Wanted to spark some thoughts on this subject as I think some people may think of this differently.
These newer type EPA Certified stoves are alot different that stoves from years ago. They build the heat from having insulated fire boxes. They run on very little air which helps not to flush alot of heat up the chimney.
We have all seen posts about starting these stoves and how you got to get a feel for them as to get the best starts you need to learn how to gradually turn the primary air input down in increments. Plus know when to do turn the air input down from judging how the temps are, the stove top temps and flue temps and how much of a hot coal bed you loaded on.
From a cold start you dont have the coal bed to figure in. But you still have to learn how to gradually turn the air down to build the heat in the stove as less air gong thru the stove helps build the heat as less heat is getting flushed up the flue . Keeping the door cracked too long is fruitless as your not building heat in the stove and not building the heat as quickly. Some of us do crack the door for just a little bit to get things going but doing it too long will slow down the process of building the heat up in the stove.
So now to kindling and fire starters. The beauty of kindling and fire starters or both together is that very thinly split very dry kindling along with a fire starter like a super cedar will burn very easily. As in and here is the important point to remember is that since they burn so easily they will keep burning a lower air intake settings. So now you got a triple whammy, Stuff that will burn easily and burn hot/fast and burn at lower air intake settings and keep burning at those lower air intake settings . Which the lower intake air settings helps the stove retain the heat better and not flush as much of it up the flue. Now you can build the heat up in the stove really quick and really high level as the secondary burn tubes will ignite and start burning smoke gases for you one you get the heat up in the stove , like a 400-500 stove top temp.
Top down burns to start a cold stove works really good as you put the big splits on the bottom and build you a plat form up towards the top of the stove. What you are doing is filling up the open space in the stove with these splits leaving less space. Smaller spaces are easier to heat. So on top of your plat form which should now be up by the burn tubes you put your kindling and your super cedar fire starter. In the small space up there by the burn tubes the hot and fast burning kindling will quickly build the heat so hot that the bigger stuff the burning kindling is laying on will also ignite.
Trying to start a cold stove with just a little bit of wood is hard to do as you have much more open space in the stove that you have to build heat. The smaller space created by the top down method described above creates your own little burn chamber up in the top of the stove around the secondary air tubes that have air to feed the fire.
These newer type EPA Certified stoves are alot different that stoves from years ago. They build the heat from having insulated fire boxes. They run on very little air which helps not to flush alot of heat up the chimney.
We have all seen posts about starting these stoves and how you got to get a feel for them as to get the best starts you need to learn how to gradually turn the primary air input down in increments. Plus know when to do turn the air input down from judging how the temps are, the stove top temps and flue temps and how much of a hot coal bed you loaded on.
From a cold start you dont have the coal bed to figure in. But you still have to learn how to gradually turn the air down to build the heat in the stove as less air gong thru the stove helps build the heat as less heat is getting flushed up the flue . Keeping the door cracked too long is fruitless as your not building heat in the stove and not building the heat as quickly. Some of us do crack the door for just a little bit to get things going but doing it too long will slow down the process of building the heat up in the stove.
So now to kindling and fire starters. The beauty of kindling and fire starters or both together is that very thinly split very dry kindling along with a fire starter like a super cedar will burn very easily. As in and here is the important point to remember is that since they burn so easily they will keep burning a lower air intake settings. So now you got a triple whammy, Stuff that will burn easily and burn hot/fast and burn at lower air intake settings and keep burning at those lower air intake settings . Which the lower intake air settings helps the stove retain the heat better and not flush as much of it up the flue. Now you can build the heat up in the stove really quick and really high level as the secondary burn tubes will ignite and start burning smoke gases for you one you get the heat up in the stove , like a 400-500 stove top temp.
Top down burns to start a cold stove works really good as you put the big splits on the bottom and build you a plat form up towards the top of the stove. What you are doing is filling up the open space in the stove with these splits leaving less space. Smaller spaces are easier to heat. So on top of your plat form which should now be up by the burn tubes you put your kindling and your super cedar fire starter. In the small space up there by the burn tubes the hot and fast burning kindling will quickly build the heat so hot that the bigger stuff the burning kindling is laying on will also ignite.
Trying to start a cold stove with just a little bit of wood is hard to do as you have much more open space in the stove that you have to build heat. The smaller space created by the top down method described above creates your own little burn chamber up in the top of the stove around the secondary air tubes that have air to feed the fire.
