Restarting a fire

[Jfior1983]

Hi everyone, I have a Jotul F 45 V2. When I wake up in the morning, and have a few coals left- here’s my question. I can throw a bunch of logs in, and the fire will eventually reignite, but not without a lot of smoke in the box. Will this smoke cause extra creosote buildup, or is it safe for me to do it this way? Or, should I be throwing in more kindling to try to start the fire quicker? I don’t mind waiting for the fire to start as it smokes,I just don’t want to have a major creosote buildup from all of that smoke. So, is it OK to just throw the logs in and wait it out, or should I be putting in smaller pieces to try to minimize the smoking inside of the fire box? This community has been great to me, By the way, I appreciate you all.

 

[MRD1985]

Crack the door open until you see some flame and then close it back up.

How dry is your wood and what are you burning?

 

[John Lehet]

I have burned with a Jotul 3 F CB for the last maybe 14 years, don't know about your stove at all. But my Jotul will not hold a fire overnight and then it might sometimes have some coals in the morning. I've learned that I am much happier and less frustrated if I just pretend those coals aren't there and start the fire from scratch, with newspaper and a match. It took me an embarrassingly long time to learn that when I say, "Oh good, there are coals!" and then start putting bits of kindling or light wood on them, I will wish I had made the coffee first and eventually either get it going that way or resort to newspaper.

I don't know what it is about this Jotul and a bit of coals not working to start a fire. I've heated with wood since 1978 more or less, in different ways with different stoves, and I swear that the notion of getting a fire going with coals in the morning is burned into my head for a reason -- a reason that does not apply to this stove.

 

[begreen]

Definitely put a little kindling down first if burning hardwood and open the door a tad (not the ash pan door) until the fire has started again. The reason is this; all that smoke that accumulates before ignition (a flame) is wood gas. When it ignites, it can cause a small, to not so small, explosion called backpuff. In the least, this can be disconcerting as it forces smoke out of every pipe joint, the air intake, etc. There have been a few reports of extreme cases where it damaged or blew out the door glass.

 

[sixer]

I agree, put some kindling or birch bark down. Sometimes even a quick blast of the torch will convert that smoke into flame. You want to avoid the smoke, for sure. I just imagine all of that smoke condensing on the walls of the liner - yuck!

 

[Jfior1983]

Crack the door open until you see some flame and then close it back up. How dry is your wood and what are you burning?

Definitely put a little kindling down first if burning hardwood and open the door a tad (not the ash pan door) until the fire has started again. The reason is this; all that smoke that accumulates before ignition is wood gas. When it ignites, it can cause a small, to not so small, explosion called backpuff. In the least, this can be disconcerting as it forces smoke out of every pipe joint, the air intake, etc. There have been a few reports of extreme cases where it damaged or blew out the door glass.

this is important info that I was not aware of.

 

[Jfior1983]

Crack the door open until you see some flame and then close it back up.

How dry is your wood and what are you burning?

Burning birch right at 20% or a little less. Good tip on the door. I think at this point it’s probably better to throw in a bit of birch bark and piece of lit fat wood just to get things going quicker without the smoke.