Stove is in - Now, can someone tell me how to use this thing?

[JDfromRI]

Well, I, like many others, am quite happy to be burning wood finally. Got stove and chimney in, inspector was happy, so we started burning on Christmas Eve. So far, so good! We did our first few burns following the manufacturers instructions so the plan for this week is to open the little Century stove up a bit and see what it can do. I wanted to thank all of those that helped answer questions I posted about a month or so ago (these were chimney height questions for a 12/12 pitch Cape Cod roof). This forum and the help of those who post is truly a great resource!

So we did manage to get the first burns in, but I struggled quite honestly. Can anyone offer some tips on quickly getting a fire going? Of the three fires I've built so far, two have taken me an hour to get going. Basically, I am using the teepee kindlng method with crumpled paper in the middle per the stove operating manual. I have read that some of you "pyro extraordinares" can light a single match and you're done.

Also, there are a few other things I've started to wonder - first, how long should a load of wood last on low burn and high burn? Roughly speaking. Second, I also observed the the 3.5" of class A that extends into the room (from the wall thimble) gets much hotter on the top half than on the bottom. Is this typical? Heat and smoke rise, so it would seem to make sense. During the hottest burn yet, I could touch it for a moment or two so I think it's at a normal temp, but I just wanted to ask the question. Last question, so I can get a fire going, what is the best way to put it out fast if the need comes up?

Thanks again everyone. Happy Holidays.
-JD

 

[the_guad]

Starting a good fire takes time. Just because people are starting them with one match doesn't mean that they're not tending them for an hour afterward. A lot of the tending depends on the size of your firebox and how much combustible stuff you can put in there. It usually takes me about 30 minutes to load up my first good sized splits but I keep adding to it throughout the first hour and by then I've got a raging fire that I can enjoy until it's time to damp it down for a longer burn.

Also, unless your firebox is already warm, start it slowly anyway. That way you'll avoid smoking out your house by putting a big piece of smoldering wood in there.

As for the length of your burn, think "results may vary." It depends on, basically, everything. The size of your splits, the amount of combustion air, the height of your chimney, the rotation of the earth, how much fiber you've eaten that day, whether the dog is laying close to the stove, etc. etc. etc. You get the idea. My only recommendation is to not panic when you don't see flames. The red hot embers are plenty hot and you should let those burn for awhile before reloading the stove so that you can see how long you can push it yourself before needing to relight the fire. Embers last a long time, so enjoy your blue flames and relax for a bit.

I enjoy wood firing, but I'm not one of the more experienced members of this forum. I humbly bow to their knowledge if it contradicts my own.

 

[eernest4]

My active burn time can range from 2.5 to 5 hours, depending on the size of the load ,How thick is the wood i put in the stove, where my primary air & stack damper are set at & etc.
My embers will last another 3 to 9 hours, again depending on all of the above. So ,I can go from 5.5 hr to 14 hr. just depending on wood type,load size 7& stove settings.

Now as to lighting fires, there are 3 types of fire building, starting with a cold stove & time to stack up the newspaper,kindling & wood as you see fit.

This is different from placing wood on hot embers, which will only allow you 90 seconds before ignition, & you have to move qiuck before you smoke out your room. it helps a lot to open up your stach damper, on stoves so equipped, to take out smoke faster when placing wood on live embers.

There are posts here, use the search posts to pull them up & on the upper right see hearth wiki
& click on it. When wiki opens, menu on left & select --- titles list--- this opens a page of 200
titles of wiki articles , some about building fires, also see freq asked questions on navagation bar & there are other things there too for you to look at.

OK BUILDING FIRES
I like the one where you put a 2 x4 or 4x4 split on each side of the firebox
& then put newspaper between them,then kindling, then 1/8th splits, then 1/4 splits.
A better variation on this is if you have some 1/2 x3 furring strips or pallet runners & you cut them to size to fix into your firebox on top of the 4x4 that go on each side of the firebox.


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They make a bridge across the channel between the
4x4 's ,in the channel goes newspapers,lots & lots, & then kindling. then you put 3 or 4 precut bridge pieces across it & lay all your smaller splits on top of the bridges & your larger splits on top of the smaller ones.

The @ represent crumbled newspaper upon which the kindling goes. I call this a airy fire because all the splits have air around all sides. I made a nice picture but the word processer insisted in alligning to the left margin & distorted it almost beyond reconizing.YOY JUST TOUCH A MATCH to the newspaper, with the stove door cracked open, but not enough open to let smoke into your room. Within 5 minutes , everything should be well engaged in flame & time to close & latch the door. in another 2 minutes , my stove is producing 800*stack temps& time to shut down the primary air.
About 10 minutes after shutting down primary air , bridge sticks will burn through & dump the splits resting on them into the channel of still burning kindling or at least the red hot kindling embers, so any wood that is not already engaged in flame , will be now.

This is a fast & hot fire until the bridges burn out, dumping all the splits in a burning heap that slows the fire, just right for cruzing at 400*. The burnt out bridges dump the splits ,so the air all around each split is no more, it becomes a tight packed fire , a good fire configuration for a long slow burn.

I never spend more than 30 seconds lighting a fire ,only 6 to 8min with the door cracked & then 30 min enjoying the fire,making air adjustments & make sure the fire is settled down.
The most time is spent in building the fire properly, before a match touches it; like a kid with building blocks.

The view of my picture is looking into the stove door ,into the depth of the stove , all you see is the end of the logs.AGAIN--you make a tunnel filled with newspsper & kindling, bridge it over & put small splits ,bigger splits & then biggest splits. when you get really good at it, you can put medium & big splits on the bridges & small splits on top, as long as you have enough newspapers & kindling to catch the medium splits, as they catch harder that small splits.
then the small 7 medium splits will catch the big splits. The only disadvantage to this fire is that you can not tightly pack the stove to full maximum capacity for the longest overnight burns. But after practise, you will find you can pack the wood fairly tight. If you go to tight with the packing & loose your air space around the wood ,the fire wont lite due to lack of air.
You need to make some air space for flames by moving some wood aside.

You can buy super cedar fire starters & stragically place a few fire starters here & there in your fire or buy a fire starter log & saw it up into small thin,long ,say 1 inch wide strips about 4 in long, with a table saw or band saw.
do a www.ask.com search for fire starters.

 

[woodconvert]

"Can anyone offer some tips on quickly getting a fire going? Of the three fires I’ve built so far, two have taken me an hour to get going."

That sounds about right. It's not a quick process. You need the kindling/small splits to burn down into a coal bed. Any stove i've operated doesn't run properly until there is a 2"-3" coal bed. If you don't burn 24/7 you will go through a descent amount of kindling. Another tip is if you let the fire go out, do not get rid of the black coals. Those will help you establish your next fire.

In the spring and fall when i'm starting a fire every day I line the bottom of the stove with crinckled up news paper. I then put on kindling in both north/south and east/west directions. On top of that I put on three small splits. I open the front door, light the match and walk away for about 15 minutes. Then I put on progressively bigger splits (door still open) and walk away for a half hour or so. Add some more progressively bigger splits and keep running it with the front door open until I get the stove top surface temp to 400-450 and then i close the front door. Ats my fire building 101.

Note: when I say front door open I mean it's open as far as I can open it where the latch will keep them from opening all the way (maybe I should say the door is "cracked" open but still latched. This way should any split roll forward it won't end up on your hearth or carpet/flooring.

Hope this helps.
Good luck and be patient

 

[begreen]

The main trick to getting a fire going quickly is "dry wood". I use cabinetry and unfinished flooring scraps. They ignite quickly and nicely. Next thing to remember is that a fire needs 3 things to burn - heat, fuel and air. As you put larger pieces on the now flaming kindling, don't overdo it. Start with smaller, dry splits, maybe 2" wide and put them on in criss cross fashion so that the burning kindling still gets plenty of air. Let that burn until the 2" splits are fully aflame before adding larger -dry- 4" splits.

Some people like to use firestarters to assist ignition. Search here on 'Supercedar' for info on a nice brand that works well.

 

[derwood]

I'm still getting the handle on my insert.

Here's what I do. . .I have tried the top down starting burn and it works well. I have also found the key to getting a good hot fire pretty quick (up to 500 degrees for the secondary burn to kick in) is to have a lot of small pieces in the firebox. The orientation doesn't really matter. What does matter is having enough small pieces with a lot of surface area to have a lot of bright flames filling the firebox. The flames quickly bring the stove up to temp.

I never seem to have enough small pieces laying around so I've taken to using a hatchet like a wedge and hitting it with a 4 lb hammer. It makes quick work of reducing a straight split into 1 or 2" pieces.

 

[JimWalshin845]

If you are using dry seasoned hardwood you should have a clean burning flaming fire in less than 10 minutes. If this isn't happening then your wood isn't fully seasoned!

 

[JDfromRI]

Okay, thanks again everyone. Eernest4, I appreciate the effort put in there!! I can't stress how much I like this website! From the sound of it, my first burns without fully loading the stove lasting between 4-6hrs is on par.

So, tonight I tried some scrap 1x2 wood I had lying around as kindling, criss-crossed with a 2" log on top. Used newspaper to light it all up and within about 15 minutes we had a good fire going.

Are proucts like Fatwood okay for wood stoves?

 

[begreen]

Way to go JD. fatwood is fine, it's just resiny pine sticks.