My partner and I had a new Hearthstone Castleton model stove installed in March 2025. The installation is at an elevation of about 1000 feet off State Highway 11 in Pickens County, South Carolina. We followed the break-in instructions and then in December began using the stove on cold days. From the beginning, its been difficult to start fires and during the process, the flue draws poorly and smoke escapes into the house. By January 2026, starting the Castleton became easier and even routine but some smoke still accumulated in house during most start ups. After a general temperature warm up ( and therefore not using the Castleton) and being away from the house for a day, start up this morning was VERY difficult and VERY smokey. Prior to attempting to start a fire, the existing ash was very lightly sprayed with water mist to control dust and then the ash was scooped out of the stove. When attempting to start a fire, the Bypass handle is open and the air control is at high position (left). This morning there has been smoke escaping from the top of the stove and the interior is full of smoke. We are particularly concerned about the smoke escaping from the top of the stove. Start up has never been truly easy.
Smoke fills house
- Thread starter Starr_Hazard
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I've had the same stove for about 6 years and had the same problems at first.
I hate that everyone's go-to answer on this forum is that your wood is too wet. But your wood is probably too wet.
This stove works really well with top-down starts - try doing that. It sends all the early heat up the chimney to get your draft going. If you do a normal fire, the early heat is trying to warm up all the other wood, and it makes a lot more smoke.
When you first start the stove, you want the fire to burn very hot. This means more & drier kindling. If you split it smaller it will burn hotter & faster. The goal is to heat up the chimney.
If you're having trouble keeping the kindling burning with such a strong downdraft, try one of those fire starters. It's like wax & sawdust. You can buy or make them. It burns very hot for 5-10 minutes and can get the rest of your kindling going.
If you're new to stoves, I found there was a learning curve to managing fire in general (placing the wood, what sized pieces to use, strategic use of primary (bottom hole) vs. secondary (top tubes) air.
For smoke to come out the top of the stove, your downdraft must be very strong. That means something in your house is sucking air back down your chimney. You should open a door or window in the stove room. People say "crack a window" but I need to open the front door at least 12" to help at all. This is not a magic fix, but it helps.
Draft is weather dependent. Especially when a storm front comes in, I won't even bother starting a fire because there's just too much pressure coming into the house.
Draft is also dependent on the chimney installation & height. We had to get our new chimney rebuilt by a competent company because the original wasn't tall enough so the natural draft of the house (heat rises!) would overpower the chimney. You should post some pictures of your chimney install relative to the house/property/roof/trees, some guys on here might be able to tell if there's a chimney location problem. Hopefully not your problem, because it's expensive and annoying to fix.
Good luck figuring this out, I know it's very frustrating.
I hate that everyone's go-to answer on this forum is that your wood is too wet. But your wood is probably too wet.
This stove works really well with top-down starts - try doing that. It sends all the early heat up the chimney to get your draft going. If you do a normal fire, the early heat is trying to warm up all the other wood, and it makes a lot more smoke.
When you first start the stove, you want the fire to burn very hot. This means more & drier kindling. If you split it smaller it will burn hotter & faster. The goal is to heat up the chimney.
If you're having trouble keeping the kindling burning with such a strong downdraft, try one of those fire starters. It's like wax & sawdust. You can buy or make them. It burns very hot for 5-10 minutes and can get the rest of your kindling going.
If you're new to stoves, I found there was a learning curve to managing fire in general (placing the wood, what sized pieces to use, strategic use of primary (bottom hole) vs. secondary (top tubes) air.
For smoke to come out the top of the stove, your downdraft must be very strong. That means something in your house is sucking air back down your chimney. You should open a door or window in the stove room. People say "crack a window" but I need to open the front door at least 12" to help at all. This is not a magic fix, but it helps.
Draft is weather dependent. Especially when a storm front comes in, I won't even bother starting a fire because there's just too much pressure coming into the house.
Draft is also dependent on the chimney installation & height. We had to get our new chimney rebuilt by a competent company because the original wasn't tall enough so the natural draft of the house (heat rises!) would overpower the chimney. You should post some pictures of your chimney install relative to the house/property/roof/trees, some guys on here might be able to tell if there's a chimney location problem. Hopefully not your problem, because it's expensive and annoying to fix.
Good luck figuring this out, I know it's very frustrating.
Can you describe the stove setup? What floor is it on? How tall is the flue system? Is it 6" diameter all the way up to the cap? What is the outdoor temperature when this smokey start was worst?
The outdoor temp was about 45F. I'm not certain of the flue diameter but its constant through to the cap. The flue comes out of the top of the stove, then a 90 degree bend to go through the wall, then another 90 degree and straight to the cap. From the ground, the stove is on the 'second' floor and then 7-8 feet ( absolute guess) to the cap. We're experimenting with ways to warm the flue ( eg a candle) to see if that helps.
Definitely try opening a nearby window a bit and see if that helps improve draft. If so, the stove wants an outside air supply.
It could be that the flue system is too short. The two 90º turn slow down the flue gases quite a bit, especially if the horizontal run is long. They effectively reduce the flue system height by about 4 ft.
The recommended minimum chimney height for top of stove installation is 16 feet (4.9 m) off the floor or 13 feet 10 1/8 inches (4.3 m) from the top of the stove. For a double-90 turn flue, about 20 ft vertical height is the minimum. If access to the roof is safe and easy, you could try removing the cap and inserting a 3-4 ft length of inexpensive, 6" warm air duct to the top and see if that makes a notable improvement.
It could be that the flue system is too short. The two 90º turn slow down the flue gases quite a bit, especially if the horizontal run is long. They effectively reduce the flue system height by about 4 ft.
The recommended minimum chimney height for top of stove installation is 16 feet (4.9 m) off the floor or 13 feet 10 1/8 inches (4.3 m) from the top of the stove. For a double-90 turn flue, about 20 ft vertical height is the minimum. If access to the roof is safe and easy, you could try removing the cap and inserting a 3-4 ft length of inexpensive, 6" warm air duct to the top and see if that makes a notable improvement.
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