Overnight burn in a woodburner

Williwoodburner

Hello,
I am new to this forum but have experience in woodburning stoves and have read on some of the threads that people are having trouble keeping in overnight.
I found an excellent video on a stoveshop website Wedron stoves (couldnt put the link on), the one to watch is the Harmony stove video, bear with it, a bit long winded but about 3/4 thro the video it shows you how to keep in overnight with wood.
Basically it says this -
About an hour or more before you intend to go to bed build up your fire with some good sized logs and let the fire run hot until a good bed of glowing embers with very little flame.
Then close down the air supply (airwash) leaving only the secondary burn air open.
Go to bed, and in the morning there should still be some embers glowing.
Open all the air supplies and put on some dry kindling.
The fire should then burst into life and when kindling is roaring away start adding small logs and away you go again for the day.
Have tried this several times on my Yeoman Exe 5 KW after about 8 hours overnight, and it works.
Hope this is of help.

A._Badger

Williwoodburner wrote: »

Hello,
I am new to this forum but have experience in woodburning stoves and have read on some of the threads that people are having trouble keeping in overnight.
I found an excellent video on a stoveshop website Wedron stoves (couldnt put the link on), the one to watch is the Harmony stove video, bear with it, a bit long winded but about 3/4 thro the video it shows you how to keep in overnight with wood.
Basically it says this -
About an hour or more before you intend to go to bed build up your fire with some good sized logs and let the fire run hot until a good bed of glowing embers with very little flame.
Then close down the air supply (airwash) leaving only the secondary burn air open.
Go to bed, and in the morning there should still be some embers glowing.
Open all the air supplies and put on some dry kindling.
The fire should then burst into life and when kindling is roaring away start adding small logs and away you go again for the day.
Have tried this several times on my Yeoman Exe 5 KW after about 8 hours overnight, and it works.
Hope this is of help.

The current wisdom is that you shouldn't keep stoves burning overnight -especially if you are burning wood. When ticking over, too much smoke is produced, the chimney (or liner) gets cool and tar and creosote condense, forming a fire hazard.

Of course, it's possible the current wisdom is wrong, but actual evidence is missing from either side of the argument, so I'm playing safe and letting mine go out every night.

Greenfires

The method described is certainly a lot better than what a lot of people do,which is pile the stove to the baffle plate with fresh fuel ten seconds before they close all the air controls down and leave it for the night. That way leaves you with smouldering, smoking fuel and a rapidly cooling chimney - and is asking for bother in the not too distant future.

The method above aims to make sure that most of the volatiles and moisture have been driven off before the stove is closed down, so much less smoke is produced in the later stages of the burn. I'm still very wary of recommending customers to try and keep a stove in though - it's just a much safer bet to let them out instead.

Having said all that, burning briquettes we find more often than not that there is sufficient heat left in the stove in the morning to just throw a couple of bits in and leave the door cracked for ten minutes, then off it goes again. We never stoke the stove up at bed time, or close down the air at all - it just gets left on whatever setting it was operating on through the evening. A lot of customers report the same thing, and quite often that they've never managed it before with logs or other briquettes. Customers living on boats love it - as the stove is often their only source of heat, and so keeping it in is a bit more of an issue for them.

As Badger says - letting it out is the safe bet - and with a decent stove and decent fuel, it's only a matter of a few minutes work in the morning and it's away.

Andy

Williwoodburner

Believe me, I have tried it, if you shut down with a good pile of glowing embers only, there is no smoke, the embers tick away overnight and the glass stays nice and clear.
Watch the video, it is excellent, the best one I have seen.

Williwoodburner

By the way,
The video is on the Wendron stoves website under FAQ's - how to light a fire.

suki1964

jeepjunkie wrote: »

I wouldn't bother trying to keep a woodburner alight overnight, don't waste your logs.

If you were to bank it up with smokeless coal you would have much more success but then again why waste fuel with inefficient burns when in bed???

Personally I burn it quite hard then let it die naturally...

Same here, I cant see the point of heating the house when tucked up in bed, plus I like to start with a clean ash pan and thats easiest dealt with when cold enough to handle

Williwoodburner

jeepjunkie wrote: »

I wouldn't bother trying to keep a woodburner alight overnight, don't waste your logs.

If you were to bank it up with smokeless coal you would have much more success but then again why waste fuel with inefficient burns when in bed???

Personally I burn it quite hard then let it die naturally...

Have my stove set up as a woodburner so not a good idea to burn smokeless without a grate.
Only trying to help as some people on other threads appear to have been trying to burn wood overnight and been struggling.
Regards.
Willie.

A._Badger

There is an interesting comment on the site - twice - to the effect that housecoal 'burns too hot' and will damage a stove. Is this yet more mythology from the stove business? As I understand it, the reason bituminous coal is not recommended is because of the considerable amount of soot it produces.

Does anyone have any actual evidence that bituminous coal burns hotter than smokeless fuel? Empirically, I'd have said the opposite.

highrisklowreturn

I too would like advice on burning bituminous coal in a stove in a smokeless zone - as long as it is cheaper. As long as I can see burning smokeless coal is cheaper than the smokey varierty so I don't see any incentive to break the law which is a great disappointment.

Williwoodburner

A._Badger wrote: »

There is an interesting comment on the site - twice - to the effect that housecoal 'burns too hot' and will damage a stove. Is this yet more mythology from the stove business? As I understand it, the reason bituminous coal is not recommended is because of the considerable amount of soot it produces.

Does anyone have any actual evidence that bituminous coal burns hotter than smokeless fuel? Empirically, I'd have said the opposite.

Good question Mr Badger,

I have never tried burning smokeless for that reason and I suppose because I have a free wood supply, but would like to try it out of curiosity.
I have seen bags of "wood coal" not sure what this is or if you can burn it in a woodburner without a grate.
Maybe someone could enlighten us.

A._Badger

I use smokeless fuel or wood, depending on how cold it is (smokeless produces far more heat, but requires a different technique).

I've watched the Harmony video and note that in it there's no mention of coal burning 'too hot'. In fact they specifically warn about using housecoal for the reason I quoted earlier - that it produces too much soot in your chimney. That makes me suspect the retailer's site is wrong - as the stove maker's advice backs the consensus view.

As I've said before on this forum, I have experimented with housecoal in the past (some stove manufacturers seem to say it is OK to use). It works, but it does produce considerable volumes of soot which clog the internal passageways of the stove and pack the chimney liner. For my experience, I'd say it's not viable because what you save on the cost of coal, you end-up spending on much more frequent sweeping - and that is saying nothing about the increased risk of a chimney fire with all that soot lining the flue.