Wood burning mistakes......and fixes

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Robbie

Minister of Fire
This is my second season burning wood with a wood stove and I have come to one conclusion.

Every time my stove does something it should not do, it is because I did something to cause it.

I think 99.9% of what happens to cause "bad" behavior out of my stove is my fault.

I will list some mistakes I made, and what usually happens as a direct result of my mistakes, and some easy fixes for me... (thank goodness no mistakes have been really bad).

1. Fire starting: not loading enough kindling to start with, and having to add more, most of the time causing some smoke to come out.

Fix: I load plenty of good dry kindling, and have dry wood ready to add to the kindling after it burns down, usually to a good coal bed before adding splits, this ensures a good draft is in progress when door is opened to add splits..

2. Not heating the pipe enough so draft will be strong "before" lighting fire. I was in a hurry and did not let my ceramic heater heat the pipe enough. Causing excessive amount of smoke to spill out into my living room after being lit.

Fix: heat pipe well, or get a good draft with fat wood, papers etc.

3. A new mistake I just learned, though actually knew already, did not use my knowledge............the other night it was late, but not late enough to load for an all night burn, I thought I would just load one split and it would hold the coals until bedtime, bad mistake, bed time came and my bed of coals were half what they were one hour before because I let them die down by just adding one split.

Fix: Load it full if it's late....ish, you can always top it off with a single if you need to before bed, other wise you'll end up with a less than desirable coal bed for your over night burn.

4. Not loading stove soon enough when it's colder outside, therefore causing a larger time gap/heat output between your stoves maximum output and the cold air penetration into your home. This is a mistake I made early on, but have since corrected, and it can even be helped by not turning your blower off until you actually get ready to load wood. And don't leave your house door open while you carry wood in, this will suck cold air into your home fast, every little thing you can do to "keep the heat flowing in" really makes a difference when it's cold I have found.

Fix: if it's colder outside, have some good pre-selected splits ready to load, visually looking into your stove before hand as it nears time to load so you'll know about what you'll need. (don't let coals die down, catch them when they are still large and hot, this will ensure a quick start (fast heat) when you load your new splits).

5. Stove “puffing” smoke after loading wood and dampering. Wet or dry wood, it does not seem to matter. The reason for this I have learned are the gases coming from the wood as it is burning needs to be burned, if you damper and choke your stove, or starve your stove of oxygen, then when it does get enough oxygen, the result will be a mini explosion, a small fireball within your stove is the result. This fireball or mini explosion results in expansion within the stove, which causes the “puff” of smoke to exit your stove..........usually in the weakest place it can find to release pressure (pipe, stove seams etc.).

Fix: After loading your stove with wood, always let it “char” or burn wood for at least 15 minutes, maybe even longer, and do not damper your stove all the way closed, this will enable your stove to get enough oxygen to burn a little, this will keep gases from biulding up. As a general rule, I always make sure I can see a steady small “flame” somewhere in my stove before I leave it for bed or whatever. If there is a flame, then most likely you will not biuld up any gases because this flame is burning the gases.



Can you list more mistakes and fixes ?

Anything that has caused you trouble, but you were able to correct and make it easier would be helpful to all of us I think.






Robbie ;-)
 
That's so true. Robbie - given a properly installed stove and chimney - and decent wood, the operator becomes the next potential problem. As many have mentioned here before, all these other things are MORE important than the brand of stove.

BTW, that is a nice little wiki article. - I'll move it up there with credits and anyone can edit or add.
 
Biggest user mistake here has been trying to re-load too soon. My stove runs just as hot, if not hotter, with more or bigger splits on fewer inches of coals than trying to cram skinny ones on top of a heap of barely glowing cinders. It's tempting to toss another log in whenever you see room but letting the first cycle finish avoids a down-hill battle for me.
 
not letting your very dense woods season for AT LEAST 1.5 years. i have come across various splits that have been cut and split and stacked for almost a year that still hiss in the stove.
 
Great thread, as a first year stove user, like to hear as much as possible.

I have fallen to #1 a bunch of time, get lazy, load up some kindling, but apparently not enough, then you wind up overloading the thing just to keep it going and smoke is flying around and everything is a mess. other times, it's like perfect load. I can get a good burn going quickly with my cardboard and newspaper method. I get great draft from my flue even when cold, no smoke escaping the vents or anything so long as I put enough kindling in there so I don't have to try to play "catch up" after.

Fix: same as yours, be patient when starting up a fire and don't be stingy with the kindling...

I think another thing with me is sometimes not checking the size of the log before trying to toss it on the pile. I put one big log in, found out it wouldn't fit yet of course, it was just starting to catch fire, so not being able to close the door, I had to grab the thing with my fireplace gloves and run it outside, smoking and embers all the while!!!! Don't try this at home folks! :)

Fix: either be conservative with splits or measure them before you try to stuff it in the firebox..

Other times, needing fireplace gloves when I simply open the door and adding wood. Other than burning my hand occasionally on the handle, sometimes you find you need the gloves but didn't put them on.

Fix: always put the gloves on when adding splits, never know when you might need them (or run outside with a burning log!)

Jay
 
Good tips and a good wiki subject. I'd add an additional note from what we've seen on the forum this season:

If your stove seems slow to char a fresh load of wood, due to poor draft or stove design, don't open the ashbin door to give it more air. (Jotul owners take note.)

Doing this, though instantly gratifying with the blowtorch effect, can have serious consequences. If one closes the ashbin door too quickly, the fresh wood will continue to outgas mightily, but the gases won't be burning due to the suddenly constricted airflow. When they do ignite, it can be explosive and dangerous. The second effect is that the ash grate is not designed for the blast furnace temperatures created by opening the ashbin door. They can warp pieces of the grate and stove and this practice will surely void the warranty. Avoid the temptation. It's better to add some small splits or kindling at the bottom of the fresh feed of wood.
 
BeGreen said:
Good tips and a good wiki subject. I'd add an additional note from what we've seen on the forum this season:

If your stove seems slow to char a fresh load of wood, due to poor draft or stove design, don't open the ashbin door to give it more air. (Jotul owners take note.)

Doing this, though instantly gratifying with the blowtorch effect, can have serious consequences. If one closes the ashbin door too quickly, the fresh wood will continue to outgas mightily, but the gases won't be burning due to the suddenly constricted airflow. When they do ignite, it can be explosive and dangerous. The second effect is that the ash grate is not designed for the blast furnace temperatures created by opening the ashbin door. They can warp pieces of the grate and stove and this practice will surely void the warranty. Avoid the temptation. It's better to add some small splits or kindling at the bottom of the fresh feed of wood.

And I really don't understand why people use the ash pan door on their F3 CB to get them going. Keeping the ashes out of the little slot in the front and using the start-up air control in the center bottom of the door does the same thing quite well without wrecking the stove.

The only problem I have is remembering to close the darn thing.
 
BrotherBart said:
The only problem I have is remembering to close the darn thing.

Yep, sure have done that. On our 3CB we never used that control after the first month or so. It was so exceptionally stiff that my wife couldn't comfortably operate it. Then I stopped using it because the little tip of the control is hard to see when I didn't have my glasses on and I'd space it. Instead, we left the door ajar to get a fire going.
 
I was raising Pizza dough in a mixing bowl covered with Saran Rap on the new stove last mounth. I had placed the covered bowl on the lattice covered humidifier which sits on the stove top. Works great! But I came dack to check the raising, no plastic, just a blob of stuff on the soapstone top. What the ....!

I got out a putty knife, very carefully scraped the surface blob off. As it had penetrated, melted into the stone I got a max hot fire going and burnt the plastic out of the stone with the help of a propane blow torch applied to the stain.

My teenage daughter had her favorite University of Michigan Logo Columbia Winter 3-way jacked on when she came in from playing outside back in the 1990s. She sat down on the hearth to worm up in fount of the Sierra wood stove. She leaned back to close to the stove front and melted a hole in the back, she was very upset! Many years later I did get to see her graduate from U of M "GO BLUE!"

My brothers son and his friend had been out playing in the snow one winter back then also. They came in to worm up, soaked and decided to "Dry" their snow pants and jackets off by throwing the stuff on a hot Hearthstone 1 wood-stove in the friends home. My brother said the coats and pants fitted onto a small steel dust pan when he was done scraping the blob of the stove.

Hot Wood Stoves and plastic don't mix!!
 
Put BOTH gloves on before loading the stove. Being right handed it's easy to just put the right glove on, most of the time it's all you need. Then you get to that big odd shaped piece and realize you need two hands to wrestle it into position. It's 2/3rds into the box and starting to ignite, you can't let go or it might tumble out, the other glove is out of reach...you get the picture.

Ordering supposedly seasoned wood from an unknown source for the up coming heating season. If you must buy wood get it a year in advance. Find a good supplier and stick with them. The best solution is to cut and season your own supply, you'll always know what you have.
 
Mistake - Coming home from work, sitting in front of the stove ready to restart the fire: kindling...check, firestarter....check, well seasoned firewood....check, lighter....check, beer......now where the heck is my beer?

Fix - Always grab a beer before sitting down in front of the stove preparing for a fire-up.
 
6. When laying VERY large splits on hot coals, wood sometimes takes a while to get going (seems almost like unseasoned wood), wood is seasoned well but it may be something really hard like white oak or something and it sometimes simmers for a little while.


Fix: lay a couple or three small 1/2 inch strips of wood under large splits to allow for air circulation and flames to get going under split well. This seems to make a huge difference when I put the big boys on for the night. Just a few thin strips of something will usually make logs flame up in half the time.

Note: When you do this, better be ready to lay the big splits on in a hurry because your strips could flame up pretty quickly.



Robbie
 
Problem - Not knowing enough about what you hope to do BEFORE you buy your wood stove.

Fix - Hearth.com




Problem - Putting your first wood stove in the basement.

Fix - READ and LISTEN *before* you install the wood stove in at Hearth.com and most everyone will tell you NOT to do it this way. When they tell you NOT to do it this way - believe them.



Man, I wish I knew about Hearth.com before we put the stove in. I think dealers should point you to this website when you initially visit them regarding the purchase of a wood stove. That way, you get the stove you want and the dealer is selling to an educated (at lease more than they would have been) buyer.
 
Here is my big mistake,
Got a probe thermometer for my stove and just went by the light off temp of it. Well I notiticed cracks in my cat and loss of heat because I didn't wait long enough to engage the cat. Good thing Woodstock has a 2 year waranty on cats, so they sent a new one for free. Lucky me! Takes awhile to adjust to burning a cat stove.
 
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