Smoldering Shoulder Fire..

[Mellery]

Temperature outside in high 50's, cold stove after hitting 70 for a minute today and letting it go out-

Cleaned the stove and built a nice top-down fire but just burnt the kindling and fizzled.

Any tips for a good quick start to this type of fire since we'll be doing it regularly now?

Any help appreciated

 

[Mellery]

I should probably add I've been feeding it kindling and small sticks and leaving the door cracked open for an hour now.

(Big sticks are dry -MM 13%- and no issues starting fires in cold temps over the winter)

 

[1kzwoman]

Try laying a crumpled sheet or two of newspaper on top of your fire. Then light with match closed door open damper/ draft control. Don't normally recommend paper to start a fire but it will burn and maybe help your draft. What stove are you burning?
I have a few cedar scraps that I use when I run into a slow fire start up.

 

[Mellery]

Regency Insert H2100 - I used newspaper and a piece of phat wood twice along with a new round of kindling each time after the first attempt fizzed.

Damper wide open whole time. Slider door cracked open too. This is so timely! It's finally going but not the happiest fire I've ever seen. I just can't be spending this much time at night and morn to get a fire going

 

[1kzwoman]

Someone who knows your stove will chime in before long. Research draft issues I think there is a sticky posted. Good luck. Might post chimney height,materials, ect

 

[Mellery]

Thank you very much! Everything I've learned about our stove and fires, etc is from reading the articles and threads on this site.

Chimney is short, this I know... about 12' from the stove to the very top. I've read many times that 15' is minimum for best but never had a problem with it until now. It's a prefab fireplace and we have 6" SS liner inside the liner that was already there (6" at the bottom 2/3 into a 9" the top 1/3)

 

[1kzwoman]

I am learning much from the good people here too. Some stoves like mine don't shoulder well (Harman Exception). You can use a "firestarter" but I suggest draft needs to be corrected first.

 

[Mellery]

I hope that's not the case with ours. Fire hit 300 degrees on the stove top thermometer as a high with black (creosote) burn tubes on top that were white when I started. Normally it's up to 500-600 in no time. I'll check back in the morning before I start it up again unless one of us gets up before then to keep it going.

Thank you for all your help

 

[billb3]

crack a window ?

 

[Mellery]

Thank you, the stove room has a sliding glass door on the wall adjacent to the stove; it was cracked the entire time.

Hopefully this morning's fire will go better

 

[jeff_t]

Chimney is short, this I know... about 12' from the stove to the very top. I've read many times that 15' is minimum for best but never had a problem with it until now. It's a prefab fireplace and we have 6" SS liner inside the liner that was already there (6" at the bottom 2/3 into a 9" the top 1/3)

I'm a bit confused. Is the liner 6" all the way up now? An 8' stub that is open into the 9" prefab chimney?

 

[Mellery]

Hi Jeff,

Yes, the new(er) liner is 6" all the way up now (inside the older one).

Not sure what an 8' stub is.

 

[Mellery]

Previous owners had a flush insert with 6" pipe going up 2/3 of the way and then a space and then the 9" pipe. The space between the two was enough for us to reline with the new pipe all the way up. We didn't want to risk sparks flying through that space into our attic and insulation

 

[begreen]

Have you seen this video? It has some good pointers for successfully starting a top-down fire. Most important will be having dry wood at the bottom.

Watch the bottom video - Efficient Wood Stove Operation
http://www.woodheat.org/wood-heat-videos.html

 

[Mellery]

Is that the one with the beer can? I will watch it again. I have started several top-down fires and my husband thought I was nuts but it makes perfect sense and I love the fact that smoke is almost non-existent with the technique. Our wood is dry, that much I know for certain (MM on fresh split)

Back in a minute.. I will watch it now

 

[Mellery]

Different video, thanks! Watching now

 

[Mellery]

Pretty sure from watching that, I had way too much wood in the firebox for the mild temps we were having. I stuffed it full so no room for air movement. Also I was relying on the kindling and not enough newspaper.

Thank you kindly for the help, gentlemen

 

[begreen]

Maybe try starting your next fire with smaller splits on the bottom. 2-3" splits will be easier to start if it is hardwood. Larger splits can be added once the fire is going strong. Also, N/S loaded fires are generally easier to start than E/W loaded fires. N/S allows air from the air wash and boost manifold to travel down the length of the logs.

 

[jeff_t]

Hi Jeff,

Yes, the new(er) liner is 6" all the way up now (inside the older one).

Not sure what an 8' stub is.

Okay, good. Sounded a little scary at first.

Eight being 2/3 of twelve is what I meant.

A short chimney and mild temps will make it a challenge. Like begreen says, small splits and lots of air at first. Maybe even let those small splits burn down to coals before adding more.

Don't limit yourself to the idea of the top down technique. Different situations may require different procedures. Top down starts don't work well at all for my Blaze King, but it's great for my PE, when I need a full, hot fire. A take-the-chill-off fire is 3-4 small splits with a firestarter underneath. I don't really use any kindling.

Have you ever tried Supercedars? They rock. You can break them up into quarters or smaller, and make a box last a long time.
http://www.supercedar.com/

 

[Mellery]

Yes, I will definitely do that- thank you! I had just asked my husband to please split some of the Douglas Fir into smaller pieces since I'm looking at walnut and oak that's way too big for this mild season we have moved into. Plus we can keep the hardwood for next winter.

We are fortunate to have about 50 trees on our 1/4 acre, all hundred+ feet tall and all pine, fir and cedar. It'll work well for our Spring and Fall and seems one or two is always in the dying process. What we have on hand now was CSS having been dead standing for awhile

 

[Mellery]

Jeff, thank you - never tried super cedars. We use tiny sticks of phatwood but having alternatives on hand can only be a good thing.

I'll play around with top-down and bottom-up starts to see which is best for our mini-beast insert : )

 

[bens_igloo]

Hi Mellery,

I have the larger, steel version of your insert (Regency i2400). One thing that helps when you try to start it up is to light a newspaper not and stick it in front of the baffles. If the flames get sucked up above the baffles right away, then your draft is good and your fire will light no problem.

Otherwise I quickly put the newspaper knot on top of the baffle and let it burn there. In my experience it quickly heats up the chimney air and gives a good draft. You may also want to leave the door cracked open a bit longer to get a nice flame going before closing it.

I always make top-down fires... Another thing I have done with success is lay small pieces (less than 1 inch) right on the floor below the large pieces. Once they catch they help get the large get burning.

Hope this helps.

 

[Mellery]

Thank you Ben : ) I appreciate your help and really, everyone's here!

This place has been a life-saver for me with everything going on + working from home

The learning curve has been long but once I found this site after husband's accident (read: head injury), I had to take over the stove because he kept slipping back into his life time habit with old (non-EPA) stoves. He just can't learn new things well is all.

 

[Mellery]

I will suppose everything I've just read about Super Cedars is correct, I think I will like them much better than phatwood!

Great tip Jeff, thank you - especially with the time factor : )

 

[begreen]

Yes, I will definitely do that- thank you! I had just asked my husband to please split some of the Douglas Fir into smaller pieces since I'm looking at walnut and oak that's way too big for this mild season we have moved into. Plus we can keep the hardwood for next winter.

We are fortunate to have about 50 trees on our 1/4 acre, all hundred+ feet tall and all pine, fir and cedar. It'll work well for our Spring and Fall and seems one or two is always in the dying process. What we have on hand now was CSS having been dead standing for awhile

Doug fir is excellent firewood and ignites easily. Instead of large fires, during milder weather build a short hot fire with about 4-5 medium sized splits and let the fire go out once the house is warm of maintain the fire with just a couple splits at a time. You will love SuperCedars during shoulder season burning. They make fire starting child's play.