wood stove insert down draft smoking question

I use the ceramic heater trick and like mentioned above, about 5 to 10 minutes does it for me too.

I did the ceramic heater trick today too, worked well. The only problem is that it's -2 outside and I can't keep up without overheating my ductwork. I don't have the clearances I need. I will redo my ductwork in the spring, but for now if it's below 10 I have to burn too hot to keep up.

I have the small ver of your insert and I have the same issues. I just crack the slider and use a super cedar and everything is fine. Great inserts they really pump out the heat. 2200 sf house and I cut my oil useage by 2 tanks a season and thats with the small Regency insert!

I have a moderate draft reversal if I haven't had a fire the previous day and it's been cloudy. Either the sun shining on my south-facing, external masonry chimney, or a fire within the last 24 hours, keeps the masonry chimney, and the uninsulated, SS liner within it, just warm enough to avoid the reversal.

When I first got my insert, I had the same issue as you with the newspaper and quickly abandoned it. I also hated all the black ash it left and was worried about it clogging my cat, and who knows what. Newspaper leaves more ash than any other substance known to man IMO.

My insert is in a walk-out basement that is finished, but has lots and lots of windows, so it tends to be about 5 degrees cooler than the rest of the house. The upper floor has a cathederal ceiling which seems to contribute to a significant "stack effect", although I've never been able to figure out where the air is exiting the house. This stack effect tends to suck air down the flue in the basement to feed itself. I tried lots of stuff to reverse the draft in the beginning, and finally settled on the following.

Check draft. By now, I can tell just by putting my hand under the stove's flue exit.
If not reversed, start fire normally.
If air is coming down the flue instead of up, crack window or sliding door on either side of insert, about six inches.
Check draft again.
In my case, this always gets the draft going upward after about 15 - 30 seconds, max.
So I start fire as usual.

I'd recommend you continue to experiment with cracking your window or door in conjunction with all the other methods you've tried. There may be a magical mix that works best for your situation.

I use a small size tuna fish can with a tiki torch top on it (with the older style cotton wick) to start my fires (and insure smoke goes up the flue instead of into the house) by placing it under my grate. About a half gallon of citronella oil in a winter burning season (you could also use kerosene, or lamp oil, or diesel, etc. -- but do NOT use gasonline! BAM! OUCH!). I've also used the starter bricks, the Super Cedars (worked great), and even cut up a wax fire log into wafers, which was the cheapest method I found. But my little smudge pot is the simplest and makes starting fires a breeze, even with no kindling. I call this method "MOdified top-down starting", because it starts the fire between two splits positioned about an inch apart. The fire spreads fairly quickly between the length of the two splits and produces almost no smoke.

I like the electric heater idea too, if it works. Clean and simple.

Winter burning season number two will seem a lot easier than number one. Heating with wood is as much an art as a science.

I'll add my 2 cents simply because I have a similar Regency fireplace.

I alway leave the fireplace door open an inch when starting a fire. I put a fluid ounce of cheap vegetable in a small paper cup with some paper towel, and use that as a firestarter. I set it up between logs near the back of the fireplace.

I know that every installation is different, but I've done this for years, and I never have trouble with smoking unless I have the kitchen exhaust fan on.

I've noticed that sometimes when I start getting backdrafting it's also an indication I need to grab my chimney brush and clean off my rain cap. This especially happens on rain caps with a bird screen.

I have a Englander 13NCL at home and some days I have to take a hair dryer to the pipe until it warms just enough to draft, then everything works fine.

My best advice is to always insulate any liner you install and always make sure to use good quality insulated flue. Avoid non-insulated triple wall piping.