First overnight burn...am I paranoid?

[bogydave]

I have to admit this thread has me scratching my head. I never dreamed folks had so much fear over a stove. I also never thought anyone would burn during the daytime and not at night. Seems natural to keep that thing burning and in the end it is a lot easier. So if anyone has some fear, I agree with PapaDave. Burn it on a weekend during the day but fill it and set it as if it were for an overnight burn. Watch what happens. That should calm some nerves.

Fewer & fewer folks grew up with a stove being there all the time & the only source of heat.
We always had a stove, coal/wood usually. No fire alarms or CO alarms.
Think about the 10s of millions raised in cities, in multi-story apartment/condo complexes.
Many homes built now , no fireplace or any secondary heat source.
Now some move to the burbs or country & have/want a wood stove.
Never seen an open fire/flame inside the house other than a gas burner on a range or a candle.
Hear stories about house fires due to wood stove or fireplace, chimney fire.
For many it takes some getting use to & time to develop trust in their equipment

 

[HotCoals]

I have been around wood stoves most of my life with no fear for the most part.
But glass door/doors do bother me some..but I like seeing the fire..oh yes..even with this cat stove I can a watch a fire..amazing eh? lol

 

[BrotherBart]

Heated with'em since 1977. And with every new stove I check the burn a couple of times a night for a while. The 30 has been heating this joint since 2006 and if a night load looks weird when I go up to read I come down before I go to sleep to check on it.

 

[MofoG23]

Fewer & fewer folks grew up with a stove being there all the time & the only source of heat.
We always had a stove, coal/wood usually. No fire alarms or CO alarms.
Think about the 10s of millions raised in cities, in multi-story apartment/condo complexes.
Many homes built now , no fireplace or any secondary heat source.
Now some move to the burbs or country & have/want a wood stove.
Never seen an open fire/flame inside the house other than a gas burner on a range or a candle.
Hear stories about house fires due to wood stove or fireplace, chimney fire.
For many it takes some getting use to & time to develop trust in their equipment

I grew up in a house with an old smoke dragon, so the concept was not new to me. I'm the type of person that if someone else installs or builds something for me, I'm always on alert to make sure it was done properly....just a characteristic of me.

 

[DianeB]

Had a Fisher for 30+, but no glass door. The Fisher also was air tight once you closed down the two spinners on the front door. Seeing the fire and knowing there is secondary air entering the Jotul Castine stove was a bit anxiety producing at first. Also, when I read about needing to have a ball of aluminum foil to shove under the center rear of the stove to close off the seconday air I did feel, wow, this could get interesting. After a couple of months getting used to the way the stove burns, feeling more comfortable Just learned the tunnel of love thingy this week and tried it, working great and got my box of super cedars in today - all set.

 

[corey21]

I mainly run my stove when i am home or awake but i am slowly starting to trust it.

 

[rudysmallfry]

I got up so many times my first year, I don't think I could call it sleeping. Now I sleep so soundly, I don't even get up to reload and wake up to an almost cold stove. It's funny how you get used to things once you know how they behave.

 

[firecracker_77]

I have to admit this thread has me scratching my head. I never dreamed folks had so much fear over a stove. I also never thought anyone would burn during the daytime and not at night. Seems natural to keep that thing burning and in the end it is a lot easier. So if anyone has some fear, I agree with PapaDave. Burn it on a weekend during the day but fill it and set it as if it were for an overnight burn. Watch what happens. That should calm some nerves.

I have no fear of a stove. I fear that my chimney may not be clean enough. The stove won't cause any problems, but a chimney fire!

 

[corey21]

I have no fear of a stove. I fear that my chimney may not be clean enough. The stove won't cause any problems, but a chimney fire!

Has your stove went to the moon yet that may change your mind some not saying i am scared of my stove here.

 

[firecracker_77]

Has your stove went to the moon yet that may change your mind some not saying i am scared of my stove here.

Yeah...that was scary. Happened once.

 

[Backwoods Savage]

I have no fear of a stove. I fear that my chimney may not be clean enough. The stove won't cause any problems, but a chimney fire!

But that can be checked during daylight hours. Certainly not at night.

 

[jrendfrey]

heck im 8 years running on a stove in the house and me and the wife still sleep on the couch in winter mainly to reload it once a night but i think she likes the couch! lol

 

[Hankjones]

I setup a webcam and see it from my phone to make sure my livingroom ain't on fire.

 

[charly]

I have to admit this thread has me scratching my head. I never dreamed folks had so much fear over a stove. I also never thought anyone would burn during the daytime and not at night. Seems natural to keep that thing burning and in the end it is a lot easier. So if anyone has some fear, I agree with PapaDave. Burn it on a weekend during the day but fill it and set it as if it were for an overnight burn. Watch what happens. That should calm some nerves.

Burn it on a weekend during the day but fill it and set it as if it were for an overnight burn. Watch what happens. That should calm some nerves.

Good way to build your confidence.

 

[firefighterjake]

It's normal . . . most of us sleep on the couch and keep waking up every few hours the first week or so that the stove is going . . . once you get used to the stove and realize your safety equipment is in place, the stove is installed right and you're running it correctly and safely you will be able to go to bed and sleep easily.

Some folks call it being paranoid . . . I call it "developing good safety practices" . . . which will hopefully be ingrained and become second nature.

 

[loon]

See this all the time at the back door i use

Emma is a good reminder as she go's out before i go to bed

loon

 

[Cross Cut Saw]

I make sure that I'm not going to bed for at least an hour after anything I add to the stove, I'm usually paranoid about a lot of things but not so much the stove.

 

[Hogwildz]

Signs of being a new woodburner:
Looking at the thermo every 5 minutes.
Leaving then house and having vivid pictures in your head of pulling up the drive to a burned down home upon your return.
Opening the door and poking and repositioning the wood near as many times as you look check the temp on the thermo.
Putting 2 or 3 splits in and then constantly adding another one at a time. Then wondering why the thing is 1/2 full of coals.
Trying to always have fire blazing away, worries that if there is no fire, its not heating(even thought the temp is up to cruising, and the home is warm). There just has got to be fire going on.
Hearing the wood hiss and splatter the glass spurts of water/moisture, and wonder why it takes so long to heat up, or never gets up to temp.
Checking the cap screen with binoculars every day to check on how well the creosote is accumulating.
Cleaning the glass every day.
Loading a bunch of little splits and wondering why it burns like hell fire, yet does not achieve an overnight burn.
Buying a shatload of kindling or starters when you plan on burning 24/7 through the winter.
Taking pictures from start up to end of coals, and looking at them like they are of your newborn baby.
Etc., Etc., Etc.
We all done it, and most admit to it.
Wait a few years and then you'll be seeing how your still perfecting & learning your burn.
Enjoy.....

 

[Cross Cut Saw]

Signs of being a new woodburner:
Looking at the thermo every 5 minutes.

Guilty

Opening the door and poking and repositioning the wood near as many times as you look check the temp on the thermo.

Guilty

Putting 2 or 3 splits in and then constantly adding another one at a time. Then wondering why the thing is 1/2 full of coals.

Guilty

Trying to always have fire blazing away, worries that if there is no fire, its not heating(even thought the temp is up to cruising, and the home is warm). There just has got to be fire going on.

Used to be guilty of this, that was so last month...

Checking the cap screen with binoculars every day to check on how well the creosote is accumulating.

Haven't done this, but now I have something to do on my way to work in the morning...

Taking pictures from start up to end of coals, and looking at them like they are of your newborn baby.

You left out the part where I make everyone at work look at them.

I just did a sweep of my house for cameras, not sure where you got all of the info on me.

 

[aussiedog3]

I slept in front of mine the first night too.
You will learn and you will get used to it.
You can never be too careful.

 

[oppirs]

When you have it (stove) Right..... Sleep happy!

 

[MnDave]

alfalfa,

I think you are very wise to develop a level of trust before you turn in for the night.

On my recent install of my first EPA stove, I built much of my trust during the day with larger and larger loads.

I made sure that if things went nuclear I could dampen that blaze and get it under control. EPA stoves cannot be damped down as quick as the older "smoke dragon" stoves.

It turns out I needed a $3 stovepipe damper. Before the damper the stove never overfired. A 3/4 load burn just felt out of my control. Also, I was just not happy with how fast the wood burn down.

With the damper I feel I have more control over the burn rate than just the factory controls. I also have a tall chimney and an outside air kit (OAK) which is very efficient at delivering air to the stove.

MnDave

 

[clr8ter]

When we started using our stove 3 seasons ago, the wife & I freaked out if the temp got to 600. Several nights of staying up watching it. Now, if it gets to 600, we just reach down and lower the throttle. It settles down. I believe based on what I've read here that 700 for a short time with the Oslo wouldn't be the end of the world.

 

[netmouse]

My first fires 20 years ago, I kept a bucket of water (maybe irrational and useless) next to the stove. Only fear now is an ember on my glove when loading a log, and my habit now is to always brush my fingertips against each other and lay the gloves on the stone hearth.

What I settled into is about 5 pm starting my evening fire with a good stack of wood, a fire starter (love one Uncle Ethan's sawdust log in middle) and get a very robust fire going - up to 600 or 700 temp. It settles down. Throw another log on about 8 pm. It settles down and cruises to glowing logs and embers by 10 pm and I go to bed. Downstairs temp about 75, upstairs cooler. Up in the morning the oil still has not kicked in and the house is 65 - 70 temp, even when outside temp in the 20's. Outside warms up and sun comes in the wall of windows on the west side. Temp can go down to 60 which is fine when I am dressed warmly, and any oil kicking in - which is unusual - is minor until I start that evening's fire. So no fire going if I go out in the day.

I have a new stove with window. Read that glass is better today, and after a few fires to 700 I have no fear. Rule I hear is to be sure flames are visible and not smoldering to avoid "gas" explosions that have shattered (older?) glass. I always have a great fire going, using starters in the beginning.

 

[tcassavaugh]

i grew up around wood stoves, have used them myself now in this house for over 18 years and every now and then, i still get up to "check" on the stove/s. sometimes you just get this feeling.....did i close down the stove? does something smell "hot"....is that smoke i smell....is the stove back puffing.....and you stumble out to check on it and realize it was just your imagination. Get into a routine or a checklist before you go to bed, checking the stove and surrounding area to make sure everything is ok. soon, most of those feelings will pass.

cass