Top Down Fires

The only way i start a fire!

I tried it and perhaps it works good for some but I still am of the belief that heat rises as does flame. Therefore, we will put the flame at the bottom of the kindling and let Nature do her thing. But I can see if someone has a drafting problem it could help there; I just do not do it.

olskool53 said:

The only way i start a fire!

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Agreed.

Especially if you have all day to wait for the fire to get going.

Backwoods Savage said:

I tried it and perhaps it works good for some but I still am of the belief that heat rises as does flame. Therefore, we will put the flame at the bottom of the kindling and let Nature do her thing. But I can see if someone has a drafting problem it could help there; I just do not do it.

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It works, and reliably, but it takes fricking forever for the fire to get hot enough to make heat.

Backwoods Savage said:

I tried it and perhaps it works good for some but I still am of the belief that heat rises as does flame. Therefore, we will put the flame at the bottom of the kindling and let Nature do her thing. But I can see if someone has a drafting problem it could help there; I just do not do it.

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I opted for something half way in between, namely a front-to-back start. Top down didn't work well for me. Just too fussy with paper and too slow. Bottom-up always worked well for getting a fire going quickly but it takes a lot of babysitting and dirties the cold glass too easy. I gave up on using paper and now use some kin'lin by the doghouse with 1/4 of a Super Cedar tucked in with it. Medium splits behind it and larger splits at the back. Toss in a match, close the door and fahgeddaboudit. So easy a cave woman can do it.

soupy1957 said:

Found this very helpful video and it's related website today:

http://www.ec.gc.ca/cleanair-airpur/videos/Woodstove_mgt-Eng.wmv

I like the "top down" idea, and I'm wondering if building say 2 or 3 of these types of fires in succession, will be good for the "breaking in" of our new wood stove? Does "top down" fire building create good draft? (I've heard that I should establish a good draft first before burning any BIG logs).

-Soupy1957

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Linky no worky. Anyone else know of one? Thanks.

I always use the method with the least amount work, down up, top down, left right, all about the work. I always hated taking the time to tie up some paper knots. The only work mine takes is taking one split and splitting it up into about 4 smaller splits. Lay down two large splits, place a fire starter in between them, lay some smaller splits on top of the starter, then a coupler more larger splits on them. The starter catches the smaller splits, which catches the large ones. Quick, easy, and no damn paper knots. Everyone has their own flavor.

I start fires from scratch by placing 2 splits n/s about 5-6 inches apart, then put 2-3 splits across those e/w. In the space between the n/s pieces is where the newspaper and or kindling go.
Light the paper, which starts and burns quickly, which then starts the kindling, which starts the splits. With spaces between the e/w pieces, the fire gets going quickly.
I leave the door open for a minute while letting this really get cranking, then shut the door and latch. If the draft isn't good yet and the fire starts to get lazy, the door gets opened again and I might add another piece of paper.
"Top down" works, but bottom up seems quicker in my stove. No backdraft unless I forget to open the air on a reload or the cap is clogged. :ahhh:
Those vids have been around for quite a while, glad you found 'em Soupy.

Thanks for the great tips everyone. Well' give er hell tonight. :cheese:

I like the method, however i do a modified one, i believe todd did a nice write up of basically what i do. Only exception is i cram sticks on top, have lots of them in the yardso i recycle them, and only a few pieces of paper wedged in between the baffle and load.

I find im up to temp in a good amount of time, but i like it because i dont have to come back a play with or load up the stove again for a few hours. Great for a sholder fire at night that i plan on going out.

I tried it. It's the only way I'll start a fire. You get a blaze right away, creating a good draft before it starts the splits. A lot less smoke.

Top down works great. The Jotul Castine has a realatively small fire box so I stack to about 1" below tubes then remove the front log; spread about 2 cups of hard wood pellets across then add 1 small fire starter. Light and replace front log, keep door cracked until it gets started then close door; close the main vent slowly based on stove top temps. The pellets take up much less room than kindling in a relatively small fire box.

Jim

The only difference is I use a 1/4 - 1/2 depending upon the temperature on top instead of paper knots. I tried many different ways like most. It gets the top of the firebox hot before the wood catches so when it does the smoke gets burned sooner. Bottoms up gets hotter quicker but much more smoke for me.

I switched to top-down. It pre-heats the flue and all the splits are in the stove already. Like already mentioned no further fussing with the fire, top down required me to open the stove after the kindling burned down to add the larger splits. I just takes one step out the starting process. C'mon, join the club. Send me your check for the dues...

Found the classic 'Vanessa' link on Youtube:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?NR=1&v=4PPmsMdEqEA

I think any fire will start if you jam the entire New York Post in the fire box the way the video shows.I come from a rural area and have helped burn down a lot of old houses if you want a fire to burn slow light it from the top down if you want it to burn fast and hot light it at the bottom.Common sense.

Well, I guess I will post my version of top down:

Fill 'er up with splits.

Put a few kindling pieces on top.

Plug in one of my homemade firestarters (wax mixed with wood noodles) just under a couple of the kindling.

Light 'er up.

Note: No newspaper is used around here.

Thanks everyone. That sure is a bunch to digest. I did a top down tonight. I used two pieces of larger Black Locust East - West, then two smaller BL North - South, then very small kindling splits east - west. Then some loose chips, bow tie papers on top along with half a stick of duraflame firestart in the top middle. Hopefully I don't cherry it out tonight. We got home from dinner and my wife looked at me, said she was cold, and put on a winter wool hat. :cheese:

Here's the million dollar question. I bought a General Moisture Seeker from Lowes for about $40.00. The Black Locust that is in the picture cross stacked was split in late July, early August. I didn't think it would be ready this soon. The pieces I put in my firebox registered at anywhere from 8-11%. I know the this model has a + or - 3%. The second is the fire about 15 minutes after lighting it. I have a lot of coals now. I just want to heat my house and do this the right way. Thanks everyone for your help so far.

Ohhh, Harbor Freight is gonna have their digital laser thermostat on sale for $19.99 for the weekend after Thanksgiving. I'm gonna pick one up.

This is after about 30 - 40 minutes. I had the flu shut about 50%. I had to open it full bore to get some flames back and to ignite the rest of the wood.