Condar Power Bellows

bjorn773 said:

I know the old school purists here are rolling their eyes about this, but has anyone used one of these power bellows? I just ordered a flue thermometer(I've been driving without a speedometer for years I guess) and noticed the bellows on their site. Looks interesting, but how well does it work?

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Link? Would be easier to comment if we could see what you were talking about... Just guessing, I think most of us would say if you use proper fire building technique you shouldn't need any sort of thing like that.

Gooserider

I feel pretty underwhelmed... Looks like a good way to eat batteries, but really doubt it would do all that much for a fire. If I were looking for a powered air source, I'd be more inclined towards something that could be plugged in, and give me more volume and heated air. Maybe an electric hair dryer, or even better, an electronics "heat gun" - one of those will put out enough heat to start a fire without any matches needed.

However, in actual practice, once you learn proper fire building technique, and as long as you are burning properly dried wood, you should have no NEED for any kind of blower. This is especially true in a wood stove that is often designed specifically to put air into just the right place to get the fire going well by simple convection. My old smoke dragon gave an indifferent flame when I would first light it, but as soon as I closed the door, the draft would make it sound like I was running a blow-torch on the stove.

Note that proper fire building is somewhat stove dependent, and it can take some experimenting to find the best way to get a fire started, but often the stove manual can get you started on the right track.

Gooserider

EatenByLimestone said:

I've found if I crack the door a bit I can get the air flowing a bit faster for hard starts.

Matt

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Agreed. Free and works, the best kind of solution.

But if you're into the power tools for every problem, I'd get a heat gun that is either variable heat or has a "no heat" setting. My variable-temp gun goes down below 100*, the other has a "low, high, and cool" setting. I also have a bathroom vent fan that I added a cord to, have the outlet running through one section of aluminum dryer vent. I really use it to vent soldering fumes from my bench, but I have, on occaision, used it very briefly to start a stubborn coal fire. You have to be careful with forcing air into a stove- you can overfire it, or force CO and other gases back into the living space. Never tried the leaf blower (yet)- I'm sure that would pretty much either blow the fire out, or melt down the stove.

Just make sure that if you crack the door, you don't leave the room while it's open. Too easy to forget about the cracked-open door and overfire the stove. I had my Earth Stove glowing once, came home after having a couple (too many), and fell asleep on the couch while waiting for the big load of splits to catch. Woke up some time later, the only light in the room was the glowing of the stove, had to be 120* in there! Now I make sure, to the point of being O/C, that the door is always closed before I leave the stove alone.

bjorn773 said:

I agree that proper fire building technique is key, but I have on occasion had to revive some coals attempting to ignite a piece of kindling that just doesn't want to catch. I usually do just as you guys suggest and crack the door. I will also use an old fashioned bellows at times. I can't see myself getting the leaf blower out, just thought someone might have tried this gizmo before I waste my money.

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I think you have the idea on not wasting money - there are more effective / less expensive techniques for the stubborn kindling problem - I usually just stuff an extra peice of paper into the area, and apply a match if need be, or add a bit more kindling in a smaller size. I end up with large amounts of chips, small chunks, bark fragments, etc. from when I'm splitting - let that dry a bit and it's like adding a bit of gas to the fire.

Gooserider

Sometimes, when I add wood to a bed of coals, and it doesn't take off fast enough for me, I keep a small copper tube that I blow through at the base of the coals to start the flame. I never leave the door open and walk away to get a fire going.

Right, I sometimes want a little precision fire acceleration, and I use two plastic straws, one inserted into the other and taped with scotch tape. Works great, and is fun to use. Copper tube probably melts less.

I have been using a power bellows on occasion to help re-kindle flames in my two wood stoves for several years now. It can be an enormous help in various conditions and especially when time is short and appropriate kindling not immediately at hand. The batteries are long lasting. I have not needed to replace them more than once a season.

I used one of these when I had a ZC fireplace, but have not needed it with the Jotul.

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