Temp control heating with wood
 

This is our first year heating with wood, and I love it. Every time I walk into the warm house I grin because it's not costing any dollars.

But boy howdy does it get hot in here. I've taken to opening in the window to control the temperature and having guilty childhood flashbacks about "heating the whole neighborhood."

Is there a trade secret to keeping the house warm but not hot and burning the fire hot enough to prevent creosote build up? There must also be a magic trick to keeping the fire going all night, too. :)

How often do you all put another log on the fire?

Build SMALL hot fires instead of filling the firebox, and you dont overheat the room so much.
It just takes time to learn to control it the way you want

Yep, the magic trick is: He who hath insomnia keepeth the home fires burning.

I have an old Franklin woodstove, so it's not very efficient. I put a log on about every 2 to 2 1/2 hrs thru the night.

Practice makes perfect, and putting wood in the stove during the night makes warm mornings. The secret is getting your husband to drink a lot before bedtime so he has to get up during the night. Ask me how I know. <>Unk

Huh? Wait a minute! I thought you were UncleWill???

Unless you have a super efficient stove, burn a lot of green wood or pine, or have a really tall chimney, creosote is not a huge problem. just inspect often and clean when necessary.

If you have some lower quality wood such as green, damp, or punky wood, mix a little of that in with the good stuff to take the edge off.

It would help to know what kind (type) of stove you have.

I am guessing Aunt Will is generous in her servings...

Unkle Will's wife makes him do it! :buds:

Not costing any dollars? You'll have to tell us the trick on that.

Much depends on the stove you have as far as being able to control the temp. We cut the air flow down to keep the output down. We check the chimney often and brush it out when we think it needs it. Since it's not cold here many days it's easy to let the fire go out and check it. We build a good fire and let it build up a good bed of coals so we can load it before bed, turn it down and wake up to another good bed of coals and a hot stove.

We have a Country Flame BBF wood stove. It was in the house when we moved here and I don't really know anything about it. In fact, I sheepishly admit that I never even thought that the type of wood stove was even a factor.

I'm certainly going to offer to get "the old man" a beer in the evenings more frequently from now on! I'm starting to think that we women's libbers forgot about "ulterior motive" to our detriment!

April, does it look like this?

http://www.americanenergysystems.com/model-bbf.cfm

40 acres of woods and several big storms that blew trees right out of the ground went a long way toward increasing the size of the woodpile. Granted some of it still needs split, but we've got strong backs and a weird idea of what fun is. :)

That's the one. I don't really like that glass front door because it has to be cleaned so that you don't have to get up off the couch to see if the fire is still burning. :)

If it had a steel door how would you know if the fire was burning???? ;)

Good point!

Thanks for all the feedback!

I fill the heater up at 9 pm when I go to bed. Sleeping upstairs, my feet get cold around 2 am, so I force myself to get up. By that time there will only be a thin layer of coals left. I fill it up again and it lasts until I get up between 5 and 6 am.

The novelty wears off eventually. My chain saws use gas oil and chains and the woodsplitter doesn't run for free either. Don't get me wrong wood heat is great but it's not free.

It is compared to purchasing natural gas or home heating fuel!

Many a wood burning homesteader has hopped around like a frozen toed rooster trying to get the corncobs and coaloil fire going to start the wood burning so Maw could get to cooking breakfaast before she went out to the three sided shed to milk that icy titted old cow.

April:
"That's the one. I don't really like that glass front door because it has to be cleaned so that you don't have to get up off the couch to see if the fire is still burning."

My stove has a glass door too. In the instructions that came with it was this technique--Take a newspaper, wet it, dip it in the ashes, and clean the glass. Works well!

I don't bother to clean the glass, I can tell how the stove is doing by the amount of heat rediating off ;) We have a good stove, and fairly dry wood, and we load only twice a day even at temps below zero. It would hold longer than that, but then the house would cool way down and take longer to heat up. Occasionally I will put in a "bank" log around 9, those are rounds of spruce-not the best for home heating but it will leave you a lot of coals. We've got a Blaze King Ultra-tried and true for decades here in Alaska.

I use floor fans to help distribute the heat, which works well.

I'm not really experience yet but I have found that if I use large pieces of a really dense wood and fill the box at night, push in the damper to let only a small amount of air in, it is still warm to the touch in the morning. During the day I use smaller pieces of wood to keep the temp lower. But it does mean feeding more often.
I think the best thing for the novice is a wood stove thermometer- teaches you how to find the right burn balance.

I agree with where I want to... I keep a log that will barely fit in the stove for the night... I always have warm coals to get a fire going well in the morning... (I do keep small stuff for that purpose)

I also acquired a diffuser plate to put on top of the stove, and use it to make stews, soups, chili etc. (actually because of the ice storm last winter, lost a bunch of pork... so I cut it up in smaller pieces and add water ((and noodles etc)) and put it on the stove also to feed the dogs... meat's not wasted nor does it cost me ((propane)) to cook it.)


Pat

after 38 years of heating with 2 woodstoves in our old house..we now have a wood fired outdoor furnace that runs on a thermostat to push the air through a heat exchanger under our propane furnace..so instead of propane the air is heated with wood heating antifreeze filled water in pex tubing through the heat exchanger..

keeps us at whatever temperature we set our thermostat at.

Getting a fire to burn a while depends on what type of wood your burning. I usually burn "Go'fer" wood. I call it that because it seems as soon as I throw some in I have to go'fer more. Usually it is soft wood or scrap wood from old buildings.

Our "Earth Stove" has an air flow control that can be adjusted to let more or less air into the burning chamber. We put three good logs in, turn it down, and it burns slowly all night.

It also has a solid door, no glass. Never have had to guess if the fire is burning or not. The heat being radiated is a good clue.:banana02:

To keep a fire overnight and control the heat output requires two things: an air tight stove and well seasoned, split firewood.
When you can control the amount of air the fire gets, you control the heat output. If the wood isn't real dry, turning down the air just makes a smoldering fire that fills your chimney with cresote.

Open up the air for a bit before bed time, fill it with firewood, bigger pieces on top, let those pieces get burning and shut it down as much as you can without putting the fire out.

In the morning, open the air up and put some smaller pieces on top if the remaining coals. Once they are burning well, add bigger pieces and shut it down before it gets to a comfortable temp. If you wait to shut it down when you notice how hot is in there, the heat will continue to climb for awhile after you close off the air, wasting wood and requiring the windows to be opened.

I believe all firewood must be split to dry properly, even the smaller stuff. Unsplit, the bark does what is intended to do, hold moisture in the tree. Don't expect all the wood's moisture to come out the ends.

To make damp wood burn, a lot of heat is used to drive the water out. So, you'll need to burn more pieces and get less heat. Don't do it.

If you are going to burn wood, get it cut and split at least a year ahead of time. Not 6 months or even 8 months. Two years is a good goal.

You will get onto it if you are consistent with the same kind of wood you burn. If you are from Missouri I will assume you will burn alot of post oak. Depends on the wood.
I personally try to burn just hedge. It's hot and lasts awhile and never rots laying in the woodpile. Your stove or fireplace has to be up to it or you will have a meltdown with hedge because it can get really hot if you don't watch it.

I just turn down the damper and the air intake before bed with a couple of sizable chunks on some hot coals and open a window if need be.

We heated with mostly wood for alot of years. The first one back in the house from working or being out, stoked the fireplace first thing above anything else.
Everyone in this house knows how to get the fire going without burning the place down.

Blaze King will not overheat house, unless summer day
 

Ours is a Blaze King King-Classic, and here is info about how they work.

This is from another post.

We have an 82.5% efficient (you will burn 17.9% less wood, and longer than with a standared air tight) catalytic wood stove which seems to burn most of the creosote before it gets to the flue. And we burn full hot every so often, and have 2-1/2" high-temperature insulated double stainless steel modern flue. Just in case someone was going to comment about how pine and spruce produce creosote.

The, great, catalytic combuster burns nearly 90% of cresote, even at lower firing levels. The thermostatic air inlet will not let our stove neither overheat our house, nor burn more wood than needed.

It will last all night in minus 50F or up to 47 hours in warmer times.

http://www.abceltd.com/pics/Web/GroutAtBlazeKing.jpg
Blaze King King-Classic with Gold Door Trim, clearance reduction panels on sides, and dual fans on rear, which are rear clearance reduction panels as well. We only turn the fans on when we want to warm up our cabin when we were gone for some time.

Alex

For night it does help to have a hubby who leaves for work at 4am :). We put 2 large hard woods on at and close the damper about halfway. That leaves alot of coals to start up with again. When ever someone gets up to go potty they check the stove.

I held off for quite a while cuz I thought somebody else would say something.

A thermal mass helps smoothing things out. There was an article in backwoods home where a guy just brought in lots and lots of rocks and piled them up all around his wood stove. Not only did he burn far less wood, but the rocks would hold the heat a day later.

One of the solutions is the whole "mass heater" or "russian stove" where there is a big mountain of bricks/masonry that the "chimney" is routed through.

And then the more modern stuff is the rocket mass heater. It keeps heating the room for days after the fire has gone out.

Paul is correct, thermal mass is the key. I have 3 layers of bricks on top of the woodstove with a cover I made that looks as though it is part of the woodstove. Behind the woodstove I built a cultured rock wall clear to the ceiling. I bring in an armload of wood after doing chores in the evening and it is still 66-70 degrees in the morning. This is in an ICF berm home though. People have a hard time believing that I heat 1500 sq ft with an armload a day (sometimes a little more depending on if it is cloudy or not).

Grannted labor not free... but there isn't much labor to be done in the winter time. For $50 in gasoline, I can provide more than $800 of propane. (probably more). And I 10 drather $50 leave the homestead than $800!

Besides burning wood heats you at least 3 (or for me 5) times... 1 when you cut it up, 2nd when you stack it... 3rd when you burn it (and for me, 3rd when I move it from the unprotected stack to the protected stack, and 4th when I bring it inside prior to burning).

I bought our stove in 2004 (went through 3 tanks of propane the winter before), and by not buying propane (and cutting up downed wood) paid it off by 2006. (and that didn't include the increase in propane price.) Still have propane for backup if I ever get where I can't carry wood in (nor cut it and stack it).

Pat

Congratulations on joining the wood burners of America !
Today is cloudy and cold , high temp 15*,started out at 0 outside and 62 inside ;threw a log or two on every other hour all day and with a bed of coals in there i can damp it down pretty tight without creosote concerns. It is a tad warm in here at 76* but it will cool down overnight.
Practice will get you there to where you are comfortable with it, something different every day it seems.
When it gets in the -20 * overnight will usually stoke it up and let it slow burn
till morning.
Good luck !

I have a temperature controll damper on my wood heater. I still tend to leave it set a little on the hot side...and just open windows or doors if it gets to warm.

On the idea of thermal mass. I hear all these elaborate (and often expensive) schemes to provide "thermal mass" Thermal mass is great. It will help to moderate your temperatures and keep your house acceptibly warm for two or three days if the fire goes out. Why pay extra for thermal mass? The average basement has around 1000 cubic feet of concrete in the walls, and more in the floor. The only thing it takes to turn that into usuable thermal mass is to insulate it with non absorbent foam insulation on the outside before one back fills.

The one's I've helped build had a total cost of about $20 to $80 and were built in a day and a half.

We are heating our place with two wood burning stoves. One is a box stove that I use to cook on and the second is a wood furnace that heats both the shop and the house with an axillary vent. Last weekend we hung a thermometer at about the 6 foot level and the temp was between 95-100 so we know what you all are talking about. Problem is that we are torn between keeping a hot fire going to prevent creosote build up and keep the place good and warm and not driving us out of the place by overheating. The furnace needs stoked about once during the night but the box stove isn't as forgiving and usually needs a log or two thrown on it about every 2 hours during the night. Rule is, he who makes bathroom run, stokes stoves. Since I don't sleep well, that job is usually mine although DH does his share of stoking the big furnace.

It helps to have old bladders in such instances.

We have resorted to opening a window to control the temp or better yet, opening the door to the unused up stairs bedroom to regulate the temp. There has to be an easier way to do it though, not to mention a more efficient way of stoking the fire.

I am constantly amazed though at the amount of heat that little Vogelzang box wood stove puts out. Our main living area is 1200 square feet and surprisingly toasty.

I prefer the constant warmth of wood heat in comparison with the fluctuating heat of Gas or Electric.

Ceiling fans would work better. That's where the heat is.

The trick is thermal mass. We have a lot of stone and masonry around or woodstove:

http://www.google.com/search?q=site:...m+wood%20stove

http://sugarmtnfarm.com/blog/2009/12...ocks-hope.html

The thermal mass soaks up the heat and blocks the radiant energy so it tempers the cycle of heating.

To burn all night use larger logs and bank the fire down. You can tighten down the stove to starve it of oxygen, a slow burn and close down (not fully) the damper on the flue.

I like a fast burn and high thermal mass because it is more efficient and less dangerous - it keeps the chimney from building up creosote. Just don't run the fire too hot either - get a temperature gauge for the chimney.

I went one step further when designing and building our tiny cottage:

http://sugarmtnfarm.com/blog/2009/12/blustery-day.html

which is made of about 100,000 lbs of stone, brick and masonry. This soaks up the heat and stores it such that the cottage never drops below freezing even when unheated. The thermal gain from the sun through the windows on the stone work is enough to keep it, while not warm, above freezing. Thus we have a very small wood stove. When I get around to insulating the roof this should be even further improved.

So, in summary, put cheap rocks around your wood stove and let it burn at the hot safe temperature. It is an inexpensive way to gain the benefits of thermal mass.

Cheers

-Walter
Sugar Mountain Farm
in the mountains of Vermont
Save 30% off Pastured Pork with free processing: http://SugarMtnFarm.com/csa
Read about our on-farm butcher shop project: http://SugarMtnFarm.com/butchershop

PS. Ours is a Vogelzang too. Nice little inexpensive stove. Not air tight but works fine.

Suitcase Sally, I do have ceiling fans throughout ;)

The design of the house (what they call a "split bedroom ranch") has two bedrooms and bath on one side of main area, and master bath, bedroom on other side. The center is kitchen/living room, dining and where the woodstove was installed. To pull warm air into the hallways and thence into the rooms themselves, we put a fan on the floor to push out cooler air-convection takes care of the rest. Adding those fans made an easy 7 degree difference in bedroom temperatures in the coldest temperatures last winter-which got down to -32.