Help! Going to probably kill myself

[GBehr]

See Pic,

I know how to build a fire outside, I know how to buiild it inside the fireplace, but clearly I am going to kill myself with this thing. My neighbor behind me insists I need to use this thing in order get more heat out of my fireplace. At the rate I am going with this thing I will probably end up with smoke inhalation before I actually get any heat out of it.

Tell me everything I am doing wrong, or better, please tell me what I need to do right.

I have a small fire rack inside that I am putting the wood on. I am lighting a fire keeping the doors open until a good flame is going, I shut the doors, the fire chokes out from smoke. I open the doors, and smoke pours out. I can see the smoke escaping out the chimney, but the box is filling up also. This has an electric fan that is supposed to help blow the heat out. You can see the four large cast iron knobs on the front of the doors, they are open all the way.

Both owner of the house and neighbor says the thing works great, but I clearly cannot figure it out.

 

[Dill]

Is there a damper inside of it?
Do this can you burn just a crumpled bit of newspaper with the doors shut?
No wood, just paper. I think either
1. There is a damper that you haven't found
or
2. There is something phyiscally blocking your chimney.
If the paper burns than you have draft, and then you can work on the fire building.
And is it cold enough outside yet? My little brother is stationed in Little Rock and I thought he said it was still mid 70s.

 

[BrotherBart]

Don't even start to think about lighting a fire in any stove where you don't know the condition of the chimney first. Get that chimney cleaned and inspected first.

That fireplace insert is an antique but make sure that you aren't going to get it started burning and set off a chimney fire from a mess of flammable crap in the chimney.

 

[GBehr]

The Chimney is Clean, it was cleaned last month.

The paper will burn.

There is no manual damper, I can confirm smoke is going up the chimeny and out of the house.

The blower is working.

The knobs are open to let air into the box.

70 degrees during the day maybe, last night it got to 40 degrees. We are from Florida, sorry 65 degrees is cold.

 

[BrotherBart]

In that case, and I hesitate to advise anybody in how to burn in one of those old suckers, crumple up five or six sheets of newspaper and put it in the center of the firebox. Build a teepee shaped stack of one inch or less pieces of DRY kindling over the newspaper. Light the paper and leave one of those doors cracked open a couple of inches while it burns. When it is burning well enough that the chimney is pulling the smoke up out of the firebox then add a couple of small splits of DRY wood on top of the kindling front to back on top of the burning kindling.

If that stove keeps smoking out the doors then something is very very wrong in the stove or the chimney. Or you are trying to burn wet green wood in the thing.

Edit: I just re-read the original post. Get that "rack" our of the stove and build the fire right on the floor of the firebox and leave those fans off until you learn how to get the stove up to operating temperature.

 

[GBehr]

How do I know what operating tempature is.

I have a fire going again in the box now.

 

[CT-Mike]

Go to your local stove shop and get a magnetic thermometer, I would place it in the center right above the doors. The fire rack was the first thing that jumped out at me also. You should be burning right on the fire brick floor of the stove. Other things I would do is get an inspection mirror and a flashlight and try to see up the flue, hopefully you can see daylight and no obstructions. Just because smoke is coming out the top of the opening doesn't mean that there aren't obstructions causing smoke to build up in the firebox.

 

[stanleyjohn]

How dry (seasoned)is your wood?Burning wood that looks dry but has a high moisture content will build a smoky fire every time.Also make sure the air intake on the stove is open instead of closed.

 

[countrybois]

Be patient with it. You are more than likely just too anxious to see it working properly. What needs to happen is that you have to get your whole chimney warm, actually closer to hot, in order to create 'draft'. Leave the doors ajar a little longer and start your fire out with small dry pieces (say 2" diameter or so), let it burn without opening the doors to 'check on it'. The more you open the doors the more cool air you are letting in. Some may tell you that a few pieces of crumpled up newspaper are enough to get your draft going, don't believe it. Depending on the diameter and height of your chimey, it takes a pretty good fire to get this draft going.

 

[GBehr]

I bought the wood at home depot. but I can't say it is very grey. My neightbor behind me has very grey wood.

The four knobs on the front of the box, how open should they be, should all four be open, and at any point should I close them.

Last night the box did get hot, but I figured for a the size of it, that it would have heated the room a lot better. My neighbor says the original bui9lder of the house could warm the whole house using it.

Its a big chimeny with about a 18" cage and a roof over it.

 

[steam man]

Attempting to use a fireplace like that in warm weather-65-70 is warm weather to most everyone one here, is going to be a problem. How high is the chimney? You'll never get the draft you need at that temperature unless maybe the chimney was extended into controlled airspace and you could get it really hot. I would just settle for leaving the doors open and taking what little heat you need.

Mike

 

[Girl]

Yes get that rack out! Lots of kindling & small splits until you have a nice bed of coals to heat things up proper.
You say there is an owner of the house? You rent?
Ask the owner to go over how to use it properly or is the neighbor familiar with the stove? Ask the neighbor.
Pay a sweep or stove tech to come by to show you proper usage & if you have to pay them 50 bucks (just throwing a number out there) plus coffee & cookies to
know how to use it properly, it would be well worth it, right?

 

[cmonSTART]

Ya, Granted I have a less than ideal chimney, but I have trouble getting mine going above the low 50s.

 

[stanleyjohn]

I bought the wood at home depot. but I can't say it is very grey. My neightbor behind me has very grey wood.

The four knobs on the front of the box, how open should they be, should all four be open, and at any point should I close them.

Last night the box did get hot, but I figured for a the size of it, that it would have heated the room a lot better. My neighbor says the original bui9lder of the house could warm the whole house using it.

Its a big chimeny with about a 18" cage and a roof over it.

I would have all four open until a real good fire is going with some nice hot coals then slowly close them in steps until you get to a point that closeing them more causes the fire to smother.What others have said here about starting a fire when its warm outside is true.If the out side temp is almost as warm as the inside your going to have very little pressure difference between outside and inside which means very little draft.Very little draft means that smoke from a starting fire has no where to go.

 

[Dill]

My stove struggles to burn at 50 and just starts to get going at 45. Unless its a humid 45 and then there is no hope.

 

[wellbuilt home]

Most fire place dampers have a way to open and close and also damper down . If the PO had a fire in it last and it burned till it died the damper could be closed down to keep heat in but woulds still let some smoke out. Most fire places don't really burn good till the temp is in the mid 50s Is the stove a insert or just doors with a heat exchanger? If it was a insert I think it would need a 8" flue liner to work well.

 

[webbie]

Let me try to summarize -

We are concerned that the unit is just sitting in the fireplace - no pipe to or through the damper. If this is true, the unit may never work to your satisfaction.

Many chimneys reverse when not in use. These chimneys need to be started correctly before use.

See:
https://www.hearth.com/econtent/index.php/articles/start_a_wood_fire
https://www.hearth.com/econtent/index.php/articles/chimneys_an_unexact_science/
https://www.hearth.com/econtent/index.php/articles/installing_a_woodstove (the part about installing into a fireplace)

and then get back to us with any questions

 

[mushman]

Maybe you can take a mirror and flashlight and look up thru the fire place and see if you can clearly see the sky.
Maybe the chimney cleaners closed a damper that you just don't know about, or a squirel or something built a nest since you last cleaned it.

 

[Chettt]

Wait till it gets cold out and then leave the doors cracked for longer than you are now.