Relighting in the morning
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If you've got hot coals, rake them towards the front of stove, open the air to full, and place some small splits of dry wood or kindling on the coals. Should catch right up. Unseasoned wood is always the culprit and needs more air to burn.. when your airs fully open, most of your heat is going up the chimney. Better buck, split, and stack now for next year, it makes a world of difference.
ya i do the same just i put some newspaper in there as well, home depot by me is now selling sawdust logs u can try some of those if u cannot get good dry wood.
If you have to use newspaper, you're basically starting from scratch. If you want to learn to start from whatever coals are left, use a stove rake to flick them out of the ashes and toward the front. Blow on them hard for three or four breaths until the coals start to get red hot. Take a few short pallet scraps and resplit them into thirds. Crisscross them on top of the coals and close the door.
When they are fully flaming, carefully put three full-width pallet scraps on top and let them get going. A couple minutes later you should be able to open the door and put 3-4 small splits on top and you should have a decent coal bed within 20 minutes. Put a couple more small splits right on those coals and load the stove, starting behind the fire you've established and then on top of the whole thing. Close the door and watch to see if it takes right off. If it doesn't, open the door a crack to give it a blast-furnace effect.
Don't walk away until the door is closed and the fire is well established. When the stove is good and hot, you can start to shut down the air. If the stove is hot enough you should start to see your secondaries kick in and you can slowly adjust the air to it's final setting.
When they are fully flaming, carefully put three full-width pallet scraps on top and let them get going. A couple minutes later you should be able to open the door and put 3-4 small splits on top and you should have a decent coal bed within 20 minutes. Put a couple more small splits right on those coals and load the stove, starting behind the fire you've established and then on top of the whole thing. Close the door and watch to see if it takes right off. If it doesn't, open the door a crack to give it a blast-furnace effect.
Don't walk away until the door is closed and the fire is well established. When the stove is good and hot, you can start to shut down the air. If the stove is hot enough you should start to see your secondaries kick in and you can slowly adjust the air to it's final setting.
Try the super cedars, or a part of one. Once you try these you will keep using them -- so you can recycle the reams of paper.
I would be cognizant that with the use of "reams of paper" there have been some discussion with the potential plugging of your chimney cap if it has a fine screen, it can get sticky and accumulate crap (paper ash). The screen mesh can get a little sticky with burning unseasoned wood.
I would be cognizant that with the use of "reams of paper" there have been some discussion with the potential plugging of your chimney cap if it has a fine screen, it can get sticky and accumulate crap (paper ash). The screen mesh can get a little sticky with burning unseasoned wood.
Battenkiller said:
I've seen/been told/know of the rake the coals toward the door...I dont have a rake and my shovel kinda kills the coals. As for the wood I was Ive been C/S/S since I got my delivery of green wood back in August. Going to try my soot eater this weekend I hope. I'm kinda worried just because I'm new and don't know exactly how bad the flex is. I taped it yesterday just to hear if any popcorn fell. I've had maybe 10-15 good fires so far.
If you still have coals, you just need to separate them from the ashes and pull them forward. A bit of kin'lin on top, maybe some crumbs from the hearth, open up the air, and you're good to go. I abhor newspaper. Use it in the birdcage or put it in the blue box. I use Super Cedars but only on a cold start.
Get an ash rake. I think Harbor Freight or Northern Tool sells them. I did the newspapers and kindling route my first year and then discovered Supercedars. Never looked back.
James, you don't need a special tool for those coals. We simply use the poker for moving the coals and it is very easy. Do the same thing when emptying the ashes (still have not emptyed any ashes this year).
Green wood in August
!! You had best quit trying to burn that stuff lest you run into even more difficulties and for sure keep a close eye on that chimney. I'd highly suggest you try to find some different wood or try burning the bricks this year. In the meantime, stock up on wood for next year. That means 3-4 full cord. Get it stacked where it can get wind and cover only the top of the wood. Stack it in single rows too. Best to stay away from any oak until you can get 2-3 years ahead on your wood supply. If buying all the wood, then specify no oak. Yes, it is one of the very best firewoods but it takes a long, long time to dry and time is what you are short on.
Green wood in August
!! You had best quit trying to burn that stuff lest you run into even more difficulties and for sure keep a close eye on that chimney. I'd highly suggest you try to find some different wood or try burning the bricks this year. In the meantime, stock up on wood for next year. That means 3-4 full cord. Get it stacked where it can get wind and cover only the top of the wood. Stack it in single rows too. Best to stay away from any oak until you can get 2-3 years ahead on your wood supply. If buying all the wood, then specify no oak. Yes, it is one of the very best firewoods but it takes a long, long time to dry and time is what you are short on.
If the wood you are burning was green in August, it's not ready for burning 3 months later. You might explore some other options for this winter, such as ecologs, or mixing in kiln-dried lumber with the green wood, or trading someone with a lot of seasoned wood some of your green for some of their seasoned.
there was a post a few days ago about 3 month drying.......could be...i.d spit your present wood small and store it in your house if at all possibe for a few weeks,it will make a huge difference though not ideal
roddy said:
I've been splitting most of my wood real small and using pallets and scraps where I can...Then putting it close to the fire for whatever possible last minute drying. So far it's working, but I've had to work a bit harder at getting it up to temp...Stinnks being a first year guy as most of you good folks know.
like i said,if you got some spare room in some part of you house(warm is better)you can realize quite an improvement in a couple of weeks more so than than just a bit of time beside the fire,but get some wood ahead and this will become mute at best
James02 said:
As others have said, you don't need a "proper" rake. I use a 6-tine garden cultivator rake with the tines and handle shortened, and a poker with a hooked end will work just fine. Separate them from the ashes (I actually lift and separate, like in the "cross your heart" bra commercial). Don't worry about killing them, if you pile them up without lots of ashes mixed in they will get going real fast in front of the air intake. Improvise. I've used a large slotted serving spoon, a deep-fry skimmer, pokers, commercially made rakes, etc. Practice, it's part of the skill set you are trying to develop.
As far as that wood goes, better get busy resplitting it a lot smaller. Drying season is basically done now. Your wood will continue to dry some, but it will need all the help it can get. Split small and try to get a few days worth at a time in by the stove. It'll dry fast there if you can split it small. Get more pallets. Don't burn them straight and hold out hope that your main wood stash will be ready by January. It won't. Use the pallet wood to get the fire well established and then mix it in with the marginal stuff. Keep a lookout for construction site dumps as well. My wife used to go right past a place that always had a mountain of shorts. She'd get a truck load in about 5 minutes and I'd have all the dry kindling I could process.
With a bit of skill and a whole lot of cussin', you should be able to stay warm this year. If not, warm yourself up outside getting next year's wood ready. ;-)
Hint: I have tried just about every tool out there for splitting boards into kindling, and nothing works better for me than an old meat cleaver you can pick up at an antique store for $5. I can split a 12" x 12" pine board into 3/4" kindling splits in about 10 seconds with my cleaver.
Edit:
Oops! Multiple posts telling you what you are already doing. Keep up with bringing the wood inside. My experience is that it will dry real fast inside once the outside temps start to drop and the air coming into your home has almost no moisture in it. If you can make a rack that will hold 7 individual days worth of wood separately, you can rotate through the rack and you will always have wood that's been drying for a week inside. You will be stunned to see just how much a single week can improve your poor quality wood, especially if you split it thin.
James02 said:
Once I'm burning 24/7 . . .
When I wake up I take my fireplace shovel and just stir up the coals and ashes . . . letting the ash fall into the ash pan . . . since I'm too cheap to buy an ash rake and too stupid to make my own I use the shovel . . . and it works.
After I drag the coals to the front of the stove near the incoming air I add some kindling . . . small splits and then large splits . . . open up the air . . . and let time and the hot coals do their thing. Occasionally if I'm impatient I'll toss in a cardboard cereal box on the coals and then the kindling and the rest.
My wife who is infinitely more patient than I typically does the same thing as me . . . except she just puts on a few small splits and waits a bit longer for the whole thing to take off.
Lots of cardboard is a big no-no. Great way to start a chimney fire if you have creosote down low.
Perhaps stove-dependent but a nice trick I have learned is: in the morning, I'll check to see if I have any hot coals left. If so, I will SPREAD them out (rather than rake forward) close the door back up and open the air all the way. Go eat a bowl of cereal and come back to a nice bed of glowing red coals. THEN I will rake them forward, add kindling or just a small split depending on how much hot coal I actually have and with a little time (usually 15 min) I am burning pretty well.
I think the amount of surface area of hot coal you expose to some air really helps get you going again, hence the spreading.
I think the amount of surface area of hot coal you expose to some air really helps get you going again, hence the spreading.
Battenkiller said:
+1 . . . The only time I use lots of cardboard is if I'm starting a fire . . . outside . . . in a brush pile . . . full of unseasoned, green wood . . . get enough cardboard and you don't need no stinking kerosene or diesel fuel.
I think Jake being a firefighter, knows how much cardboard is too much. He's probably been to more than one fire where excess cardboard was to blame. There are many cases where paper from all the Christmas gifts burned in a fireplace set the home ablaze. Then there is the DIYer that doesn't follow code on a new install and burns down the place with a maiden fire of packing crate and cardboard.James02 said:
As far as the carboard thing it all comes down to common sense, seems like some people (newbies I assume) are paranoid about certain things and that is one of them, do ya really think a box that has fire in it all the time turns into a molotov cocktail with some cardboard?
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