rekindle morning fire

[Durantefarm]

how do you ladies and gents rekindle your fire the next morning? at night i put a big log in and shut damper down to close . then in morning i open it up the damper and open door , throw a piece of wood in and i get nothing . the coals are red but its like i have to start all over again with getting the fire going. thanks in advance .

 

[DAKSY]

What unit are you burning?

 

[Durantefarm]

What unit are you burning?

Vermont casting Montpellier .

 

[RandyBoBandy]

I throw a few pieces of kindling in a shut the door. I let that burn for a little bit to get the flue temps up and drafting good again before I load the heater all the way up.

 

[edinct]

I usually have only a few coals left, so i throw in some newspaper and a few pieces of kindling and one split on top of that, blow on the paper a few times and it ignites right up. If your down to coals you might have to get your draft going again if the flue is not up to temp.

 

[jetsam]

If you're putting wood on top of red hot coals and it's hard to get going, the wood may be wet.

Get ahead on your wood- try to be burning stuff that you've had stacked and covered for 3 years for hardwoods, 1 or 2 for softwoods.

One thing that might help you this year- after you load the stove, immediately go get the next load and spread it out near the stove. This will dry the surface of the next load, and make it catch more easily.

 

[begreen]

For a quick restart it helps to get air under the wood. If you are loading E/W rake the coals to the middle, front of the stove. Put down two 2" pieces of kindling (sleepers) about 4" apart, stradling the coals. Then put some tinder on the coals and place splits E/W on the two sleepers leaving a small gap between the splits. This will allow flames from the tinder to go up between the wood. Blow on the coals to ignite the tinder.

If loading N/S I move the coals front and center, then crisscross some dry kindling on the coals. Then I load up the stove. I blow on the coals a few times until the kindling catches on fire, then leave the door ajar for about 2-5 minutes.

Cabinetry scraps work great for kindling, but you could split off kindling from construction cutoffs. Our wood is dry doug fir which I save long shavings that come off while splitting. These also make great kindling.

 

[Dobish]

i throw some wood on there, turn up the air, crack open the ash pan, and let her rip. The last few days I have been burning pine that may have been sup-par on the moisture meter, so I haven't been able to shut down the air as much, but my cat temps are still around 240 when i wake up. Stove top is around 350...

 

[begreen]

We're in transition weather. Today it's a bit colder but recently we've been hovering around 45º. During this weather I don't like to do a full overnight fire because we like it cooler for sleeping. Instead of a full overnight fire which leaves plenty of coals for a quick restart, I do like Durantefarm and just put on a few splits around 10pm. That usually will leave me with just a little hot coals for a morning restart. If not, I use a chunk of SuperCedar to get it going again.

 

[Dobish]

we are constantly not knowing what is happening with the weather. I decided I am just going to load up the stove every night, and if it gets too hot in the stove room, I will open a window. So far that hasn't happened, and our bedroom is so far away that it always stays 10-20º cooler!

This morning I skipped the reload, since its going to be 60 outside...

 

[firefighterjake]

Depends on the size of the coals . . .

Most typically I start out by stirring the coals and ash to let the ash drop down into the ash pan, leaving the larger coals.

If the coals are large and I have time I might toss on some small splits with larger splits on top, leave the door ajar and the air control all the wide open until the fire is strongly burning.

If the coals are small and/or I don't have a lot of time I might toss on some kindling, followed by small splits and larger splits and leave the door ajar and air control all the way open until the fire is strongly burning.

Occasionally I have to toss on some crumpled newspaper and then kindling if the coals are very small.

 

[bholler]

i throw some wood on there, turn up the air, crack open the ash pan, and let her rip. The last few days I have been burning pine that may have been sup-par on the moisture meter, so I haven't been able to shut down the air as much, but my cat temps are still around 240 when i wake up. Stove top is around 350...

You do know opening the ash pan is a bad idea right?

 

[Durantefarm]

I usually have only a few coals left, so i throw in some newspaper and a few pieces of kindling and one split on top of that, blow on the paper a few times and it ignites right up. If your down to coals you might have to get your draft going again if the flue is not up to temp.

Thank you ! That makes a lot of since ! Thanks again

 

[Dobish]

You do know opening the ash pan is a bad idea right?

why is it any worse than cracking the door?

 

[bholler]

why is it any worse than cracking the door?

Because it puts air under the fire causeing much faster heatup and more intense temps. This can lead to huge temperature differentials throughout tge stove which leads to warping and cracking. Almost all stove manufacturers say specifically not to do it while many say cracking the door at startup is fine.

 

[Dobish]

Because it puts air under the fire causeing much faster heatup and more intense temps. This can lead to huge temperature differentials throughout tge stove which leads to warping and cracking. Almost all stove manufacturers say specifically not to do it while many say cracking the door at startup is fine.

thanks, i knew it wasn't a good idea to leave it open for long periods of time, but I only leave it open enough to get a small flame.... this is from my manual, which i read i swear.


thank you for the reminder, and I will change my practice!

 

[Durantefarm]

So listen to this ! I’m really new to the wood insert community (about a month in ) and from start I have had issues that this group has helped me with and I am so thankful ! So today I’m cutting my seasoned wood I bought but it was seasoned enough to burn . Again it was at the beginning and just bought wood . Butttt then I totally forgot that I have two pallet sheds that are back by my fire pit that are stocked with good seasoned wood ! Haha it was like finding money in a coat you wore last year ! I grabbed a few and put in the burner and BOOM that baby is cooking ! Lol im so happy right now that I just might drink all night in front of our FIRST awesome fire !

 

[Osage]

I rake the coals together, place some smaller splits on the coals and use this.
I made this from a piece oh 1/8" pipe, heated the end in my forge and tapered it down on my anvil tell the hole was about the size of an 8 penny nail. Turned a piece of hedge for a mouth piece.
Blow on the coals and away you go.

 

[CincyBurner]

• On the night load, especially on cold nights, I include some dense (oak, Osage, black locust) wood splits that coal well into the morning.
• Rake coals forward and open primary to get air underneath the fuel.
• Spread coals apart N/S (north/ south) creating a pillar or mound of coals on both sides of the doghouse/ primary air to create a air flow channel directly in front of primary air OR as begreen suggested, lay short sleepers N/S. The idea is to get air flow underneath your fuel.
• For even quicker ignition chuck in a bit of tinder (crumpled dried grapefruit/ orange skins; fatwood; twigs; small, splitting scraps/ chunks) in depression, in front of the primary air.
• Place splits E/W (smaller diameter, lower MC wood for quicker ignition). For my stove I place long splits (20"+) up front so they are braced behind the stove's integral andirons that prevent wood from rolling forward into glass as it burns down.
• For cooler bed of coals have a ready source of kindling (sawmill trimmings, branch wood from spruce) for restart

 

[Durantefarm]

I only have one lever . The damper lever . And a knob to turn on fan .

 

[Dix]

So listen to this ! I’m really new to the wood insert community (about a month in ) and from start I have had issues that this group has helped me with and I am so thankful ! So today I’m cutting my seasoned wood I bought but it was seasoned enough to burn . Again it was at the beginning and just bought wood . Butttt then I totally forgot that I have two pallet sheds that are back by my fire pit that are stocked with good seasoned wood ! Haha it was like finding money in a coat you wore last year ! I grabbed a few and put in the burner and BOOM that baby is cooking ! Lol im so happy right now that I just might drink all night in front of our FIRST awesome fire !

Easay on the drinkay ... you don't want it to take off on you, and ruin the moment

You've got a real good shot to learn a lot .... good & bad. Err on the side of caution. And get ahead on your firewood !

 

[Jeremy8916]

If I throw wood in at 11pm theres usually still logs at 7am, so I rake everything to the center and reload around it. Close door, leave air wide open until the top gets about 600 then close it down. At present I can usually get away with 2 full loads and a part load in this weather, need to get my basement finished so I can tone down the wood consumption. It helps that my firebox is around 4cu ft

Sent from my SM-G903W using Tapatalk

 

[Durantefarm]

Easay on the drinkay ... you don't want it to take off on you, and ruin the moment

You've got a real good shot to learn a lot .... good & bad. Err on the side of caution. And get ahead on your firewood !

 

[Durantefarm]

ok next question . ceiling fan in room does it benefit me to use it or hurt fire.

 

[begreen]

It shouldn't affect the fire at all, but it will help move some heat. Try running it in reverse (blowing upward) in the winter.