Keeping A Stove Going All Night

In light of the getting smoked out thread I thought for fun to post some of the ideas to keep a fire going all night in a stove, especially a old not so tight stove.

A damper in the stove pipe helps. There is generally a sweet spot for adjustment at least on my stoves.

A night log, a night log is generally the best hardwood we have. Usually it is unsplit, round wood generally lasts longer. Sometimes a green log will keep.

A gasket made for a loose door from tin foil and fiberglass insulation. A big pad is made up and pinched between the door and stove. Especially good for a old homemade barrel stove with a homemade door.

Putting some good old glossy junk mail on top of the wood will slow the burn.

Good hardwood for sure, black locust and hickory but most of my early wood burning was spruce and birch.

One problem with choking a fire down so it lasts all night. Might still have a good bed of coals but the house can be cold

 

Good ideas randyt. Be aware that a green log creates more creosote. There is a coal mine not too far from me so I picked up some coal for overnight fires and emergencies. Some stoves just work better than others. When replacing your stove do your homework. I was able to find a old Earth Stove that had hardly ever been used. I'm rarely that lucky but sometimes I am. There are great deals out there on used wood stoves. My buddy is good at rebuilding stoves so I got him to keep an eye out. I call him the Earth Stove whisperer.

 

For sure not all stoves are created equal. I've been fortunate when it comes to creosote. My stoves run hot and a hot chimney don't build up much creosote. The worst creosote I ever had was from red oak. It was dry but that didn't matter.

 

I've got the best way to keep a fire burning all night ...

Don't sleep!

 

Lump coal will burn for hours. When I was a kid 99% of my get-warm fires (fireplace not furnace), I used coal. Kindling was to get the coal going. We had a coal furnace and bought coal by the tons. But we'd keep lump coal also. Coal was king.

As a boy, I'd come in on a winter's evening, frozen. I'd start a coal fire and curl up in front of it. I became a master at making a coal loaf -- black crust, hell red interior. With the poker I'd then knock a hole in the top of the loaf and a blue flame would shoot out like a blow-torch.

Coal fires are god-awful hot, so you have to have a special grate. Burning coal in a wood stove requires that the stove be lined with fire brick. I've seen the side of a wood stove go red with heat -- not good. Must have fire bricks. I have so many stories I'd not know where to begin. In my youth in S.Appalachia the new fancy houses had all manner of electric heat (TVA), but not the old places and certainly not the cabins. Black hands, warm memories.

Coal grates have narrow openings between the iron bands

https://www.pinterest.com/pin/367958232028386431/

 

When I used to live in the north in UK the smell of coal was heartwarming. We've never had coal fires over here, more's the pity. The Greenies would be up in arms at the mere mention of burning coal.