That's a gorgeous stove.
The biggest problem with this is the "waiting for it to get cranking part" - lay down on the couch in the 80-90 degree basement and try to stay awake. Go ahead, I dare ya. You wake up a while later and yeah, it's cranking all right!
You have to qualify if you are burning with an EPA stove or not since they burn differently. I'll comment from an EPA stove point of view:
Does ONB lead to more creosote buildup?
No, as long as you your firebox is hot enough to get the secondaries going and your wood is dry
Does ONB reduce efficiency?
No, if anything your efficiencies will be better.
How often would you preform ONB?
Load up your stove to the hilt on a decent coal bed, make sure the wood has started to char, make sure the secondaries are engaged and damper down.
Do you do any damage control befor of after ONB?
Not sure what that means. No damage, they are designed to burn that way.
Are there wood types that are not recommended for ONB?
You can burn whatever wood you want to as long as it's not been chemically treated. Soft woods will give you shorter burns.
For what reasons aren't they recommended?
Highly recommended, That's the selling feature
Do you care about the stove temp?
Yes, Thermometer placed about 18" on the flue will tell you if you are burning too cold (creosote zone). EPA wood stove should be around 350f
Do you close all air inlets and dampers?
Yes
How do you load the stove full safely?
If you can, North/South
I can get 12-16 hr burns with enough coals to throw a couple small splits in and start up again. This is in a hotblast with spindraft nubs removed. The colder it is, the shorter the burn.
Ive got mine down to a science.
40-50 degrees, fill with softwood and open spindraft 1/2 turn.
30-40 degrees, hardwood and 1 turn.
20-30 degrees, hardwood and 1.5 turns
10-20, hardwood and 2 turns
It rarely gets colder than that here in NC.
I do see quite a bit of creosote from this practice, mainly bc its been so warm that if i did a real hot burnoff in the morning my house would be 90 degrees in no time, so i clean it pretty often.
The best wood for an ONB is gopher or olive. The cedars of Lebanon work great as well.I'll jump right in, although I wasn't aware that Jerusalem was a place in need of much wood heat.
You must have dry wood first of all.I have been studying for DAYS... I have an Avalon 990 Rainer - it is my home's primary heat source (we have a space heater in our bedroom at the back of our house). I sort of need an overnight burn, but it honestly scares me. So, I am trying to minimize creosote build-up by following ONB recommendations in the owners manual... I build a fire, burn it with the air full open for 15 minutes. Then I fully load the firebox, burn another 15 minutes with the air open, then shut the air all the way down. After a few minutes, I lose all flame, including the secondary combustion, and smoke appears at the chimney. I have tried burning full open longer. I have tried closing the air partially. Everything I try eventually leads to a smolder and smoke. Should the secondary combustion keep going when I close down the air? Am I doing something wrong?
It's funny when I thought back after using good dry wood, it would have been wise to pay for a cord or two of wood my first yr and only use dead standing trees for the rest. When you look at the cost of gathering wood and the work involved it's a labor of love. For around 6-800 a year I could have enough wood for a whole yr delivered. At 8-1000(2+yrs of wood)a nice semi load and all I need to do is buck and split. Then the "cheap" route would be to scrounge and need a truck or trailer(maybe both), have to load/unload, spend money on fuel, time going to get the wood, time loading, time unloading, did I say time,and dodge the DOT. The cost of getting the wood home does not usually justify the trouble or purchasing of extra equipment. If you have a truck or a way to haul wood or just love to cut wood then that is another thing. I have a lot of trees(good to have a saw), love to run equipment, mechanical( can fix equipment when it breaks, it will), and I have access to wood(free wood), also have kids(little wood haulers). If any of those things were not present I would just buy split or have a semi delivered as the savings is in not paying for propane, not in the harvesting of the wood.Yep, i was a mess last year when i installed it. All recently cut wet wood and very little hardwood.
Sometimes it would catch and wed wake up to 90 degrees. Sometimes it wouldnt catch and id wake up seeing my breath. We used auxiliary space heaters a bunch, which was defeating the purpose altogether.
Good seasoned oak and a bunch of it has made this season go much smoother. Also tying up some loose ends as far as insulation has helped, windows, front door, etc.
You must have dry wood first of all.
If the wood is dry it eliminates most issues and will help the learning curve of ONBing.
Second is to have the temperature in the stove up to at least 350(more in some stoves).
Third the inside of your stove should be white not black when you shut the air controls down. This is a lean condition which will quickly correct itself once the air controls are shut down.
A stove is an engine. The byproduct is heat and exhaust. It must have proper fuel and air in order to run. If you put water in your cars fuel it will not run, same with a stove.
When the weather outside is not very cold it will be harder to control an all night burn.
There is a learning curve to burning and it takes time. It's ok to be afraid, (proverbs says its the beginning of knowledge), you will get it and you will love it once you do.
Hope this helps,
Brett