are slow burns a bad idea every night?

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You must have well seasoned wood to slow burn otherwise you end up smoldering.

Check your chimney. If you see a lot of creosote then hold back on the slow burning ...unless of course it works for you and your chimney is easy to clean every 10 days or so. If there's just a light coating of ash like you find on coarse sandpaper well then I'd have to say you are slow burning OK.

I suppose proper slow burning depends on your stove too. We just do it occasionally but as a rule of thumb avoid it because someone is mostly always home to tend the stove.
 
You must have well seasoned wood to slow burn otherwise you end up smoldering.

Check your chimney. If you see a lot of creosote then hold back on the slow burning ...unless of course it works for you and your chimney is easy to clean every 10 days or so. If there's just a light coating of ash like you find on coarse sandpaper well then I'd have to say you are slow burning OK.

I suppose proper slow burning depends on your stove too. We just do it occasionally but as a rule of thumb avoid it because someone is mostly always home to tend the stove.

For me it doesn't matter, I have an Exhausto RS009 that keeps a constant draft going in my flue. In my Hotblast 1557 I choke the ash door down to a 1/4 turn for long burn times, 2 turns to 2 1/2 turns during normal burn times. Never had any build-up's but with the constant draft from the exhaust fan my flue is kept pretty darn clean, just with a little extra wood usage.

Tes
 
For me it doesn't matter, I have an Exhausto RS009 that keeps a constant draft going in my flue. In my Hotblast 1557 I choke the ash door down to a 1/4 turn for long burn times, 2 turns to 2 1/2 turns during normal burn times. Never had any build-up's but with the constant draft from the exhaust fan my flue is kept pretty darn clean, just with a little extra wood usage.

Tes
what settings do you use on the door auto damper for burning?
 
Answer

I like to start a slow burn right before bed. Pack wood furnace full of wood to the top and close ash damper all the way, and flue damper at 3/4 closed. Is this somthing i shouldnt be doing? or if i need to do it different then how? thanks
In less than 30 days I plug my shop chimney so full of cresote I had no draft lift later
 
Quad 3100 here, earth contact home with 10" concrete walls. I burn the heck out it during the day and keep temp as close to 400-500 as I can. For overnight as long as I had a good hot burn going before bed, I will load it up and then shut it down. Not totally, but only to the point where there is still flame. More of a using the wood for the burn rather than air flow. I didn't do so well last night because when I got up this morning it was 64 in the house and only 35 outside. I did have a nice bed of coals for easy restart. The other day when I woke up it was 66 in the house and 12 outside. I've been burning with the Quad for two years and still a learning process. If you have a stove with a glass front, that will clue you in on how your burns are going by what is left or not left on it. I am already looking forward to next season because then all these trees the tree guys dumped here will be over a year old and really ready to go. I pretty much have always gone with the "if the fire is hot then it all burns" mentality. Now as far as starting easy, that's another story. A whole winter with seasoned wood? Man! I don't know what I am going to do with all my extra time! Maybe go find more for 2014?
 
Well 20 days into this no smoking thing...want to rip peoples faces has somewhat subsided....just checking back to see if the OP is still alive...no burnt home and the like.

After many seconds pondering the current op's dilemma maybe find someone that has burnt woods for awhile and have them come over to see what's going on...I know I've prodded the op to hire someone which has gone over like a lead balloon...to end it may have seemed like I was harsh...I'd ask you to review my statements..I was concerned and I cuffed up the op to get his attention...I was not demeaning.

Heating your home with wood can be a great money saver and adding comfort with the total warmth burning wood gives...however it can be dangerous without a proper installation.
There was no manual with the "used" appliance...there was no pro brought in to aid in a proper install..after the "explosion" thread...hmmmmm...sure we are here to help ,but a part of helping say's we don't give the op a helping hand over the cliff only to watch and revel at him screaming as he falls to the bottom of the pit.
 
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just checking back to see if the OP is still alive...no burnt home and the like.

im still alive and lurking the forums! Everything is going so great now that this weekend i just built a wood room in the basment about 10 foot from my wood furnace. Drywall outside and plywood inside so the walls arent damaged by the wood. It has its own window for throwing wood in and it can hold a half cord or more if needed.(1 face cord per side and a path through the middle) No more carrying that dang plastic tote 5 peices of wood at a time down the stairs!!!!
 
im still alive and lurking the forums! Everything is going so great now that this weekend i just built a wood room in the basment about 10 foot from my wood furnace. Drywall outside and plywood inside so the walls arent damaged by the wood. It has its own window for throwing wood in and it can hold a half cord or more if needed.(1 face cord per side and a path through the middle) No more carrying that dang plastic tote 5 peices of wood at a time down the stairs!!!!
That damn front auto flapper gave me so much trouble , now i have a calibrated peice of metal i stick in it to hold it open the perfect amount and i just load wood as needed. At night just close the flapper down. For some reason i cannot just use the ash damper door dial like some people that delete the auto flapper. o well its going great i guess.
 
Tell you what I do:

it's all outside (stove outlets straight out the wall, then 8' of single wall outside

This is why it looks like ****, single wall exposed outside is just asking for wood smoke to condense into creostoe.... not picking on you, just read it and thought "no wonder"
 
i do 2 slow burns a day
each weekday
weekends get 1 slow burn and higher temp burns threw-out the day

at around 9pm i jam the wood stove insert full of split and seasoned wood, i slip the wood larger, so im only putting 5-6 pieces in
and i choke down the dampener almost all the way

when i get up at 515am i will stir the coals around and add a small piece to get some flamage going
when i leave for work around 630 i jam it full of wood again
when i get home around 5 i jam at the coals and start building the temps back up again befor my 9pm last filling

on the weekends it gets lots of jammers and uglies thrown into it
brings the temp of the stove up high

i clean the liner 1x a year
i tend to have minimal pile of creasode that comes out

i installed a liner inside of the chimney hooked to the stove so the pipe is rather well insulated

the stove burns all day and night every day as long as daytime temps are below 55*
if they are above that i can live with the house being a little cooler inside
 

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