How do you achieve an overnight burn?

[Tom]

The webpage on my stove ( http://www.woodburningstoveslimited.com/index.php?action=cms.details&itemid=75 ) says "These wood burners and multi fuel stoves will do an overnight burn." How would I go about achieving an overnight burn? The stove has six vents; four on the front (two top, two bottom) and one on either side at the bottom. I'm guessing I'd need to really fill the stove with wood on top of very hot ashes, get a good burn going and then close all the vents apart from, say, the two front bottom ones left 'just open' to achieve a slow and steady burn. Would that be right or am I missing something? I'm not convinced that, even given the capacity of my stove, it would stay lit overnight.

 

[MdB]

My inlaws just put a log or two in their boat stove in the morning and the same in the evening with all the vents closed. This keeps it going 24/7. It certainly doesn't need to be filled.

 

[Lime]

How long a fire stays "in" is dependent on the air supply to the fire.

I used to keep open fires going all night many years ago before central heating.
The method I used was to completely cover the coal fire with ash.
The next morning the ash was pokered/raked off the top to reveal red hot lumps of coke which made a instantaneous hot fire.

 

[Tom]

How does it burn if all the vents are closed? Does it create much heat? If I close all the vents on mine it produces very little heat at all, presumably because it has no oxygen to feed it, so does that mean I'm not getting a complete burn? I can see that that would last a long time but I'm concerned about producing carbon monoxide :shock: As well as tar building up in the flue. I'm confused now :? Help!!

 

[AMc]

Both our stoves will stay lit from midnight(ish) until 10am the following morning - one is ancient and cracked with very leaky doors, the other is brand new with a modern twin wall flue. Usually I just stick in one more log shortly before bedtime, close the vents and rake up the embers the following morning as I add new wood. The stoves don't put out a lot of heat overnight but they stay warm and when refueled they warm up much faster than lighting from cold.
As long as there is a draw up the chimney and the guidelines about ventilation into the room were followed when the stove was installed I can't see how you would ordinarily get CO in the room BUT If you have a solid fuel appliance then PLEASE get a powered carbon monoxide alarm its £16 well spent.
http://www.diy.com/diy/jsp/bq/nav.jsp?isSearch=true&fh_search=carbon+monoxide&x=0&y=0
We got one for the old stove because it's cracked and the new one was mandated by building regs.
If some daft bird expired in the chimney or there were freak conditions that caused a positive downdraft then the alarm will wake us up before it's dangerous.

You're right about tarring though, the doors do smoke up quite badly. A good strong burn when relighting will burn off most of the soot but I guess it does shorten the life of the flue. The only alternative I can see is to open all the vents and burn off the remaining fuel before bed so the stove goes out and that doesn't sound like something I'm likely to do at the end of a nice evening in a snug room with a bottle or two of red.

 

[Tom]

Firstly, a huge thanks for reminder! I've just bought 2 of these

http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0030BEM0K/ref=asc_df_B0030BEM0K1332744?smid=A3P5ROKL5A1OLE&tag=googlecouk06-21&linkCode=asn&creative=22206&creativeASIN=B0030BEM0K

I've just had a quick word with my chimney sweep and he says that overnight burning (or any slow burning) is fine as long as you periodically do a hot, fast burn which will burn away much of the tarring. I'm going to go for that option as, like you, I don't fancy bu**ering about with the stove when I'm warm and cosy and want to go to bed :lol: Thanks for your help.

 

[Penners]

Vindaloo.

 

[Tom]

Vindaloo.

:lol: :lol: :lol: Very good!!

That aside, I did it....I got an overnight burn Last night, I spread the hot ashes out, put 3 large logs on top, closed the doors and all the vents apart from the bottom 2, which were barely open; just enough to let a trickle of air in. Went in this morning, raked the ashes and they were still red underneath! I put some kindling sticks on top, shut the doors, opened all the vents and ...woosh!! Yay, I did it! I'm so easily pleased :lol:

 

[philpjuk100]

We have a couple of log burners and if you put a log on them at night and shut the vents in the morning opening the vents soon gets them roaring.The glass does get sooty/tarry but can be cleaned (do not buy glass cleaner just dip some wet newspaper in the ash and use that)but we do not bother as with the fire nice and hot they clean themselves.phil.

 

[Tom]

...do not buy glass cleaner just dip some wet newspaper in the ash and use that....

I learnt that trick on this forum some time ago. I couldn't believe it the first time I did it. It was like magic!!