Some homes rely on a wood burning stove as the primary source of heat and warm water, including warming the house during the night, but can you leave a wood burning stove on overnight?
The short answer is yes, it is possible to keep your wood burner on throughout the night to ensure your home is as warm and cosy as possible.
As always, there are a few factors to consider but we’ll tackle everything you need to know below.
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Why it Might be Necessary to Leave a Wood Burning Stove on Overnight
Firstly, as we have already established, leaving a wood stove burning overnight is possible for almost everyone, but there may also be some circumstances where it’s necessary.
For some stove owners, a wood burner can be no more than an aesthetic addition to the home. Something to add character and cosiness without the demands of being the primary heat source.
For others, a wood burning stove will be that primary source of warmth and with that comes different requirements and realities as a home owner.
In this case, and during the bitter winter months or unusual cold spells, the only way to provide the home with adequate heat during the night is with a wood burning stove. This is important for both family and home, as cold and damp can impact health and property quality over time.
How to Ensure Safety if you Leave a Wood Burning Stove on Overnight
If you do decide that keeping a wood burning stove on all night is your best choice, you’ll need to make sure that all the relevant safety measures are in place.
Firstly, you need to keep your chimney clean1– ideally making sure you get it professionally cleaned at least once a year. When your chimney is blocked or in disrepair it increases the risk of dangerous gasses, released via burning wood and other fuels, will get into your home.
Secondly, ensure there are no flammable materials near the fire. This includes paper, spare wood, or any other potentially combustible materials including electronics and aerosols. If one of these catches alight, it can be massively hazardous especially at night without supervision nearby.
Thirdly, only burn wood2 (and sometimes paper and small sticks for kindling). This means no burning of trash or other household items (no matter how small) that you may no longer want. Anything that isn’t firewood can release dangerous chemicals that can cause significant damage to both you and your stove or home.
And fourthly, make sure you have both fire and carbon monoxide alarms properly fitted and in working order throughout your home. Fire alarms will be the first thing to alert you if something unexpected happens. Similarly, if dangerous gasses get out of the stove while you sleep, you must have a carbon monoxide detector. By having a carbon monoxide detector, your chance of dying in a house fire lowers by 50%.
Wood burning stoves cause 4,000 fires every year. We aren’t highlighting that to scare you, simply to make you aware that accidents can happen but by taking the correct precautions, you can wake up to a warm home without any worry.
Picking the Right Kind of Wood: Hard and Dry
Once you have all the relevant safety precautions in place, it’s important to select the correct type of wood for performance, safety and duration of fire.
Whatever wood you use, make sure it’s both hard and dry.
If you pick a wood that’s too soft, it might create a beautiful flame, but it won’t last very long. It will burn up too quickly and leave you cold for the rest of the night.
If you pick a wood that’s too wet, the fire will need to burn through the water before starting to burn the wood. This takes up a lot of energy and will cause the fire to fizzle out quickly before reaching the heat and duration you most likely want overnight.
Some of the best kinds of firewood include oak, pine, or ash. Ideally you should try to ensure it’s got no more than 20% moisture content, and that it’s properly dried and seasoned before use.
How to Keep a Wood Burning Stove on Overnight
Now that we’ve covered how to be as safe as possible and what kind of wood to use, next we need to consider how to keep the fire burning throughout the night without extra attention.
1. The first step begins after the fire that’s kept you warm during the day dies out. You’ll need to rake the hot charcoal to the front.
If the charcoal is spread around the bottom of the stove, it will cause the wood to burn too fast.
2. Next, place 5-7 large logs into the stove (depending on your stove size). Make sure all of them are behind the hot charcoal and pack them as tight as possible.
3. Shut the door. This will prevent an abundance of oxygen from making the fire burn too quickly.
After a few minutes, you should notice the wood glowing. This means the wood is starting to burn. At this point you can begin to prepare for bed.
How Air Vents can help a Wood Burning Stove to Stay on Overnight
If you remember high school science class, you’ll be aware that any fire needs fuel and oxygen to survive. Obviously, the fuel in this case is the wood. But what about oxygen?
In almost all wood stoves, you will find some air vents. These vents are there to make sure that you control how much oxygen gets into the stove at any time.
Too much oxygen (like if you leave the door open), and the fire will burn through the wood too quickly. Not enough oxygen, and it won’t be able to burn through it at all.
Our recommendation would be that the air vent is slightly open to have enough oxygen to burn. But not open entirely. Usually, have it about halfway open.
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We hope this helps. Waking up to the warmth of a wood burning stove is a great way to beat the winter frosts.
For everything else home heating, stick with CosyWarmer.com