Stove smoking during startup

[Wormyone]

The last two times I tried using my stove I smoked the house out before it would get going. Not sure what Im doing wrong here but I do not recall having this problem last year. The way I do it is I use fatwood or some type of small starter and I let that catch completely before adding anything.Then I will either add some kindling or a really small split and let that catch with the door open and then I will close the door and let it burn a few before loading the stove. I think it has to do with the flue not being warm to create a draw, But like I said before it seems to be happening more. Any thoughts? My liner is only 15ft tall and it is all insulated except the last 3ft due to coming through the damper.

 

[Grisu]

Sounds like a partially blocked flue. Did you clean the chimney recently especially the screen?

Other option: Did you do any improvements to the house over the summer? Does opening a window close to the stove keep the smoke from coming out?

 

[jrems]

It could be a reversal of draft. I have a very short 13-14ft chimney too. If you are starting a cold stove open the door all the way 10-15 minutes before you start the fire. It helps me, I think it's starts to draw the room temp air up. I then burn 3-4 crumpled up pieces of newspaper with the door cracked. That usually does the trick. I also load the stove all the way and do a top down start, that has made a huge difference.

 

[fatjay]

Sounds like reverse draft to me, I get this issue from time to time as I have a 2 story chimney and it can be tough to reverse all that cold air coming down.

Once I have my fat wood burning for 30 seconds or so I light two loosely crumpled pieces of paper which burn hot and fast, and then blow hard to get it going. If I don't use paper, it will fuel the fire with a steady supply of cold air coming down the chimney and smoking the whole room in minutes. Even closing it doesn't help, just makes it smolder and make more smoke. It stays like that until I throw in a few pieces of paper and blow before I can reverse it.

I open the door next to the stove when starting cold and that seems to help as well.