Starting A Fire

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carlo

New Member
Hearth Supporter
Jan 27, 2009
125
Northeastern, N.J.
This is my second season with my wood burning stove, and last year I came to this forum and got help with starting fires, moving heat around the house, and other various matters. I thank you all for your helpful input.

Just today I started a fire and got smoke backed up into my house. Obviously, my stainless steel uncovered chimney (18' run) was cold and the smoke backed up. I saw the video that some recommended on starting fires and it has worked beautifully for me, but there are times when the chimney is so cold the smoke backs up. My question is how do I reduce this from happening ?

I do leave the door of the stove open for an hour or so to let the warmth of the house filter thru the chimney a bit, but that does not always work. I undertstand that there is no clear cut answer because I have a long chimney run and nature is what it is. But instead of putting newspaper, kindling and small splits in the stove to start the fire, should I only put newspaper in and try to warm up the chimney without the fire competing with the wood splits and kindling ? Does this make sense or are there any other ideas that could help me from getting smoke backing up into the house on cold days ?
 
After I get my kindling staged I roll up a sheet of newspaper, bend it in half and twist it tight at the top.
I then light that and hold it toward the back of my stove to start the draft. The newspaper takes off fast and puts a lot of heat up the stovepipe. Works every time!
hope that helps.
 
Carlo,
Some things I've found when I had the same issues as you when using my downstairs stove:

1. Super Cedars fire starters seem to burn much hotter much quicker and don't create smoke whereas newspaper, Rutland starters, Fatwood all produced more smoke and took longer to heat up. One start-up without smoke in the room/smoke detectors going off is worth the $.17.
2. Open a window in the room--this worked really well for me, even on the coldest days (when mixed with above).
3. Lots of really dry, small kindling (don't forget to make sure the fire starter/first load has air)--my downstairs stove requires a different beginning than my upstairs--I need to get it cranking fast and hot with a ton of kindling and then fill it up with big stuff after the first load burns down (for my basement stove, I broke down and bought Mill Store's bag of kindling which is a bunch of small, dry pine pieces).
4. Leave the door open just a crack when starting--I've noticed there is no correlation between the amount the door is open and air entry--specifically, the door being cracked will still allow the stove to suck air quickly enough without letting smoke escape.

While doing this, I can light my downstairs stove, at any temperature, without smoke.

Good luck!

S
 
What I do is put 2 small splits horizontally in the stove then I roll up and twist 4 sheets of newspaper and put them between the splits. I then put 4 peices of kindling above the newspaper resting on the splits.

You know .... come to think of it, I forgot to put more newspaper on top of the kindling. I was doing that last year and it was working good until we had 15 degree days where starting fires with long chimney runs is a difficult task w/o some sort of backup.

Thanks for the reminder about newspaper above the staged area ...... I guess I went brain dead from a long warm season here in the new jersey area.
 
thinkxingu said:
Carlo,
Some things I've found when I had the same issues as you when using my downstairs stove:

1. Super Cedars fire starters seem to burn much hotter much quicker and don't create smoke whereas newspaper, Rutland starters, Fatwood all produced more smoke and took longer to heat up. One start-up without smoke in the room/smoke detectors going off is worth the $.17.
2. Open a window in the room--this worked really well for me, even on the coldest days (when mixed with above).
3. Lots of really dry, small kindling (don't forget to make sure the fire starter/first load has air)--my downstairs stove requires a different beginning than my upstairs--I need to get it cranking fast and hot with a ton of kindling and then fill it up with big stuff after the first load burns down (for my basement stove, I broke down and bought Mill Store's bag of kindling which is a bunch of small, dry pine pieces).
4. Leave the door open just a crack when starting--I've noticed there is no correlation between the amount the door is open and air entry--specifically, the door being cracked will still allow the stove to suck air quickly enough without letting smoke escape.

While doing this, I can light my downstairs stove, at any temperature, without smoke.

Good luck!

S
Click to expand...


Super cedars ? Where do I buy them ? I'll definetely give them a try. I've used fatwood and other starters with failure as well.

Why open a window before ?

My kindling is nice and dry, but not so small as I think you're referring to. Maybe I'll try to split the kindling into finer pieces.

I do leave my stove door open a crack and give it max air........ I find this helps too.

It's the real cold days I have a problem with. Today, it's around 34 degrees, and when I started the fire it backed up, but I think it was due to me not putting newspaper above the staged area. I rarely had problems last year with 30 degree days. It was always the bitterly cold days. Hopefully your suggestions will help on those days ..... thanks !
 
I only use the newspaper as a burst of heat to establish the draft. I hold it near the back of the stove right under the flu collar. The stainless Tee off the back of my stove heats up fast and starts drawing right away.
For my kindling fire I lay two 5-6" diam. splits N/S with a quarter of a Super Cedar in the middle. Then 4-5 (DRY) splits that are 2-3" in diameter on top of that. Once I've established the draft with the newspaper, I touch off the SC and everything fires right up.
I rarely (if ever) get smoke in the room with this method. Also, my chimney is approx. 18' and outside.

"S" is right...newspaper in with your kindling does smoke a lot and can get you if your draft is slow to take off.
 
Oh...find the "Super Cedar Free Samples" thread on page two of the thread list and shoot Thomas an email.
 
I had the same problem a few weeks ago. Here's how I fixed it. Opened the insert door and the nearest window to start a draft. Then put 3-4 sheets of loosely crumpled news paper in, light her up with the door slightly open. This should create enough draft and heat the chimney. After that burns down I'm able to close the window and build my fire normally (top down). Since it's colder now I'm burning almost 24/7, so the chimney never cools down enough to loose it's draft.
 
So you open a window to start a draft ...... very interesting. I would have thought the draft within the stove ( open air vent) and the stove door open a crack would be sufficient for a draft. I'll give it a go.
 
Opening a door/window helps a lot with my setup. I have also found that getting a blast of hot air up the chimney quickly will establish a draft. If I build to big of a fire and it just smolders before taking off I will have smoke coming out of the intake. It happened a couple of times on my old smoke dragon and once with my new stove. I opened up a window and it started to get going. After a minute I close the window and she is good to go. I have a similar stetup, 16' outside run of metal pipe that I can feel the reverse draft sometimes when I am loading a cold stove. The super cedars make it almost food proof but I'm broke this year so I've been making due without them.
 
So the super cedars are that good ....wow. I just ordered a 30 pack .... can't wait to use all the tips I got on this thread ..... thanks everyone !
 
Carlo, remember to break them in 1/4's and you'll have 120 starts. Give it a shot with some small, dry kindling and you may not need to crack a window.

Good luck,

S
 
When I need to get the draft going in my SS exterior chimney I use a hair dryer. Blowing the hot air right up the chimney for about a minute or two does the trick even when I start out with a strong flow of cold air heading down at me. I tried it after reading the suggestion here on another thread. It sure beats having any smoke (super cedar or otherwise) blow in your face.

Last year I did newspapers, open windows, super cedars, prayers, cursing, you name it :) This year a shot of the hot air has worked every time... now if only it was a bit quieter so I wouldn't have to worry about waking up the kids in the morning... not that it will matter much anymore, a bed of hot coals is going to be the cure for a while it seems given the weather outlook.
 
Its not a solution for this year, but you will find a lot of free pine around. Split it small and you will get fast hot fires that you can then throw hardwoods on.
 
Super Cedars are going to be your best bet. The point of opening a window is to counter the negative pressure situation caused by stack effect, where the home makes a better chimney than your flue causing a reversal. In worst cases a cold flue can actually reverse and opening the stove door can let cold air in through the flue. Another trick to get some heat flowing up the flue is to open the door and stick an electric BBQ fire starter inside for a few minutes, not to actually start a fire with but just for the heat it gives off.
 
carlo said:
This is my second season with my wood burning stove, and last year I came to this forum and got help with starting fires, moving heat around the house, and other various matters. I thank you all for your helpful input.

Just today I started a fire and got smoke backed up into my house. Obviously, my stainless steel uncovered chimney (18' run) was cold and the smoke backed up. I saw the video that some recommended on starting fires and it has worked beautifully for me, but there are times when the chimney is so cold the smoke backs up. My question is how do I reduce this from happening ?

I do leave the door of the stove open for an hour or so to let the warmth of the house filter thru the chimney a bit, but that does not always work. I undertstand that there is no clear cut answer because I have a long chimney run and nature is what it is. But instead of putting newspaper, kindling and small splits in the stove to start the fire, should I only put newspaper in and try to warm up the chimney without the fire competing with the wood splits and kindling ? Does this make sense or are there any other ideas that could help me from getting smoke backing up into the house on cold days ?
Click to expand...

carlo, it sounds to me like you are afraid of your SS chimney and think it might be too cold and therefore not give good draft. You live in NJ. I live in Michigan. I do believe we have a bit colder climate than you do. Our SS chimney runs up the outside of the house and we do not have a problem with it. So I doubt your chimney is the problem unless it is partially clogged.

This is the first time I've heard anyone opening the door of the stove for an hour before lighting a fire and I doubt it would do much good. Lighting newspaper and holding it up by the flue would do much more good.

I also question your fire starting with only 2 splits. Fires burn better with 3 or more.

When we start a fire, we will leave the firebox door open about an inch until the fire gets started. Then we close the door but leave the draft open full, closing it in stages as the stove warms. Some folks do find need to crack a window and also make certain there isn't something in the home working against you, like the ceiling fan in the bathroom or range hood fan. Those would draw air away from the stove.
 
keydiver said:
Uncovered chimney? Wondering if it might be clogged somewhere along the way. Unless i am misinterpriting uncovered chimney wrong?
Click to expand...

No clogs and I do have a cover at the top of the chimney ..... what I meant by uncovered was that there is no structure surrounding the stainless steel chimney on the way up. It's just a plain SS chimney. I would assume a chiimney covered in stone or w/e would be alot more insulated and not as subject to the cold as mine is.

For ease I'm gonna start out opening a window and using the super cedars first. If that scenario fails on cold days I'll do some of the other solutions some posters have given me. I now understand why opening a window makes a difference, and I really think that the extra draft I can get by doing this can put me over the hump on those cold days. Seems like even on those bitterly cold days when I start the fire with 6 knotted newspaper sheets the fire burns good for about a minute before the smoke starts backing up. I would assume that I hit a heavy cold spot about 1/2 way up, so a boost on the draft could really help.

I have a Hampton 300 wood burning stove and it's not that big a unit. I find putting 2 splits with 4 or 5 kindling in at the beginning is the best way to start a fire. I add more splits immediately as soon as the fire gets established. I also don't stack tight. I find my stove initially burns better when there's space between the splits. When I get the red hot coals I can stack any which way I want.
 
I am pretty new to this but I always start but setting up my wood and newspaper and firestarter and before lighting that I light a tightly wadded piece of newspaper and put it in the flu flaming which warms the pipe and starts the draft, then I light the fire and have damper open and air inlet open, I also open the door a crack and it lights and the smoke goes up the chimney, I try to get it to 500 degrees but have had my problems getting it there but then I add a bigger split or two and let her burn. Also I have tried to let it go up to where it will go and then let it all go to hot coals and then add bigger splits, today is 25 degrees out and I have brought the room from 57 degrees to 65 in about and hour. Just heat the flu and pipe before you start your fire and smoke goes up chimney and without something that got in the pipe you should have NO smoke in house. That stinks!!!
The only paint you can use are high temp 1200 degree paint and if yours has any substance on it like enamel then it is bigger issue. At any rate you have sand blast it to paint but if there is only a little rust just take it off with wire brush if it is cast iron and not enamel surface.
 
My PE airtight used to smoke on startup. I solved my problems by:
1. Opening a door or window a crack (1" or so), to allow free air movement up the chimney.
2. Putting about 2 sheets of newspaper on top of my firewood, just crumpled up very loosly, for a rapid burn / heat burst destined to jump up the chimney and start the air flow.
3. Leaving the door open a crack, or the draft wide open, for my kindling to start the fire with lots of air.
Steps 1 and 2 was my best help. I had to overcome the stalled air in the chimney, and stop the chimney from its temptation to downdraft in order to feed my other fire source (boiler in the basement). Your chimney downdraft may be from a heat exchanger.
Of course as soon as I had a successful chimney draft, I closed the window and closed the stove door.
Happy burning!
 
I have a new Hearthstone Homestead woodstove. I appreciate the advice on this list regarding smoke and how to heat the flu, I have had lots of it the first week. But I have a few more questions.

1) The stove is the required 18" from the wall(drywall) but WOW does the wall gets HOT, I mean 'I can barely touch it' hot. My husband put up a temporary small brick wall behind it away from the drywall with some extras bricks we had to disperse the heat until we can get a deflector on it (had to be ordered). Next summer I will rip out the drywall and put up cement board and tile it. We had the stove put in by a professional company, now I wonder why he didn't mention this might happen or tell me to tile it. Is this "hot wall" a common problem? Should I worry or not worry? (Ok, in reality I am not even sleeping I am so worried, so that is a dumb question)

2) I seem to be having a hard time getting the stove to heat up to the optimum 300-400 degrees and stay there for a bit, (best performance per the gauge 13" up from the stove on the pipe, not a probe). I thought the point of a wood stove was it only takes a few logs a day to heat the area (1200sf), so far today I have used 5 since 2 pm to now (6pm). If I close the damper slightly it keeps dropping below the 300 degrees.

To date I have smoked up the walkout level with EVERY fire I have made, using fatwood sticks. Clearly I am no woodswoman. I did ask for the free sample of the super cedar, and can't wait to see how those work. The fatwood smell is making me ill, ick.

Thanks
 
2. The thermometer should be on the top center of the stove. Burn time depends on wood, placement, and air adjustment: some wood burns longer (oak, etc.); if you rake the coals to the front of the stove and stack wood to the back, it burns longer (one piece at a time); the Homestead can be run pretty close to closed and still get a clean burn (mine does). I'll get 4 hours out of three good splits of maple and 8.5 (my best) out of a full box (about 5-6). If the wood is good and the fire's going well, you want to close the air control to keep the heat in. How old's the wood?

S
 
The wood is old, very dry, oak I think, not totally sure. Thanks for the thermometer tip, we have moved it, of course my husband had to do it with his bare hands to be macho! I have closed the air control. Do I need two? One on the stove top and one on the pipe?

You put 6 pieces of wood in at one time? wow. I only put two so far, lots to learn.

Do you open the air flow everytime you put in a new log or does it just burn? (I'm sorry, so many dumb questions).

G
 
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