try.

Do F500 owners regularly throw in a 10" split for a longer burn? I realize that you need some other medium and smaller pieces to keep things rolling for the big split to burn efficiently, at least half way throw.

 

[jerseykat1]

i have a 1.9 cu ft firebox on my timberwolf economizer 2201 and if by definition of having an overnight burn is having a good hot coal bed in the morning then i have been achieving this from day one by loading it according to the directions provided with the stove. Napoleon reccomends that i stuff the crap out of it with wood east to west, as close to the door as possible and as high to the top as possible (but you should only do this when you have an established coal bed or good blaze going) with seasoned wood (or what i think and hope is seasoned anyway). Come morning time say around 6am my natural gas furnace set at 72 degrees comes on for the first and only time in 24 hours (provided i am home during the day if not i set the boiler to 68 so my dog wont freeze), while i would love to wake up to some flames, i will settle for a large amount of coals, usually to the point where i have to let them burn down before i add more wood. maybe my wood is still wet which is why i have so much hot coals left in the morning, i don't know, but it typically cruises at 650-700 degrees with my inlet set a 1/4 open, then it gradually dies down to about 300-400 by morning. Thats when i usually just open the door and leave it open to get the most out of the coals which brings the house up to 73-74 degrees.

i would try stuffing the crap out of your firebox with medium sized splits and one large split, i tend to put the large split up front and the small stuff in the back.

 

[precaud]

Add a secondary air cutoff to your stove and then you will have no problem getting 10-12 hour burns. Guaranteed.

 

[oldspark]

Add a secondary air cutoff to your stove and then you will have no problem getting 10-12 hour burns. Guaranteed.

Do you know what that does to stove top and flue temps, sounds interesting.

 

[precaud]

Spark, it has no effect on those things - you only shut the secondaries off after the flames die.

Your PE's secondary is relatively unique in that the secondary air doesn't have a separate intake, and is controlled by the main air control.

 

[oldspark]

Spark, it has no effect on those things - you only shut the secondaries off after the flames die.

Your PE's secondary is relatively unique in that the secondary air doesn't have a separate intake, and is controlled by the main air control.

OK that makes sense on closing off the secondaries after the flames die, I guess I have to find a drawing of my summit as I thougt it had a secondary air inlet in the back of the stove under the ash pan.