problems with keeping a fire going?????

[mrjeep]

Ok so Im a total noob to wood burning an pyromaniacy. (sp?) Heres what I got..... A Nordic Eric Jr and an outside Supervent thats 18 feet tall. So far it drafts fine. I got no smoke rolling in the house and fires are easy to light. But to keeping one rolling (and I do mean rolling) I have to leave the door open. All the vents on the stove are open but it doesnt get enough air to keep a good flame. Did I do something wrong?

 

[Stevebass4]

how long as your wood been cut / split

 

[mrjeep]

Two years or more.... always used it for camping. Just now turned to heat.

 

[Stevebass4]

new stove? maybe the air inlet is blocked

 

[mrjeep]

The stove was made in 1993 and was bought used.

 

[snowtime]

Sounds to me it starts easy then is starved. Open a window and see if your stove is starved for air maybe the home is too tight. Maybe your appliances such as drier,range hood etc are sucking air out making a situation where your stove stops drafting properly because of pull by your other appliances.
The other thing is your stove does not have a good draft at all. If all your "good burning" is done with the door open then you need to address the draft problem. Does this chimney pass the 10ft/2ft/3ft/ rule? Basically is it 2ft above any structure within 10ft. It also has to be 3' above the roof exit.

 

[Dix]

What type of wood is it, and how big are the splits????

Welcome to the forums

 

[Backwoods Savage]

Welcome to the forum Mrjeep.

Some good questions posed above. What puzzles me is that you say the draft is good but you still have to leave the door open to have it burn. Naturally then, you are not getting a good burn. With that, I would lay it to either a poor draft or poor wood or both.

Just because you use the wood for campfires does not necessarily make it good wood for a stove. You say it is 2 years old, so we have to ask what kind of wood is it? Two years old how? Was the tree down for two years? Was it in log form two years? Has it been cut to firewood length and split then stacked in the wind for 2 years? All this makes a huge difference.

What we normally find is that new burners definitely have big problems with their fuel. All wood is not the same but all wood needs to be dry. All wood does not take the same amount of time to dry either. For example, I can cut a white ash in the winter, split it, stack it and burn it the following fall. If I cut some red oak in the winter, split it, stack it and wait for 2-3 years before I burn it.

Please come back on to post so we can help. There are many on this forum with much knowledge who are very willing to help you get the most out of your burning experience.

Good luck.

 

[mrjeep]

Well i think its my perception of whats a good burn.... tonight I have left it alone and it has cooked me out of the house. Literally I had to step outside to cool off. LOL I'm starting to think this stove is designed for heat not pretty fire. I lowered my expectations of big flame and left it alone tonight it seems to be burning steady and baking me out of my house. What do I know I have only been in the wood heat arena for 48 hours or so.. LOL

 

[Hogwildz]

Once charred, and the gasses burn off from the secondary, I don't have a super rolling flames of hell. Its more cherry red or orange glowing splits and the insert pumping out the heat.
then I guess as the EBT on the Summit kicks in and out, it will get flames at times.