Timing Question

[Caw]

Ok here's the scenario:

Osburn 1600 insert (1.85 cu ft tube stove)
Quality maple/ash/cherry fuel.
Home is well insulated, only heat source.

Its 7:00 pm and the house is about 70 degrees (stove room 75) right about where we like it. The stove is at about 375 degrees with just the right amount of coals for a reload. I plan to go to bed around 11 pm.

Do you....

A) Reload a few medium/trashy splits and carry her to 10:30 pm ish for an easy overnight reload

Or

B) Let it die down and just do a full top down restart in a likely 150-200 ish degree box. It'll go faster than a cold start but it still takes time and energy to reheat the box.

Personally I usually opt for option A because its faster however I then get that guilty "I'm wasting wood" feeling because I don't really *need* the heat right now...I just dont want to deal with restarting before bed. Also there's a lot of wasted energy restarting from scratch.

Just an interesting scenario I found myself in today. I opted for option A again. Usually the load timing is better with colder weather because I want the heat but these 35 degree days throw everything off.

What would you do and why?

 

[EbS-P]

A,

heat now is just as good as heat later. Maybe better. I can pack more wood and get longer burns with a reload vs a top down start.

 

[Caw]

Thats basically my point of view. I have a feeling option A will be a clear majority. Let's see!

 

[Gearhead660]

With the size of my house I would go with A. Especially since I would be in the stove room soaking up the heat.

 

[brenndatomu]

A.
Although depending on the outside and inside temp...I might try to "thread the needle" and wait until the last minute to still have hot coals...then just load enough to milk things out until its officially time for the nighttime load...

 

[Caw]

I'm pro threading the needle if I'm burning the really good stuff. My current oak is a little finicky and needs a little more heat/coals to go (it's about 20%) wheras my primo maple (about 16%) just looks at a coal and takes off.

 

[andym]

I usually go for option A as long as it's at or below our targeted room temp (71-72). I would usually throw in some softwood construction scraps along with an 'ugly' or two. The ugly provides the coals needed for the reload, the scraps provide the additional heat needed to burn effiently. Of course my firebox is 3.5 cft vs 1.85.

 

[mcdougy]

When you do a load at 11 what do have in the morning when you get to the stove? That plays into the scenario (length of burn time from a full load?
I've been burning ash for the majority of my experience and it only needs a few red coals to go.
Relighting always seems like a slight waste of effort. Adding a small batch continuously fills my firebox fullnof coal never letting it burn right down, which doesn't allow me to pack it full for full burn times. My dear wife can fill the firebox with coals in a day, she likes to always add to the existing fire.. I try to full burn batches.

 

[DuaeGuttae]

Just an interesting scenario I found myself in today. I opted for option A again. Usually the load timing is better with colder weather because I want the heat but these 35 degree days throw everything off.

What would you do and why?

I would generally opt for option A as well, but tonight I faced a similar question with my own insert and opted for option B with a variation. We have a 2.5 cubic foot insert so we can start an overnight load earlier in the night and still have good coals in the morning. We also burn a lot of cedar in addition to our oak. We were down to fairly low coals around 6:00 in the evening (it hit 70 here today with lots of sun, so these were from a large morning load) and instead of throwing wood on (it was 74 in the stove room and 53 outside), I used the ash rake to push them to the back of the stove and cover them. We could have thrown more wood on without overheating, but we didn't need it, and I wanted the opportunity to clear some ash out of a cooler stove and give the stove a bit of a external cleaning. At 8:00 I re-raked the ash to bring the coals out, my husband took out a scoop of fine ash, and I reloaded with some twigs at the bottom, three cedar splits in the first row, an oak branch and another cedar split to top it off. I didn't need a match but I did use the bellows to ignite the wood. It should carry us through the night and leave some good coals for the morning.

Maybe this is an option C: Bank the coals.

 

[Caw]

When you do a load at 11 what do have in the morning when you get to the stove? That plays into the scenario (length of burn time from a full load?
I've been burning ash for the majority of my experience and it only needs a few red coals to go.
Relighting always seems like a slight waste of effort. Adding a small batch continuously fills my firebox fullnof coal never letting it burn right down, which doesn't allow me to pack it full for full burn times. My dear wife can fill the firebox with coals in a day, she likes to always add to the existing fire.. I try to full burn batches.

If I'm adding a small carry over load I'm actually after more coals. If there are too many though when its getting to be reload time I'll rake and toss a small 1-2" split on. It burns the coals down quickly to make room for more wood.

For me a 11 pm reload leaves adequate coals for a 7-8 am restart. If I get up to pee early am sometimes I'll turn the blower off when I walk by so I can be super lazy when I get up and not reload right away.

 

[firefighterjake]

A

 

[stoveliker]

A. I use a split or two of softwood or an ugly, let it go at an appropriate pace to be ready for reloading at the time I want. This little fuel won't put out that much heat...

Measuring the fuel input for your needs in cases like this is not easy - just try to out in as little as possible and adjust the Tstat to have it down to coals in time for the full reload.

 

[ChadMc]

I feel like I go through this every evening haha. I usually throw in a few small splits for a quick hot fire around dinner time then let it burn down and it usually sets the coals up perfect for the night load around 930-10ish. But on a cold night I’m looking at the coals and feelin the house cooling off and thinking should I through just a few back in?