High Winds and starting fires

[Greg123]

We had extremely high winds last night with gusts up to 70 mph. I decided not to run the wood stove because the wind was just whipping down the class A so much you could see the ashes in the fire box blowing around.

Any tips on starting a fire when the winds are so high?. I would think you would want to get the stove hot as quick as possible to get the class A warmed up to get a good draft going to counter the harsh winds but not sure I understand the theory behind it.

 

[Mike Wilson]

I live in a high wind environment, and my normal means of defense against high winds and starting fires (when I am not burning 27/7, at which point it doesn't matter), it to make a preemptive strike, and start the fire before the winds go above 20. That's the absolute best way to prevent any problems. Now, if you have to start a fire from cold during high winds, you definitely want to heat it up as fast as possible, the question is, of course, how do you do it without backpuffing into the house? I used to roll up 4 sheets of newspaper into tubes, and slide those tubes above the stove baffle. Then I'd fill the stove with small kindling and some more newspaper in balls. Light the tubes on top first, and you usually get a direct upward draft without backpuffing... usually. What I have been doing lately, and what seems better, is to use one of those duraflame firestarter sticks, broken in half, with lots of small kindling. The duraflames seem to throw out very little smoke compared to paper, and heat up quickly. I light them both up at the same time, and close the doors, but don't latch them. Most of the time... most... there's no smoke. You can also get one of those ridiculous looking flue caps that prevent wind coming down the chimney, but if this is an infrequent problem for you then I'd avoid it.

-- Mike

 

[Greg123]

Excellent advice Mike thanks.

I can tell you one thing the wife and kids where complaining that it was cold without the wood stove going, even though the furnace was one set at 70 degrees. You just used to having the warmth of the wood stove and nothing else will do.

 

[MountainStoveGuy]

Greg, i live in a area where the winds rip along at 100+ on a reguar basis this time of year. I never get wind blowing down my chimney, thats because i have a tall chimney that has no obstructions any where close to the cap. The harder the wind blows, the bigger the vacume in chimney. I have to dampen my stove down MORE on windy days. If you increase the hight of your pipe the wind will have less effect on the draft.
Another option is to force negative pressure in your chimney, by using a Vacu-Stack, or Windbeater cap. These caps are designed to provide negative pressure in the chimney when the wind is blowing, but produce positive pressure (restriction) when the wind is not blowing..
Hope that Helps

 

[Greg123]

Thanks MSG, Great advise.

I usually don't have a problem with wind because the wood stove is going all the time, but prior to the storm cold front moving thru it was 67 degrees and the temp dropped like a rock to 34 degrees with the high winds in a matter of a couple of hours.

 

[pistonslap]

I started my fire before the winds got high but then as the storm got closer the outside temperature went from 55 to 67. I dampered down to keep the inside temp of the house livible and went to pick my wife up from work. Big mistake! When I got back the wind hand blown the smoke back down the chimney and filled the basement with smoke.

 

[MountainStoveGuy]

Basements are prone to smoke with out any wind. When it is windy, its very very hard to overcome the negative pressure of a basement no matter how much stack you have. Its much easier on a main floor where the air pressure is typically neutral.