best way to warm a chimney?

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J

jbean

New Member
Nov 13, 2013
24
New Hampshire (southern)
We just got back from 4 days of being out of town (I apologize if this has been asked, I searched and didn't see quite the answer I was looking for). When we went to light the kitchen wood stove, my husband put in lots of paper and lit it and shut the door, smoke came pouring out. If we had left the door open would it have warmed it without the smoke pouring in? It stunk up the house and now the house has that horrible burnt paper smell. Should we have used less paper? Or made like a funnel and just held it as close to the opening as we could inside the stove so it would have gone up? Is there a step we are missing? We are going out of town over the winter months again and I don't want to stink up the house on our return.

Once the paper had burned, the draft was reversed and we have a lovely fire warming up the kitchen now.

Thanks
 
Sounds like there's not enough draft to start with. I can crack the door open on my stove when it's cold and see the ash swirl as the draft starts up.
 
I usually use just a page from the newspaper, and hold it inside somewhere near the flue so the warmth goes right up the chimney....never had an issue....yet
 
torch.jpg This ^
And get the heavy duty TS 800 model. Does a good job preheating the flue.
 
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You can also use a blow dryer that you use to dry your hair to warm up the chimney.
 
Either build a small hot fire to get your coal bed hot again, build a top down fire, or get a newspaper ball or two and hold it up near the flue (if you have a bypass).

You should probably work on addressing your draft. Sounds like your negative pressure plane is lower than the floor your stove is on. I had a similar issue before air sealing my top floor and main floor. I still get occasional smoke spillage, but it's rare. The insert on the one story side of my house drafts perfect whether cold or hot. It's also an interior chimney which certainly helps.
 
During shoulder season I was having the same problem and would even get a bit of smoke coming out of the air intake underneath the stove.

I was using a blow dryer and letting it blow into the air intake hole at the back of the stove for around 5 minutes or so (with the door closed), got everything nice and warm and had no more smoke problems :)
 
Lots of tender words, hugs and kisses warms a stove....OR....you can always crack a window or door near the stove to help with the draft.
 
[uote="toddnic, post: 1614397, member: 27949"]You can also use a blow dryer that you use to dry your hair to warm up the chimney.[/quote]
+1 for using the hair dryer. It is the best solution I have found.
 
Some good information given already. I'll just add that if you had lit a couple candles, the smoke would have gone away much faster and the smell most likely would too.
 
I have been using the hair dryer now for a few seasons and have not had smoke in the house. The extra 2 minutes to prepare is definitely worth it. Thats another incentive to keep the stove going so it, but in your case you were out of town.
 
toddnic said:
You can also use a blow dryer that you use to dry your hair to warm up the chimney.
Click to expand...
I used a blow dryer once to stoke the coals......epic failure....Ash blew back all over the place
 
never heard of the hair dryer trick before.....interesting. i normally just use a fire starter and some small kindling, crack the stove door and open the nearby basement door if the stove is cold. very little spillage and once the kindling's going i add to the fire.
 
tcassavaugh said:
never heard of the hair dryer trick before.....interesting. i normally just use a fire starter and some small kindling, crack the stove door and open the nearby basement door if the stove is cold. very little spillage and once the kindling's going i add to the fire.
Click to expand...
During the shoulder season when the outside temp isn't all that cold and it is a rainy day the blow dryer is definitely a winner. Sometimes it is so tough to get enough draft to get a good fire going without the hair dryer trick.
 
tsquini said:
toddnic said:
You can also use a blow dryer that you use to dry your hair to warm up the chimney.
Click to expand...
+1 for using the hair dryer. It is the best solution I have found.
Click to expand...

+2 on the hair dryer.

I had smoke pouring into my stove room the other day and it was horrible! I tried lighting paper up near the flue and even that didn't work!

The hair dryer definitely worked best and you don't have to worry about any smoke at all.
 
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