Forgetting to Close it Down....
- Thread starter Chris-PA
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I have an outdoor wood hot air furnace with a thermostat controlled damper, I wired a timer in so I just twist the timer to the desired time and walk away. This is my second year with this set up and so far so good. If for some reason the stove get.s too hot with the air open the high limit will shut it down by cutting the power to it. It closes with the loss of power.
Speaking of power, we lost ours about an hour ago. I have the generator running so life is good except I' missing some beauty sleep.
Speaking of power, we lost ours about an hour ago. I have the generator running so life is good except I' missing some beauty sleep.
Like drinkin'... do it often enough and sooner or later ya' trip on your own feet.
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Ironworker
Addicted to ArboristSite
I woke up one morning to go to work and saw that the air was left open all night after the wife loaded the stove for the over night, the angle iron holding the top bricks ended up a little warped, scary.
sunfish
Fish Head
We've had wood stoves in the house (two different houses) & shops since 1980. Never a close call, but then we never leave a stove with the door cracked, or air wide open...
Chris-PA
Where the Wild Things Are
This is pretty clearly the best practice, and I'm guilty of not following it. This is primarily because the stove is in the basement, and so there is often something for me to be doing while the stove catches after loading.
The other good practice is to cultivate a routine - for me there is more going on in the morning, but I never have any issues then because it is a regular routine. On the few occasions I've gotten distracted during start up it has been at other times when something's going on. Last night while cooking was one of those. I had gotten home late and things were a bit chaotic, I was on my own for the evening and had several extra chores to take care of.
The worst that happens to me is that I forget to turn the blower off on the OWB and all the nice pine wood goes up in a flash or blows out the flame. Pine smolders pretty good and keeps us happy with hot water and heat. It takes a little longer to reach higher temps with the blower turned off but at least I don't have to get up in the middle of the night to fill the firebox, AGAIN.
lindnova
ArboristSite Operative
I'm sitting here reading this thread while waiting for the stove to get up and going. I too have a stove in the basement and should get a timer. I have had close calls when I load and start, then run out to get more wood and forget to come back down soon enough.
Chris-PA
Where the Wild Things Are
And that was really the point of making this thread - hoping we'll all remember to pay a bit more attention. Wood heat is not without some risks.
MuskokaSplitter
ArboristSite Operative
I usually leave the stove air wide open for atleast 15-20 min. Then turn it down. Not so much an issue right now buring pine as it wont last more than 45 minutes with the air wide open anyway.
For sixteen years while running a farm & cattle operation in partnership with my father-in-law, I cut firewood enough to heat both our homes. He was not too bright—that’s what a fifth-grade education will do for you—and you couldn’t tell him anything, so he figured Free Wood—burn all you like. He thought it was the coolest thing to fully load the stove—oak, seasoned oak, with maybe some osage orange, mulberry, or locust mixed in—and run it wide open. It might be 10 degrees outside, but they’d be sweating and have a door and window open because it was 85 degrees inside, the stove burning cherry red. A stove (or fireplace insert) would last a few years for him before he’d have to replace it, scratching his head about why cast iron and steel wouldn’t hold up any better.
I always liked to cut trees, but not to waste wood the way he did. But you couldn’t tell him anything.
I always liked to cut trees, but not to waste wood the way he did. But you couldn’t tell him anything.
We had a potbelly stove in my first house. Forgot the draft and damper open a few times, come back in to the smell of hot metal. Pipe and top of stove were red hot. Shut it down and let things cool off.
1project2many
ArboristSite Guru
I have to reload the stove in the early morning. Usually it's around 12:30 - 2:00. It takes about 20 minutes to get the fire going good so I can head back to bed. In late January and February, between plowing, work, and home chores I can be so tired that I'll fall asleep waiting. I sure don't like the idea of leaving the air control wide open so I've taken to falling asleep about 4' in front of the stove on the tile floor. If the heat from the stove doesn't wake me in a few minutes then the pain from those tiles sure will.
It's worse when she forgets why she's running.
I forgot why I was chasin' the missus around the house the other day. See a pattern developing here?
It's worse when she forgets why she's running.
Chris-PA
Where the Wild Things Are
The basement can get pretty hot - reload the stove for over night, and then sit on the couch and wait until it's time to close it down. Go ahead, stay awake....
stihly dan
Addicted to ArboristSite
Very easy for this to happen with basement installs. I am also guilty of it. This is one of the reasons I love my furnace, regulates itself. No more forgetting for me.
Forgetting what?
Forgetting what?
1project2many
ArboristSite Guru
pennsywoodburnr
supreme scrounger
No such problems with my fireplace. And it's wide open all the time, no less! LOL
I usually forget once or twice a season and leave the ash door open ...then you get that "something smells hot" sensation. I always tossed around running a thermocoupled monitor with a programmable alarm up into my hallway to remind me when I've got a potential runaway fire.
I've got a wind-up kitchen timer, with a lanyard, so it's hanging in front of me. Hard to miss. I only use it for tracking stove activity, Chris, so there's no need to search notes as to why it's ringing.
Chris-PA
Where the Wild Things Are
That's a good idea!I've got a wind-up kitchen timer, with a lanyard, so it's hanging in front of me. Hard to miss. I only use it for tracking stove activity, Chris, so there's no need to search notes as to why it's ringing.
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