[ttara81]

I have sort of a dumb question, but I'm inexperienced. For the first time, I'm using the wood stove this winter and the past few nights we've burned wood. But, at night when we go to bed, we can't stay up to refill wood, so therefore, the fire goes out and we wake up cold. The next morning when we light another fire, it takes so long for the heat to finally distribute throughout the house and it's the afternoon before there's relief. What do people do during the night when they're asleep to stay warm? Do you use electric heaters?


Thanks!

[tickle]

My husband damps it down to the point where there isn't a lot of oxygen to draw the fire out. We are left with heat in the morning and enough embers left to stoke the fire again. And, of course, down comforters and down mattress pads and two big dogs.

[hvac1000]

Most of the time the regular home heater is set to come on at a lower temp from the wood stove. When the stove dies the furnace kicks on.

[ttara81]

Yes, HVAC, that does make a lot of sense, but this is the only heating source I have at the moment.

[9Blessings]

We have burned wood for years. Several things you can try. First, how big is your stove>? How much area are you trying to heat. Is it an airtight woodstove... (ie, does it allow you to close it down so it burns slower? Do you have a damper in the pipe? What type of wood do you burn? A good hardwood (oak, ash , tamarak, birch) burns much slower. Does the stove have a blower on it? All these things help... but when it is your only source, you will get highs and lows with a wood stove, especially if the house is not well insulated, or the windows are not good quality. Stay warm... we know all about that, we live in Northern Mn.

[ttara81]

We have burned wood for years. Several things you can try. first, how big is your stove>? How much area are you trying to heat. Is it an airtight woodstove...(ie, does it allow you to close it down so it burns slower? Do you have a damper in the pipe? What type of wood do you burn? A good hardwood (oak, ash , tamarak, birch) burns much slower. Does the stove have a blower on it? All these things help...but when it is your only source, you will get highs and lows with a wood stove, especially if the house is not well insulated, or the windows are not good quality. Stay warm ... we know all about that, we live in Northern Mn.

Thanks for replying! I hope you can offer some suggestions for us. Well this is an old house (my grandparents') and I'm not too sure if it's really insulated well. It's not really a large house; kitchen, living room, den, 2br, and one bath. It's a brick house. I'm not sure if the stove is big or not because I don't have a stove to compare it to. It used to be a fireplace and my grandparents converted it into a wood stove. It doesn't have a blower. I don't know what a damper in the pipe is. It does have 2 doors that open on the front to allow the heat to come out, but if we close it then wouldn't that prevent the heat from coming out? We've been burning whatever wood we can get. We have noticed that the oak does burn slower. Maybe this will help you. I'm willing to buy some electric heaters to help supplement, but I've heard they're pretty expensive to use on your electricity bill. Hope you hear back from you soon!

Thanks!

[wildandblue]

The pipe that comes out from the top of the wood stove typically has a handle on it that you can turn to open the flue and make the smoke go more quickly up the chimney, called a damper or draft control. Basically you leave it wide open while you light the fire and get a good draft going up the chimney in the morning than as soon as the fire is burning well you can close it because that will keep more heat in the stove instead of going straight up the chimney, you just open it enough to keep smoke going up the chimney instead of coming out of the stove into the room.
A woodstove works on the same principal as a heat pump. You keep filling it full until you are ready to retire for the night, at which time you close down the draft controls which cuts down on the supply of air. It will give off less heat but burn longer this way.
As the stove burns wood, it replaces the air it uses in combustion with air leaking in to the house from outdoors. At night the outdoor air is very cold so you don't want it coming in very fast. But in the morning the air outside is warmer from the sun shining on your roof and walls, so you want it to come in faster and displace the cold indoor air. Open up the door or some windows when you light the stove in the morning to get the warmer outdoor air sucked indoors more quickly.

[9Blessings]

I understand about old houses. Our present one was built in 1910, had no insulation in the walls, but did have some in the attic. Check your attic. Wildandblue told you what a damper is, they can be purchased at most hardware stores. What length of log can you fit in the stove? (that will tell me how big it is.)Is there a slide of some sort on the front or side of the stove, or knobs to open or close, that controls how much air you let in (more air, quicker burn, less air, slower burn.) The wood you use should be dried for at least six months after cutting it. Wet wood doesn't burn well, does not give off as much BTU and creates creosote in you pipe (Too much of that and you get chimeney fires) We have baseboard heaters as well, but we have an off peak electric program here that makes it really cheap (ask your electric company if they offer that. )To burn with the doors open on the stove may provide more warmth, but wood won't last as long. It is radiant heat. Works best with them closed. In the middle of winter, we can't open our doors in the morning as windandblue suggested. -20or -30 outside for us, but I notice he is from Orange county, so that would work for him.Hope this helps.

[ttara81]

Thanks to both of you guys for the education! There is only one pipe attached to the stove and it goes into the wall and up the... chimney, I suppose? There are 3 knobs on the door that opens up where you insert the wood. I know these are used to control the draft, but I don't know which way they need to be set. Maybe we can experiment with that. I would say the stove would take a log approx. 2-2 1/2 feet long. I wish my grandparents were still here so I could ask them! I can never remember the house being cold when I was little... it was always warm in the winter... I just never paid any attention to how they were using the stove.

Again, thanks you guys!

[wildandblue]

Wildandblue also has a house in Maryland, which is why he misses the corporate jet so much since his former employer went bankrupt.
Anyway I am telling you it is a heat pump, and the cold air is inside the house, the air outside is warmer than inside. You know how the snow melts off your roof when the sun shines on it? Not all the air is warm, but the layer right around your house is, and this is what you want to suck back in through the doors and windows. Of course close them again once the stove is going. I would open them even if it was ten below. It's just like when you crawl out of bed, it's still warm under the covers if you crawl back in again quick. You are recycling that heat you have already paid for instead of paying for more heat.
Electric heat used to be quite expensive, but with heating oil prices rising it may actually be cheaper in your area, you could try those electric space heaters that just warm the room you are sitting in.
Now think about a candle flame. If you hold your hand next to it, you feel a little heat, if you hold your hand above it it's really hot. So you could start with insulating in your attic, overtop of the house, because a lot of your heat escapes upward. But putting it in the walls, especially a brick house would help keep it more comfortable indoors and less drafty.
You can remove the pipe from the top of the stove and install a damper control in it and then put it back on. Look at the woodstoves for sale in the stores, a lot of them now come with this attached to the top of the stove itself. That will give you an idea what you want, maybe the guy at the stove store will install it for you.
Also keep in mind that a house with a woodburning stove doesn't need to be quite as well insulated and weatherstripped than an electrically heated home, since the stove needs air to burn and gives off water vapor as part of the combustion process. Thermal mass in the walls can absorb heat and radiate it back into the room after the fire dies down. It would be more important to have a vapor barrier in the walls, which is one reason why people sometimes paint the exteriors of brick buildings