Long, slow burning stove fuel

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Sep 22, 2013
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Is there anything you can put in a stove that will burn slowly the entire night? I wish we had a pellet stove but perhaps there are some options that will make it possible to stay in bed all night w/o adding wood.
 
Sure, there's options but it takes effort and weighs a lot. For instance, I BBQ a lot (I did at least), look up the Minion Method. Basically, you divide charcoal so that it burns in one direction and mostly from the top down. Controlling the airflow can get you burns for very long times. For instance, in one of my drum smokers, I can get a burn for 18-20+ hours but that's with 20lbs of charcoal. But, that's with a big drum to heat and cooking at 250* or more. Anyway, controlled burn of charcoal briquets would work but it would be a pain.

I guess the question more goes to your end goal. Are you trying to make due with a sleep system that isn't warm enough? To me, once I'm "tucked in" my sleep system should keep me warm enough through the night that having a stove going would actually make me hot. Don't get me wrong, I love using stoves but my sleep system is what I rely on to stay warm through the night. The stove is there for heat before climbing into bed, cooking, drying clothes, etc.
 
I'm with Brad on this. I need a sleep system that works without the stove burning and that system will cook me with a stove heating things up. I got my large WiFi to burn well over an hour last fall with some really good wood I found. It was as big as I could break and I filled the stove and then chocked it down. I know it was by far the longest burn I've ever gotten with a backpacking wood stove. Mostly 20 -40 minutes is what I get with the typical wood I find.

Btw , I tried a quilt and froze from all the drafts when I rolled around , bought a Western Mountaineering Kodiak sleeping bag and now sleep like a baby through the night. I thought the quilts were the bees knees ? What's with this needing a fire to keep warm ?
 
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My dad said they used to go to the train yard and buy coal. Apparently every time the trains stop a little coal falls out the bottom doors and the people that work there would sell bags. It's apparently very difficult to buy coal now a days, but that's supposed to be the best for burning all night.

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North Idaho energy logs.
Heavy for back packing in, but for close to truck camping, etc. they are amazing. I burn wood a few hours before bed to build up a nice coal bed. Once getting ready for bed, I throw two logs in my 3dog stove, turn down the vents and have heat for the next 10 hours. Never have to get up during the night and plenty of coal left in the morning to throw wood in and it start burning.
 
For night banks, we use full rounds of 3-6" limb wood over a nice bed of coals and choke the damper down. Limb wood is very tight grained, hard and burns slow.
Hunt'nFish
 
My dad said they used to go to the train yard and buy coal. Apparently every time the trains stop a little coal falls out the bottom doors and the people that work there would sell bags. It's apparently very difficult to buy coal now a days, but that's supposed to be the best for burning all night.

When I used to hunt the rifle seasons we'd put coal in the stoves and they'd glow bright red during the night. And I'd still wake up with a sheet of ice covering my sleeping bag in the morning.
 
getting the fire to hold all night is a challenge the outfitters have fought as long as there have been stoves - it's become even more difficult in recent times in states like Oregon, Washington, Colorado ... due to emissions rules (UGH) - I've had a couple of pack in stoves that will hold fire for 5-6 hours but I think that's about the best I've ever accomplished - I bought a new woodstove for the house last year that I fight constantly to keep a decent fire in for the same reasons - A lot depends on the kind of wood available as Hunt n Fish mentioned too - Coal is heavy - I'm gonna check out the North Idaho energy log too .....
 
I wondered about coal. I am not opposed to making special trips to the campsite to stash fuel and/or hide some in my buddies backpack. :-)
 
Btw , I tried a quilt and froze from all the drafts when I rolled around , bought a Western Mountaineering Kodiak sleeping bag and now sleep like a baby through the night. I thought the quilts were the bees knees ? What's with this needing a fire to keep warm ?

Ha, that's what all the straps around and under the mat are for. To keep you warmer and restrict your movement just like a sleeping bag. So why do people buy quilts again?
 
From someone who's entire family was coal miners, and we used to heat with a coal furnace..... coal burns so hot you need grates for it, I would think burning coal in your backpack type stove would burn a hole in it sooner rather than later, very bad idea

If you wanted to burn coal in any stove, it was a must to get coal grates to be able to do it, i don't know if it's possible to get coal grates for your smaller stoves you could try that i guess
 
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