Can't light the stove tonight

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Scottydont

Member
Nov 4, 2010
42
Ontario
The other day I went to light up the stove and had MAJOR smoke spillage into the room. I'm talking at least a few minutes of billowing smoke that filled the room. Not fun. I've noticed a reverse draft often times when I go to start up the fire but I've always lit a piece of newspaper in the firebox for a minute and that seemed to do the trick. Needless to say I forgot to do that this time.

Now today I go to light up the stove. I feel inside the top of the firebox and yep, cold air is pouring down. So I light up a piece of paper hold it in there... no go. So I get a little butane lighter and hold it up there for a bit... no go. So now I go and get a propane pluming torch and hold it up there for 5 minutes... still no go! I don't want to risk another smoke out. I've tried opening windows, closing interior doors... no difference.

Anybody have any ideas, I'm sitting here typing in an 18C room and my stove is full of wood but I can't fire it up!!
 
Scottydont said:
The other day I went to light up the stove and had MAJOR smoke spillage into the room. I'm talking at least a few minutes of billowing smoke that filled the room. Not fun. I've noticed a reverse draft often times when I go to start up the fire but I've always lit a piece of newspaper in the firebox for a minute and that seemed to do the trick. Needless to say I forgot to do that this time.

Now today I go to light up the stove. I feel inside the top of the firebox and yep, cold air is pouring down. So I light up a piece of paper hold it in there... no go. So I get a little butane lighter and hold it up there for a bit... no go. So now I go and get a propane pluming torch and hold it up there for 5 minutes... still no go! I don't want to risk another smoke out. I've tried opening windows, closing interior doors... no difference.

Anybody have any ideas, I'm sitting here typing in an 18C room and my stove is full of wood but I can't fire it up!!

Had that happen a few times.
Since I like the smell, I just bit the bullet and dealt with it until the draft corrected.
I suggest trying a big firestarter, less paper and some soft, dry wood. You don't need much to get it to correct. Paper & pine will smoke ALOT.
 
Did you try to heat the pipe itself with the torch, out just hold it in the firebox? You could also try heating the pipe with a hair dryer. What is your chimney setup like that you have such a draft problem?
 
Scottydont said:
I'm sitting here typing in an 18C room and my stove is full of wood but I can't fire it up!!

I'm not a big fan of starting a fire out with the stove full of wood. I like to get a good hot fire going with a few small splits to give me some red hot coals THEN add more wood, only filling the box when I'm really needing a long burn, like overnight. Starting off with a full box, to me, is asking for a slow starting, smoky fire.
 
Kenster said:
Scottydont said:
I'm sitting here typing in an 18C room and my stove is full of wood but I can't fire it up!!

I'm not a big fan of starting a fire out with the stove full of wood. I like to get a good hot fire going with a few small splits to give me some red hot coals THEN add more wood, only filling the box when I'm really needing a long burn, like overnight. Starting off with a full box, to me, is asking for a slow starting, smoky fire.

I didn't mean "full", I just meant a full for a start... a few very small splits and some kindling.
 
Scottydont said:
Kenster said:
Scottydont said:
I'm sitting here typing in an 18C room and my stove is full of wood but I can't fire it up!!

I'm not a big fan of starting a fire out with the stove full of wood. I like to get a good hot fire going with a few small splits to give me some red hot coals THEN add more wood, only filling the box when I'm really needing a long burn, like overnight. Starting off with a full box, to me, is asking for a slow starting, smoky fire.

I didn't mean "full", I just meant a full for a start... a few very small splits and some kindling.

Gotcha, Scotty. Good to know.

Have you tried the "Top Down" method of fire starting? I began doing it this year. Makes starting almost effortless and pretty much guarantees a good draft from the beginning.
 
Ken, I've always started a fire with a pretty good size load and never had a problem with it. It can be done and be done without the smokey mess.
 
I second the idea of a hair dryer. My friends busted on me the first time I told them about it but when they saw how well it worked that quickly snuffed out their mockery!
 
You are definitely getting reverse draft. Time to understand why. It could be negative pressure in the house. Tell us a bit about the installation. What floor is it on, how tall is the flue, how is the stove connected and what stove is this?
 
You must have high pressure approaching. My guess is opening a door or 2 in the house will equalize the pressure and allow you to get a draft started in the chimney.
 
I sometimes had this problem at the begining of the year but since I am 24/7 now the stoves never cools enough for the draft to reverse.

I agree with the others, start small and build up. First, open a near by window, just a crack is good. Use nothing but your finest kindling, cut very small, no splits yet. Stack it in a criss coss method, 2 x noth South, 2 x east west, etc. Build a little building of sorts. In the middle of the building, put in a fire starter, or something that does not smoke allot, Birch bark work great then cover the top with more kindling. Air open all the way of course. Now light the bark or fire starter and close the door all but an inch or so. This should avoid most of the somke coming into the room and it will also create a good vacum effect. With the door wide open the smoke will follow the path of least resistance, your house. With the door open just a crack it should slowly start to suck air into the stove to feed the fire, hopefully pushing the smoke and heat out the chimney. Once it is going well close the soor and watch the flame, if they die down too much, crack the door again until you have your hot coals and a good draft going. Again, use only small kindling, very dry, no bark, not a buch of of paper that will smoke, fine kndling, birch bark, fire starter.

I also agree with the hair dryer idea, never did it myself but the theroy is good. As for the torch, it is useless unless you can aim it right into the flue, with most stoves that are EPA that is near on impossible.

Good luck and let us know how you made out.
 
Don't know what you have for a chimney, but on my exterior block chimney sometimes I have to lite a small paper fire in the clean out door to get a draft going.
 
BeGreen said:
You are definitely getting reverse draft. Time to understand why. It could be negative pressure in the house. Tell us a bit about the installation. What floor is it on, how tall is the flue, how is the stove connected and what stove is this?

Basement installation. Century Insert. Exterior chimney with 32' 5.5" uninsulated liner blocked off top and bottom.

After searching and reading many other posts regarding this issue, it looks like this is a common complaint for basement installations.
 
SKIN052 said:
I sometimes had this problem at the begining of the year but since I am 24/7 now the stoves never cools enough for the draft to reverse.

I agree with the others, start small and build up. First, open a near by window, just a crack is good. Use nothing but your finest kindling, cut very small, no splits yet. Stack it in a criss coss method, 2 x noth South, 2 x east west, etc. Build a little building of sorts. In the middle of the building, put in a fire starter, or something that does not smoke allot, Birch bark work great then cover the top with more kindling. Air open all the way of course. Now light the bark or fire starter and close the door all but an inch or so. This should avoid most of the somke coming into the room and it will also create a good vacum effect. With the door wide open the smoke will follow the path of least resistance, your house. With the door open just a crack it should slowly start to suck air into the stove to feed the fire, hopefully pushing the smoke and heat out the chimney. Once it is going well close the soor and watch the flame, if they die down too much, crack the door again until you have your hot coals and a good draft going. Again, use only small kindling, very dry, no bark, not a buch of of paper that will smoke, fine kndling, birch bark, fire starter.

I also agree with the hair dryer idea, never did it myself but the theroy is good. As for the torch, it is useless unless you can aim it right into the flue, with most stoves that are EPA that is near on impossible.

Good luck and let us know how you made out.

I'll try the hair dryer; and if that doesn't work I'll try the small fire.
 
I sometimes have some trouble getting a draft started. I add at least three medium splits, a few small ones on top of the medium, and a lot of kindling (10 or 12, 1/2 inch square splits) on top of the small with a small piece of fire starter (I use super cedars) nestled in the kindling. I then lite the fire starter and shut the door. If the chimney is cold the fire box will fill with smoke, and maybe even a little smoke will leak out of the stove, but within a couple of minutes I get air flow up the chimney, as indicated by the firebox clearing of smoke. I definitely try to avoid opening the door until the smoke clears out.

I like to start with enough wood for a medium-sized, hot fire that will get the masonry chimney warm. If I start with just kindling, I'll have to open the door soon and add more wood, which is likely to mean smoke in the room. If I have a medium-sized fire, I can let wood burn to coals before I have to reload (so there isn't much smoke left from the fire), and I get a good hot flue which means a good draft. I can normally start from a cold chimney without any hint of smoke smell in the room, although as I wrote above, with a very cold chimney sometimes I get a little smoke leaking before the draft starts.

I have about 25 or 30 feet of tile-lined flue inside a brick chimney mounted on the outside of the house.

I have found super cedars work far better for me than paper, candles, or anything else I have tried. i don't get paid to say this, although they did send me a free sample in the fall.
 
I have had that problem with the 602 in the kitchen. The hair dryer works! I just warm up the pipe coming out of the stove for a while and like majic the draft starts!
 
Dont forget to sweep the ashes before using hair dryer.. could prove messy.
 
Scottydont said:
BeGreen said:
You are definitely getting reverse draft. Time to understand why. It could be negative pressure in the house. Tell us a bit about the installation. What floor is it on, how tall is the flue, how is the stove connected and what stove is this?

Basement installation. Century Insert. Exterior chimney with 32' 5.5" uninsulated liner blocked off top and bottom.

After searching and reading many other posts regarding this issue, it looks like this is a common complaint for basement installations.

This might be a candidate for outside air. Is there a nearby window or door you can open about an inch while starting the stove? Give that a try and let us know if it's an improvement.

Also, if there's a 90 elbow heading out to the flue? Make sure the horiz. run is as short as possible and running uphill toward the thimble by at least 1/4" per ft. Or, you can improve this by switching to a pair of 45's leading directly to the thimble. That will help the smoke be on a continuous uphill path.
 
My stack is straight up thru the ceiling only about 15 feet total. I warm up the out side of the single wall pipe until I can feel the draft start pulling. Actually most times I can get it going using the top down method.
 
BeGreen said:
This might be a candidate for outside air. Is there a nearby window or door you can open about an inch while starting the stove? Give that a try and let us know if it's an improvement.

Also, if there's a 90 elbow heading out to the flue? Make sure the horiz. run is as short as possible and running uphill toward the thimble by at least 1/4" per ft. Or, you can improve this by switching to a pair of 45's leading directly to the thimble. That will help the smoke be on a continuous uphill path.

No horizontal runs. Already tried opening window.
 
Depending on the kind of stove you have (wasnt in your sig and original post and I didnt read all the rest of the posts) if your stove has a baffle plate like typical EPA certified stoves I'll get my kindling fire ready to start and then cram 3 or 4 balled up pieces of newspaper up in that baffle area. I'll light them first to help reverse the draft quicker. Once I hear that "whoosh" of air moving up the chimney, I'll go ahead and light the kindling and try to get the fire started quick. If you open the door of your stove to light it and feel the slightest "breeze" of cool air coming back in, that means you may need to do a little extra to get the draft reversed before lighting the kindling.
 
Backwoods Savage said:
Ken, I've always started a fire with a pretty good size load and never had a problem with it. It can be done and be done without the smokey mess.

Yea but Dennis, When was the last time you started your stove from stone cold when it was 0 degrees out? :snake:
 
fire_man said:
Backwoods Savage said:
Ken, I've always started a fire with a pretty good size load and never had a problem with it. It can be done and be done without the smokey mess.

Yea but Dennis, When was the last time you started your stove from stone cold when it was 0 degrees out? :snake:

Hasn't been zero yet this winter- but did it several times last winter- no issues. Basement installs, uninsulated and outside chimneys would make it more difficult though.
 
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