Talk to me about Smoldering

[vwmike]

With dry wood I find it's impossible to smoulder with my little Vista. I can close the damper all the way even when the stove is only at 300 and it will climb to and cruise at 600-700 with full secondary action within 20 minutes or so.

 

[gyrfalcon]

With dry wood I find it's impossible to smoulder with my little Vista. I can close the damper all the way even when the stove is only at 300 and it will climb to and cruise at 600-700 with full secondary action within 20 minutes or so.

Pretty much the same here, although if I'm careless and toss a single too-big split onto coals that aren't hot enough to ignite it, I do get a smolder. Happily, adding a couple of smaller splits usually produces enough inside-the-box drafting action that the problem solves itself, or failing that, a small handful of the crumbs left from the box of supercedars does the trick.

(Although with a soapstone stove, 600-700 doesn't happen even when I'd like it to in the worst double-digit below zero weather.)

 

[oldspark]

Just to add some newbie realism to this thus far very theoretical debate - I can get smoke reappearing in the coaling stage if there's not enough air. Seems to happen mostly when I'm burning smaller fires and not getting temps up sufficiently at the beginning of the burn. Not sure if it's something to do with my wet wood or my stove/chimney system - I'll tell you next year when I have drier wood.

"Charcoal is a good fuel that burns easily and cleanly if it is given enough air"

 

[oldspark]

With dry wood I find it's impossible to smoulder with my little Vista. I can close the damper all the way even when the stove is only at 300 and it will climb to and cruise at 600-700 with full secondary action within 20 minutes or so.

So starting a new fire you cant smolder it.
Or if yu have too big of wood?

 

[vwmike]

Well I guess if I tried to start the fire with the door and damper shut it would smoulder, never tried that though The vista is so small all the wood is on the small side to begin with anyways. I read about guys shutting the damper down little by little over a 20 min period, that's something I find I don't nead to do once my fire is well established I can shut her down all the way. Ymmv

 

[gyrfalcon]

Well I guess if I tried to start the fire with the door and damper shut it would smoulder, never tried that though The vista is so small all the wood is on the small side to begin with anyways. I read about guys shutting the damper down little by little over a 20 min period, that's something I find I don't nead to do once my fire is well established I can shut her down all the way. Ymmv

Seems to be a characteristic of tiny fireboxes (ie tiny loads). I could do the same with the little Tribute I used to have. Now with the bigger Heritage, I generally do need to do it in stages, though I can usually turn the primary air all the way off fairly quickly in a couple of stages without shutting off the fire.

 

[simple.serf]

I try to keep our stove on the cooler side. I spent lots of time in the past and growing up burning cat and smoke dragon stoves, and I find it to be a habit. On the other hand, on my setup, if you aren't watching closely enough and cutting the air at just the right time (on the cooler side), she has a tendency to run away. Funny though, if the wood is actually dry, one it is off and running, I notice NO smoke.

I check our stack every 2 weeks, and get very little creosote burning this way.

 

[begreen]

Do you load N/S or E/W? E/W loading slows the fire down in our stove.

 

[Firedancer]

With all this talk of creosote, I'd like to ask you all about what I experienced tonight while starting my fire-cold stove. My insert was not even hot yet. At least not hot enough for the blower to turn on. I heard stuff from the chimney raining down-sounded like dirt falling. Lasted a second or two. Is this bad?

 

[vwmike]

Seems to be a characteristic of tiny fireboxes (ie tiny loads). I could do the same with the little Tribute I used to have. Now with the bigger Heritage, I generally do need to do it in stages, though I can usually turn the primary air all the way off fairly quickly in a couple of stages without shutting off the fire.

Interesting I didn't know that. Hopefully next year I'll be burning something bigger

 

[begreen]

With all this talk of creosote, I'd like to ask you all about what I experienced tonight while starting my fire-cold stove. My insert was not even hot yet. At least not hot enough for the blower to turn on. I heard stuff from the chimney raining down-sounded like dirt falling. Lasted a second or two. Is this bad?

That is probably surface creosote firing off and is fairly common. It's usually not harmful if there are no major accumulations present. I like to burn my first fire of the day a bit hot for 15-30 minutes to burn out any accumulation.

 

[Sprinter]

That is probably surface creosote firing off and is fairly common. It's usually not harmful if there are no major accumulations present. I like to burn my first fire of the day a bit hot for 15-30 minutes to burn out any accumulation.

But be aware that that kind of creosote can build up to dangerous proportions. You probably should take a look an make sure it's not building up. Even a minor build up could be a sign of cool burning.

 

[Firedancer]

Thank you begreen and sprinter...I'll make the hubby look into things.

 

[Spinny]

Thank you begreen and sprinter...I'll make the hubby look into things.

You mean, "I'll ASK the hubby to look into things."

 

[Ubookz]

I have been burning wood in my P.E. s-27 going on the third season, this is my sole heater. Out west I have no hardwood so burn lodgepole pine and fir. I hope this will not deviate to far from the topic of smouldering. I agree with the remarks in this thread, and have learned just recently the low air method. Seems to work with a full load that is burning well, i can turn the air as low as it will go and the wood burns with an almost clear flame and stove top temp 550-600 F, slowly decreasing over time. A lot of wood burners here take the thick bark of fir, it doesn't seem to burn well attached to the split. I don't like to waste fuel so I saved the bark to burn in addition. I got a surprise when I put a load of bark in ,it set my smoke detector off and stove temp had reached 900 F, and i was under the impression that bark does not burn well.Now I know and it works well to add to coals to get them burning. I don't know if it is a characteristic of winter burning but my stove glass is so clear; a friend came over yesterday and asked me " do you have an open fire with no glass? apologies for my rambling.

 

[SteveKG]

I also only have pine and spruce to burn and some species give off sheets of bark when you're splitting. I burn the bark, too, when starting a fire. Burns hot and fast and negates the need for much in the way of kindling. I guarantee that if I loaded up my stove with bark, the steel would be glowing red in a short period of time. Burns great. Like cardboard does, hot and fast. In fact, I just bought a Woodstock and have it sitting off to one side until I can get to switching out my old non-cat. Woodstock specifically warns against burning cardboard due to the rapid heat rise which can stress stove materials. I imagine bark might receive the same warning.

 

[Firedancer]

You mean, "I'll ASK the hubby to look into things."

Ha! Yes...I will ask.