Advice Needed: Starting a Cold Jotul 500

Morning everyone,

The weather is getting downright cold up here in New England and we're getting ready to fire up the stoves soon. One problem: I dread starting up my Jotul 500 when it's cold. I'm looking for any sort of suggestions you can provide.

Here's the deal: The stove is vented straight out the back- a horizontal run of about 3' through the wall and then straight up 26'. The chimney and wall kit are Metalbestos stainless. When the stove is hot, or even warm, it's easy to light and drafts beautifully while burning. When the stove is cold and there's cold air in the stack it's a nightmare. By the time enough hot air has built up to get a draft going up the chimney I've filled the house with smoke. I've tried all sorts of different ways of starting the fire- top down, newspaper, fat wood, etc. and I always get smoke in the house before the draft gets going in the right direction. I'm not talking about a few wisps of smoke- I mean set off all the smoke detectors, thank God my wife isn't home, call the fire department smoke. Someone recommended throwing a few Sterno canisters in the stove to pre-heat the air. I used three canisters at a time, burned them most of the way down, and it made little difference.

Any suggestions? I'm willing to try anything.

Thanks!

Josh

Before I recommend anything......Do you have a "T" installed?


WoodButcher

I think I know what you mean- yes, we have a T installed between the horizontal pipe coming out of the house, and the vertical stack outside. I can open the bottom to clean out the chimney. I think this is a T. I can snap a picture if it helps.

Thanks!

Josh

Have you considered the more expensive but more reliable alternative of building an insulated chase around the pipe going up?
When you say newspaper, do you mean that you use it as a firestarter? When I get a cold chimney, I use a PILE of newspaper withought any wood to
evacuate the cold air in the chimney, then build a fire after that burns down.

Try this

Get your kindling/newspaper or what ever you use, get it set up in your stove, dont light it. Go out to your T ... ball up some newspaper in there light it, put the bottom back on (you might have to experiment with your T cap/bottom...either putting it all the way back in or just holding it there part way out till newspaper gets going) .....let in burn ....let the stack get a draft
Go inside and light your fire...this should help. Just make sure you dont start building up lots of flyash in your T

This helped me out every time with my old VC in my basement with a 25 foot external chimney. I would light the newspaper in the clean out outside.


WoodButcher

i can relate with you 100% on this problem. fortunatley it has nothing to do with the stove. its that darn stainless exterior chimney. my first year with the stove i filled my basement with smoke multiple times. what i usually do is stuff some newspaper in the Breech (i think) in between my baffle and front of stove and touch that off , what you are trying to do here is reverse the draft. i usually get a tad of smoke but you'll be amazed how quick that pipe will heat up. occasionaly this doesn't work either but the amount of smoke you'll get will be alot less. than the method you are using

Had the same setup with outside chimney. Colder it got the worst the cold start problem.

I'd almost always get away with leaving the vents wide open for a couple minutes, then starting a very small fire with very dry pine branches.
Rolled up newspapers always made too much smoke and not enough heat for me.
No way could I just start a fire in January or February with a cold chimney without getting a draft going first.
I don't think I'd have the patience for sterno.

Not speaking from experience, but could you just place the sterno can in the base of your stack, inside the 'T'? Seems like that would help more than setting them inside the stove.
I was also wondering if I could just take a propane torch and point it up the stack through the 'T' and run that for a minute or so to get the flue hot.

I'm just brainstorming, my 500 will be on a stainless exterior chimney this year too. I am hoping on surrounding it eventually, but thats not going to fit in this years budget.

Would a cheap harbor freight electric heat gun work? Couldn't you just set it in the tee for a couple of minutes, come back, unplug and light the fire? I've never tried it but in theory it sounds plausible.

Great responses guys- thanks. I understand now that it's the exterior uninsulated chimney that's the culprit here. We plan to add an insulated chase at some point in the future. I need to pay off the stove and chimney first, though!

I had thought about opening up the T and starting a small hot fire, but I didn't know if this was a good idea. I'll give it a shot. I also really like the idea of the heat gun. I'm sure it would put out a heck of a lot more heat than the Sterno I tried, and it's a lot cheaper. My installer recommended I heat up the top baffle with a MAPP torch to try to get the draft going, but the torch puts out such a small amount of intense heat it didn't do much to help. I think the heat gun is what I'll try first. It's cheap and it has the added advantage of not requiring me to trek outside to get the draft going.

I'll be sure to report back with my experience.

Thanks again,
Josh

my dad does that with his woodstove. he gets the bernzomatic going and heats up the pipe. i originally had forgot about that method

Also, make sure a window is open as close as possible to the stove. Basements naturally have a bit of negative pressure. Go to any leaky basement window in the winter and you will feel cold air pouring in on all sides of the house (whereas leaky upstairs windows often leak heat out so you don't feel that strong inward draft). By opening a window you lower the negative pressure in your stack. I had it happen more than once in my last house where I'd have a smoke issue as my old VC would be dying down, but as soon as I opened a window the draft would instantly reverse and smoke would get sucked right back into my wood stove. You can watch it happen sometimes.

Once your stack is warm, you can shut the window again.

Hi, I don't know if you will see this since its an old post but..... I have the same trouble but it is aneasy fix if you can get to the back of your stove. I use a hairdryer put into the air intake on the back bottom of the stove. Run it on high for a minute or two, (have your paper ready to light) check the draft, and if OK light it and your on. And yes, I do open a basement window for those first few minutes.
Bill

This is when 1 whole Super Cedar works wonders. Email me for a free sample forstarts@aol.com These will get the most stubborn drafts going.

Thomas

When I was a kid I had to jam a couple sheets of newspaper in the flue and light to induce draft for the old VC. Worked well. Get your kindling, firestarter set up first, then heat the pipe and light the fire right away.