Finally started first fire in the Regency!! Now what?! (seasoned wood..... green operator)

[burnt03]

Well, insurance company finally came through and got the auxiliary wood added onto my policy so I'm good to go!

Chimney is about 25' tall, 6x10 clay, about 48deg outside. Douglas fir, around 15% moisture.

Tried a top down fire in a clean stove with 2 bigger chunks on the bottom EW (8" round split in half), some smaller pieces on top NS (2" square), kindling on top of that and homemade fire starter on top of it all. Probably only had wood about 2/3 of the way to the top and nowhere near full on the sides.

Started it up with door cracked for about 10min, kindling burned nice, eventually caught on the 2" pieces. Didn't get any backpuffing of smoke into the house. Shut the door with air control all the way open.

Got lazy flames (I think?), got to about 375 stove top and the bigger chunks were just sort of turning into coals on the surface at certain spots. Tried adding a few more smaller chunks (4") on top, let them catch and it's running at about 475 right now with air all the way open.

When I turn down the air, flames die right down so have just left it open all the way (from what I've read I'm not supposed to turn it down and smolder it or I'm making creosote)

What's going on? Probably stupid but I sort of thought I'd be able to start the fire with air control all the way open, dry wood would catch, get a beauty inferno in the box and slowly start reducing the air to get some secondary burn.

Thanks for any replies, going to be reading more to see if I can figure it from what's already been posted.

 

[jeff_t]

Cold, oversized flue+mild outside temp=lazy draft.

 

[burnt03]

So it'll get better as the flue warms and as the temperature gets cooler? Don't have the money to line the chimney this year.

Should I be turning the air control down at all or just leave it full open on burns until the weather gets colder?

 

[Wood Duck]

I have a clay flue and mine takes a while to warm up. It definitely draws better after an hour or two of fire in the stove. I sometimes leave the air control on full when I have a small load in warmish weather. Full air gives a fast burn and I hope heats up the flue fast (heating the flue is the reason I leave the air open). I think you'll be fine when you get a little more practice, longer burns, and colder weather. Don't focus on whether you have achieved the air setting you thought you'd use, but rather on how the fire looks and how hot the stove is. Air settings are not absolute. The amount of air entering your stove on full air might be the same that enters another stove on half.

 

[fire_man]

The stove will likely burn totally different when it gets cold outside. These 50 degree days definitely make it harder to get the stove going - I notice the same thing you said "chunks were just sort of turning into coals on the surface at certain spots."

I insulated my flue this year and I can honestly say it has made a world of difference at 50 F temps. I had trouble starting a fire from a cold start before, now it takes right off.

Wait till that first 30 degree day - you'll see!

 

[burnt03]

Thanks guys! It's putting out heat and I guess that's the most important thing

Couple more things I thought of...

- dropped down to 325 now. At what point should I be loading more wood in?
- Is it better to use smaller splits when the weather is warmer like this?

 

[BrotherBart]

Leave the door cracked until you can close it and the smoke is drawn up the flue and doesn't hang around in the firebox. That tells ya that those flue tiles are heated up and ready to rock and roll. No matter what the temp is those tiles and the bricks around them are a huge heat sink and take a long time to warm up and start drafting.

Line that chimney and it is a whole different world.

 

[CT-Mike]

I insulated my flue this year and I can honestly say it has made a world of difference at 50 F temps.

How did you insulate your flue if you don't mind me asking? I am looking to insulate mine but don't want to pull the liner to do it.

 

[burnt03]

Added some more wood once it burnt down, took off a lot quicker this time now that the flue is warmed up!

77 deg in the basement and the temperature upstairs actually climbed (even though it was only 1 deg) for the first time ever without using the furnace. Beautiful!!

 

[BrotherBart]

You will find that with the flue warmed up and a good coal bed, life is good.

 

[rideau]

The stove will likely burn totally different when it gets cold outside. These 50 degree days definitely make it harder to get the stove going - I notice the same thing you said "chunks were just sort of turning into coals on the surface at certain spots."

I insulated my flue this year and I can honestly say it has made a world of difference at 50 F temps. I had trouble starting a fire from a cold start before, now it takes right off.

Wait till that first 30 degree day - you'll see!

Really glad it has worked out for you Tony.

 

[burnt03]

I have a clay flue and mine takes a while to warm up. It definitely draws better after an hour or two of fire in the stove. I sometimes leave the air control on full when I have a small load in warmish weather. Full air gives a fast burn and I hope heats up the flue fast (heating the flue is the reason I leave the air open). I think you'll be fine when you get a little more practice, longer burns, and colder weather. Don't focus on whether you have achieved the air setting you thought you'd use, but rather on how the fire looks and how hot the stove is. Air settings are not absolute. The amount of air entering your stove on full air might be the same that enters another stove on half.

Started a small fire this morning, no coals left but way easier start. Leaving it full open gets the stovetop to 500, air closed 1/4 and I get lazy flames

Turning it down (1/2 or so) pretty much damps the flames down into coals.

What sort of temps should I be aiming for? If I just leave the air open, am I getting as much heat as I can or am I just firing a bunch of it up the chimney?

Sorry for all the stupid questions, appreciate all the responses

 

[Wood Duck]

Thanks guys! It's putting out heat and I guess that's the most important thing

Couple more things I thought of...

- dropped down to 325 now. At what point should I be loading more wood in?
- Is it better to use smaller splits when the weather is warmer like this?

I add more wood when the previous load of wood is all down to charcoal, with no flome or only a few blue flames coming off. My stove is prone to leaking little puffs of smoke when I reload, but if I wait until nothing but charcoal remains there isn't any smoke to leak out. I usually wait until the coals are fairly well burned up, not a full bed of red-hot coals. Loading fresh wood on hot coals makes the fire take off faster than needed and I figure waiting the extra hour or two until the coals burn down is an efficient way to use my firewood.

When reloading the stove I burn the same size splits regardless of the weather. If it is cold enough to light a fire, it is cold enough that we can use all the heat the stove produces. In milder weather the stove heats the house by itself, in cold weather the electric baseboards help out.

 

[clemsonfor]

Tha

Well, insurance company finally came through and got the auxiliary wood added onto my policy so I'm good to go!

Chimney is about 25' tall, 6x10 clay, about 48deg outside. Douglas fir, around 15% moisture.

Tried a top down fire in a clean stove with 2 bigger chunks on the bottom EW (8" round split in half), some smaller pieces on top NS (2" square), kindling on top of that and homemade fire starter on top of it all. Probably only had wood about 2/3 of the way to the top and nowhere near full on the sides.

Started it up with door cracked for about 10min, kindling burned nice, eventually caught on the 2" pieces. Didn't get any backpuffing of smoke into the house. Shut the door with air control all the way open.

Got lazy flames (I think?), got to about 375 stove top and the bigger chunks were just sort of turning into coals on the surface at certain spots. Tried adding a few more smaller chunks (4") on top, let them catch and it's running at about 475 right now with air all the way open.

When I turn down the air, flames die right down so have just left it open all the way (from what I've read I'm not supposed to turn it down and smolder it or I'm making creosote)

What's going on? Probably stupid but I sort of thought I'd be able to start the fire with air control all the way open, dry wood would catch, get a beauty inferno in the box and slowly start reducing the air to get some secondary burn.

Thanks for any replies, going to be reading more to see if I can figure it from what's already been posted.

That flue it way to big to create your needed draft!! that chimney has 60sqin of surface area. You probly need a 6" round liner which is only 28sqin's. You cant pull the air needed in that huge chimney. Go block off half of that flue up top, i bet it will draw better.

 

[theonlyzarathu]

The stove will likely burn totally different when it gets cold outside. These 50 degree days definitely make it harder to get the stove going - I notice the same thing you said "chunks were just sort of turning into coals on the surface at certain spots."

I insulated my flue this year and I can honestly say it has made a world of difference at 50 F temps. I had trouble starting a fire from a cold start before, now it takes right off.

Wait till that first 30 degree day - you'll see!

My flue goes up the center of the house, so I'm not affected by 50 degree outside temps, and the flue is the same size as the pipe and SS. I can start the stove when the temps outside are 65 degrees. I had to do that yesterday. It was 58 in the house and 62 outside. I had come back from a trip, and had to get the house up in temps even though it was pretty warmoutside. No draft issues at all.

 

[rideau]

I have no experience with a Regency, so won't make any statements about your stove, other than that it looks very nice.

Re your flue, and the air: Always, the draft will be better in a chimney as the temperature differential between inside and outdoors increases. You may have a very good draft, but it is relative. It will be much better when it is colder out. So, to get the same amount of air going through your stove at this time of year when there is not a big differential between the inside and outside temps and the air is moving more slowly ,as you will get later in the Autumn and Winter when there is a substantial difference and the air is moving more quickly, you will need to keep the air open wider.

This does mean that once it gets colder out, when the air is all the way open you will have much more air going through the Regency than goes through now, and because you will have more oxygen in there you will have an easier and quicker fire start, and a more rapid rise in temperature. At that time, when you reduce the air you will initially be reducing it to perhaps the amount of actual air flow that your presently have.

 

[burnt03]

I have no experience with a Regency, so won't make any statements about your stove, other than that it looks very nice.

Re your flue, and the air: Always, the draft will be better in a chimney as the temperature differential between inside and outdoors increases. You may have a very good draft, but it is relative. It will be much better when it is colder out. So, to get the same amount of air going through your stove at this time of year when there is not a big differential between the inside and outside temps and the air is moving more slowly ,as you will get later in the Autumn and Winter when there is a substantial difference and the air is moving more quickly, you will need to keep the air open wider.

This does mean that once it gets colder out, when the air is all the way open you will have much more air going through the Regency than goes through now, and because you will have more oxygen in there you will have an easier and quicker fire start, and a more rapid rise in temperature. At that time, when you reduce the air you will initially be reducing it to perhaps the amount of actual air flow that your presently have.

Thanks rideau, a little colder here tonight (about 3deg instead of 10 the other day and already notice how much easier it is to light.

I've got what is probably a pretty stupid question. When burning overnight, can I put in the load, get it roaring to char everything, then turn it down slowly (a bit every 10min or something) until it's just coals? Does that put out useful heat overnight or.... ? Plus I thought that shutting the air down completely like that led to smoldering/creosote?

 

[begreen]

Started a small fire this morning, no coals left but way easier start. Leaving it full open gets the stovetop to 500, air closed 1/4 and I get lazy flames Turning it down (1/2 or so) pretty much damps the flames down into coals.

What sort of temps should I be aiming for? If I just leave the air open, am I getting as much heat as I can or am I just firing a bunch of it up the chimney?

Sorry for all the stupid questions, appreciate all the responses

That looks like a pretty small fire. Don't worry too much about heat loss right now. Get used to the stove by experimentation. Based on the pictures you have posted I would try adding 2-3 bigger splits to the coal bed on a colder day. Once the wood is burning well, start closing off the air in 50% increments. That is, half-open, or until the fire starts getting lazy, wait 5-10 minutes, then close it down to 1/4 open or to where the flames get lazy and start to waft, wait until the fire picks up again, the close it down another 50% aiming for flames taht get lazy and start to waft.

This same technique will be used when temps get cold, but you will be filling up the stove to the top of the firebricks with tightly packed splits. I see that so far you are loading the stove E/W (splits parallel to the firedoor). Next fire try it with the splits parallel to the sides (N/S) and note the burn. I think you will find the fire starts faster and the air control can be closed down further using the above technique.

PS: Have you had a chance to read the linked threads listed in this FAQ?

https://www.hearth.com/talk/threads...lem-stoves-air-is-restricted-faq-about.59225/

 

[burnt03]

Thanks begreen, I'll give it a try (esp the NS loading).

I have read through most of the link, very helpful. As it's getting colder I'm not having near as much trouble getting it going quick. Tried a top down fire the same as it's pictured on woodheat.org and it worked great, came up to 600 in about 15-20min and then started dialing it down but think I dialed down too much too quick as it went to coals pretty quick.