Today was one of those days when the fire gods were smiling. Maybe it's the solstice. I did a cold light off this morning with a full load of wood in which I left a valley in the middle for a top-down start. The fire started normally and soon was burning well enough to close the stove door. Around 300ºF (probe temp) on the stovepipe I saw secondary combustion begin. In another 5 minutes or so the flue was up to 350º and I closed the air down 50%. When it reached 400º I put a log in to fill the valley hole and let it go another 5 minutes then closed it down to 75%. The flue temp sank about 25º, but combustion still looked good and in another 5 minutes the fire was burning well enough for me to close down the air to its normal 85% closed. Life is good.
Normally I don't babysit the starting fire this closely, but it was a lazy Sunday morning, so why not. I just checked the stove at an hour after lighting and was delighted to see that the flue was holding around 400º and the stovetop was up to 600ºF. I was expecting to see the STT to be more like 500º. Today was definitely one of my better starts. It was pretty much textbook perfect. That doesn't happen every time.
Those that read threads on fire starting here should know that every start of a fire is different. We often make it sound like an automatic process with clearly defined results, but when starting a fire you are working with nature and physics. The results are variable. Sometimes the starting fire can be disappointing and other times it may be right on. There are so many variables that to do it well one needs to have all the right combination of ingredients working together. It's not just instrumentation that makes a good fire. It takes dry wood, proper loading, dry kindling, proper air mix and timing. That is the art of burning.
Normally I don't babysit the starting fire this closely, but it was a lazy Sunday morning, so why not. I just checked the stove at an hour after lighting and was delighted to see that the flue was holding around 400º and the stovetop was up to 600ºF. I was expecting to see the STT to be more like 500º. Today was definitely one of my better starts. It was pretty much textbook perfect. That doesn't happen every time.
Those that read threads on fire starting here should know that every start of a fire is different. We often make it sound like an automatic process with clearly defined results, but when starting a fire you are working with nature and physics. The results are variable. Sometimes the starting fire can be disappointing and other times it may be right on. There are so many variables that to do it well one needs to have all the right combination of ingredients working together. It's not just instrumentation that makes a good fire. It takes dry wood, proper loading, dry kindling, proper air mix and timing. That is the art of burning.
