Just installed my Pacific Energy Summit. going to do a first fire today. Any advice?

[hvacjack]

This is my first post so please bear with me. I've been lurking around here for awhile and everyone here seems pretty cool and knowledgeable so thank you guys for that. i would like to do a first fire tonight with dry seasoned hard wood even though it's almost 60 degrees today. It's supposed to get cold again this week. I was thinking of a small fire just to warm her up and kind of take it easy on her without overheating it this week. any advice would be great for a first time fireplace guy.

thanks,
Jack



P.S. I know my Hearth is not big enough. i will be using a fire blanket in the interim.

 

[begreen]

Welcome Jack. That's a beautiful looking fireplace and stove. Burn a small fire tonight, just kindling. That will drive moisture out of the firebrick. Let that go out, stove cool down, then do another larger fire.Your third fire can be large if it's cold outside, but it will stink as the paint bakes in. Be prepared with a fan to blow smoke out the window. This will go away soon with regular hot fires.

By all means get a proper hearth pad in front of the insert. Sparks and embers pop out when you least expect them.

 

[GENECOP]

Welcome....just what Begreen said, he forgot one thing, nice glass of wine, and some family.....enjoy...

 

[scooby074]

Yup it will stink! And smoke.

But it will pass after a few hot fires. Enjoy!

 

[hvacjack]

ok, small fire sunday night,put some in on monday morning,let it die until tuesday night where i got a pretty decent fire going. yesterday i did some playing around and loaded it east to west(not sure why,just testing the waters). this morning i threw a few logs in there to keep the dog warm throughout the day, i came home, cleaned up some ash and loaded that sucker. the stove room is freaking hot! yay! i'm hot and it's effing cold as balls out. i'm currently doing the TP test to see the natural convection of the house. i live in a 1,400 sq. ft. rancher. i'm thinking of installing some good looking slotted registers or grills throughout the house to help with convection. so far i'm loving it.

 

[begreen]

For more even heat in the house put a table or box fan at the far end of the house within line of sight to the the stove room. Place it on the floor, pointing toward the woodstove room. Run it on low speed. It will blow the cooler air down low, toward the woodstove. The denser cool air will be replaced with lighter warm air from the stove room. Running this way you should notice a significant evening of the house temps.