Importance of warming the stack

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fireview2788

fireview2788

Minister of Fire
Apr 20, 2011
972
SW Ohio
We ran the stove all weekend but let it go cold yesterday because the house stayed @ 72F all day. I went to work figuring my wife would get a fire going at some point when the temps started to drop as they were calling for. At 9:30 my wife texts me and says that she can't keep the fire going. I asked if she was keeping the door open to help with draft and she told me yes and that she was done dealing with it (she has the cold I brought home from deer camp).

I figured it was due to the chimney being cold so when I got home I lit a couple of pieces of paper and warmed it up. I added two pieces of kindling and a Super Cedar and she lit off like a champ. Of course she gave me a dirty look and added that we were going to be anyway. I told her why she was having problems so next time she'll be good to go. BTW, I woke up to a nice toasty house at 72F.

Just wanted to throw that out there in case another newbie has problems.


f v
 
Makes sense. As long as I have small enough pieces on fire or a nice bed of coals, I can always get the thing going pretty good. It's when the coal bed is dwindling with some larger unburned pieces smoldering...that's when the trouble begins.
 
Mrs. Blue often has the same problem... this is when I become her "weird husband who likes the wood stove", and she becomes "the only one with the sense to turn on the heat." Hilarity ensues.
 
I've been lighting up two pieces of newspaper in the back of the stove to get the draft going. After about 10sec, the draft pulls really nice and then I light a SC with the door cracked and it just takes off. Keeps smoke from spilling in the room too!
 
This is the number one thing with us and the super cedars. My wife always has struggled to get a fire going in a cold stove but now with the super cedars, she has no problem.....or at least not as much problem. She still doesn't understand why her fires aren't like mine and that fact that I can just move a piece of wood and her fires will then burn much hotter. She calls it my magic poke. lol
 
Getting the draft going before you light the wood on fire is a good thing.
One morning , wife had all the smoke detectors blaring, could barely see her thru the smoke.
Showed her a few tricks. If I'm not home, she don't let the fire go out.
Now I have a few instruction sheets down by the stove
How to load
how to empty ashes
how to start a new fire with a cold stove.
Helps allot
 
Backwoods Savage said:
She calls it my magic poker. lol
Click to expand...

Really? Thats what my wife calls mine.... oh wait, your talking about a fireplace tool? oh um... Forget it.
 
Backwoods Savage said:
This is the number one thing with us and the super cedars. My wife always has struggled to get a fire going in a cold stove but now with the super cedars, she has no problem.....or at least not as much problem. She still doesn't understand why her fires aren't like mine and that fact that I can just move a piece of wood and her fires will then burn much hotter. She calls it my magic poke. lol
Click to expand...

Thats why men are men, and women are women tell her. LOL
My woman also calls me her "magic poke".

Couldn't help myself. That one was left wayyyyy tooo open.....
 
Ah, yup. Two different subjects there.
 
shawneyboy said:
Backwoods Savage said:
She calls it my magic poker. lol
Click to expand...

Really? Thats what my wife calls mine.... oh wait, your talking about a fireplace tool? oh um... Forget it.
Click to expand...

There he goes again talking about his magic poker. :lol:
 
OMFG! I am so glad I am not drinking anything. I would have sprayed the monitor, keyboard, desk, everything!!! Too funny!
 
Oh you men, secretly, you all think your poker is magic.
 
bogydave said:
Getting the draft going before you light the wood on fire is a good thing.
One morning , wife had all the smoke detectors blaring, could barely see her thru the smoke.
Showed her a few tricks. If I'm not home, she don't let the fire go out.
Now I have a few instruction sheets down by the stove
How to load
how to empty ashes
how to start a new fire with a cold stove.
Helps allot
Click to expand...

Can you post those? That sounds like a really good ideal. ;-)
 
I am constantly refining the way I run the insert. I taught my wife how to build a fire, reload, set it for overnight, etc.
Unfortunately she accurately follows what I taught her 9 yrs. ago.
When I politely suggest the newer and better method she rolls her eyes or pretends not to hear, even though the new way is easier and more effective.
 
Instructions to my wife for starting a fire:

1. Go to wood rack and grab 3 small splits.
2. Get 4 pieces of kindling (we use soft maple kindling because it lights super easy and burns hot)
3. Place 2 splits on bottom of stove. Form a slight Vee if possible.
4. Take 1/4 of a super cedar and place towards center of the Vee.
5. Light super cedar.
6. Place 4 pieces of kindling diagonally across the Vee.
7. Place last small split on top of the kindling.
8. Close door latch then swing door closed so that the latch creates a gap to assist with draft.
9. As soon as kindling and top split starts burning, now close the door.
10. When flue temperature reaches 400, turn draft down to 50%.
11. When stove top reaches 200, engage cat and set draft to 1 (25%).
12. Enjoy the heat.

Reloading stove:
1. Open draft full.
2. Gather wood from rack that you intend to put into stove.
3. Disengage cat.
4. Open firebox door and put splits in the firebox.
5. Leave draft full open until wood gets started burning.
6. Once wood gets started, close draft to 50%.
7. When wood is charred and flue to 400 (usually 10 minutes or less), set draft to 1 and engage cat.
8. Enjoy heat.
9. Do watch the fire for maybe 10 minutes. If too much flame, close draft a bit more (we use .75 on draft setting of 1-4).
10. Go about your business. Stove will take care of itself for many, many hours.
 
shawneyboy said:
Backwoods Savage said:
She calls it my magic poker. lol
Click to expand...

Really? Thats what my wife calls mine.... oh wait, your talking about a fireplace tool? oh um... Forget it.
Click to expand...

Oh my . . . :) :) :)
 
chvymn99 said:
bogydave said:
Getting the draft going before you light the wood on fire is a good thing.
One morning , wife had all the smoke detectors blaring, could barely see her thru the smoke.
Showed her a few tricks. If I'm not home, she don't let the fire go out.
Now I have a few instruction sheets down by the stove
How to load
how to empty ashes
how to start a new fire with a cold stove.
Helps allot
Click to expand...

Can you post those? That sounds like a really good ideal. ;-)
Click to expand...
 

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Does anybody else use a hair dryer to warm the flue? I do this and it works well when the flue is cold. For obvious reasons, please don't use your wife's nice one. If you don't have a crummy one, then have her buy a nice new one and use the old one.

I just set mine in the back of the stove (lid open) and turn it on while I'm getting wood ready or the stove ashes cleaned out.

Most often I run the stove 24/7 so I don't have to use it often.
 
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