Fire Dies when latching Door

[Bolson32]

Hi Guys,

Long time lurker first time poster. I recently bought a house with a Lopi Revere and I'm having issues lately with my fires.

I bought a face cord of mixed, very dry hardwood at the beginning of the year. Could start a fire and get it rolling no problem. I've since bought two other face cords, one mixed, one oak but both relatively dry and I can barely get them them going.

When I start the fire and leave the door cracked, they'll get going pretty good. When I close the door tight, even with the bypass door open it dies right down. It'll keep going but there's not much flame and mostly just coals. If I close the damper not much changes, it won't get to a secondary burn and the stove actually gets to about 400-425 degrees but no secondary burn. Bottom damper wide open.

I assume this is a drafting issue? I've got some videos I'll try to get posted

 

[Bolson32]

I've done some searching on the forums and it seems like most people point to the wood not being seasoned enough. It very well could be, moisture meter reads less than 20% but I wonder if it's worse deeper into the splits.

Can I get some gas station pine or whatever is wrapped and dried to try that?

 

[jatoxico]

Its wet wood. Try a load of a few lumber scraps or other dry wood and see if that doesn't help.

 

[bholler]

I've done some searching on the forums and it seems like most people point to the wood not being seasoned enough. It very well could be, moisture meter reads less than 20% but I wonder if it's worse deeper into the splits.

Can I get some gas station pine or whatever is wrapped and dried to try that?

How are you testing the wood? Also don't assume the wood at the gas station is dry

 

[Bolson32]

Its wet wood. Try a load of a few lumber scraps or other dry wood and see if that doesn't help.

Darn, this is all I got. Any ideas on what to do the rest of the winter?

 

[Bolson32]

How are you testing the wood? Also don't assume the wood at the gas station is dry

Moisture meter, just on the splits as they were delivered.

 

[bholler]

Moisture meter, just on the splits as they were delivered.

Your wood is way to wet in that case. You need to resplit a room temperature split and test the fresh face

 

[brenndatomu]

moisture meter reads less than 20% but I wonder if it's worse deeper into the splits.

Moisture has to be tested after re-splitting a room temp split, then testing it in the middle of the freshly exposed face, with the pins parallel with the grain...from what you describe I think you will find something a good bit higher than 20% MC.
If you think about it a bit, even wood that is down to 20% MC, is still 20% water by weight...and I think they still use water to put out fires!

 

[Bolson32]

Damn, okay. A good bit of my mixed cord is ash, I've heard that's okay to burn if I can get it lit. Could I mix with some bio bricks?

 

[jatoxico]

Damn, okay. A good bit of my mixed cord is ash, I've heard that's okay to burn if I can get it lit. Could I mix with some bio bricks?

Yes, anything dry you mix in will help get the burn going until the wetter wood steams off. If you can't close the door its wet. You can check that your baffle is seated correctly and we can talk about your chimney height and if its clean or if the cap is clogged but the most likely issue is plain ole' wet wood.

 

[brenndatomu]

I've heard that's okay to burn if I can get it lit. Could I mix with some bio bricks?

If it were dry enough to burn, it would light up easier. But yes, you can mix in bio bricks, cut up junk pallet wood, non-treated construction lumber scraps helps to get things burning, and average out the MC of the load...

 

[edyit]

Any ideas on what to do the rest of the winter?

If you have a Tractor Supply, or similar store near you these would work.

(broken link removed)

 

[Smolder]

Darn, this is all I got. Any ideas on what to do the rest of the winter?

My wood is less than ideal, it’s my fault, i didn’t wasn’t proactive enough getting wood. My solution has been to char it much longer with the door opened just a crack. I have a guy locally that has 10s of thousands of narrow cedar cuttoffs from a CNC mill. I use these generously to heat my oak and maple until they light off. I find I can skip or reduce that step when restarting on hot coals.

 

[Bolson32]

My wood is less than ideal, it’s my fault, i didn’t wasn’t proactive enough getting wood. My solution has been to char it much longer with the door opened just a crack. I have a guy locally that has 10s of thousands of narrow cedar cuttoffs from a CNC mill. I use these generously to heat my oak and maple until they light off. I find I can skip or reduce that step when restarting on hot coals.

I'll do you one better, fifty cents a piece at Menards and 2 miles from my house

https://www.menards.com/main/heating-cooling/fireplaces-stoves/firewood-fire-starters-lighters/wood-fuel-blocks-6-count/6408290/p-1444444870049-c-6855.htm

 

[kennyp2339]

Clean the chimney and cap, chances are the wood is to wet, but also creosote has built up in the system slowing the fire down some. You will want to drop the baffle out of the stove before cleaning, consult your manual on how to remove the re-burn tubes properly.

 

[Bolson32]

Clean the chimney and cap, chances are the wood is to wet, but also creosote has built up in the system slowing the fire down some. You will want to drop the baffle out of the stove before cleaning, consult your manual on how to remove the re-burn tubes properly.

Supposed to be pretty warm this weekend so I might crawl up there. Can I get by with a Menards special on the sweep?

 

[Smolder]

I'll do you one better, fifty cents a piece at Menards and 2 miles from my house

https://www.menards.com/main/heating-cooling/fireplaces-stoves/firewood-fire-starters-lighters/wood-fuel-blocks-6-count/6408290/p-1444444870049-c-6855.htm

I get a bag of about 300 of these for $5 canadian, which is like ¢11 US. They are cutoffs for Napoleon BBQ cleaner brush handles.

 

[kennyp2339]

Supposed to be pretty warm this weekend so I might crawl up there. Can I get by with a Menards special on the sweep?

That depends on the chimney, I think although not 100% sure that on a metal class a chimney you want to use a poly bristle brush vs metal bristle, I've heard that metal bristles can puncture the inner stainless tube. Cleaning isn't that difficult, I use a poly round brush and have fiberglass rods that make quick work of cleaning, metal brush for the cap.
The part that imo is the most technical is removing the soot from the upper baffle of the stove on a straight up chimney pipe, easiest to remove the baffle in the stove before starting.

 

[Bolson32]

I get a bag of about 300 of these for $5 canadian, which is like ¢11 US. They are cutoffs for Napoleon BBQ cleaner brush handles.

I called a couple of cabinet shops/hardwood dealers in the area but they seem to charge a fair bit for their scraps and even more for their firewood.

That depends on the chimney, I think although not 100% sure that on a metal class a chimney you want to use a poly bristle brush vs metal bristle, I've heard that metal bristles can puncture the inner stainless tube. Cleaning isn't that difficult, I use a poly round brush and have fiberglass rods that make quick work of cleaning, metal brush for the cap.

Yea, I read that myself this morning. They sell poly brushes at Menards and have the rods for them. I'll have to dig into how to get the tubes and the damper off. I've seen some posts on here that recommend just opening the bypass and going for it, and others that say you need to take the tube and bypass assembly off.

It was cleaned before we moved in and I've only had, maybe a dozen fires and only 3 or 4 not great ones with the wetter wood. So I can't imagine it's too terrible.

 

[john26]

The first load of wood I had this year sounds similar to your my lopi freedom burned similar. I got a drier load burned it while the first one dried out in the basement. I did notice some of the wood I stacked on my hearth dried a little faster (no fire) the hearth was white washed with a lime and salt mixture. When I went to load the stove I noticed damp bricks. Would painting a concrete floor with that then stacking on top of it help dry the wood faster?

 

[crepitus]

You can see the moisture in the second video coming out of the log on the right. Been there.

 

[brenndatomu]

Supposed to be pretty warm this weekend so I might crawl up there. Can I get by with a Menards special on the sweep?

Menards carries the Sooteater...that's the tool you want.

 

[Bolson32]

Menards carries the Sooteater...that's the tool you want.

Even top down? Not sure how easy it is to get to a Revere from the bottom up.

 

[john26]

the soot eater should fit thru the bypass hole

 

[brenndatomu]

Even top down? Not sure how easy it is to get to a Revere from the bottom up.

I use it top down