The Madison 15‐SSW01 fire not staying lit

[Jean from PA]

Hi! We had an old woodburning stove in the home we bought, hubby knew i really wanted to SEE flames, so when Lowes had this on display for a clearance price of $188. we snached it up! He did a few preburns outside like it suggested, but it seems that something is not working right.. Once we light it and shut the door the fire instantly dies. We pushed the lever in, pulled it out.. nothing.. Directions talk about keeping a Dog box hole free of ash?

We have no freaking idea what that is. Someone on the forum posted a photo of one she thought her husband may have cracked and the only thing i can see is the piece of cast iron between 2 bricks in the front.. Is there supposed to be a "hole" somewhere here? We were so desperate to see a fire that i actually turned the Ash dump plug sideways to allow air and keep it burning, but we want to do it the right way.

 

[bholler]

Hi! We had an old woodburning stove in the home we bought, hubby knew i really wanted to SEE flames, so when Lowes had this on display for a clearance price of $188. we snached it up! He did a few preburns outside like it suggested, but it seems that something is not working right.. Once we light it and shut the door the fire instantly dies. We pushed the lever in, pulled it out.. nothing.. Directions talk about keeping a Dog box hole free of ash?

We have no freaking idea what that is. Someone on the forum posted a photo of one she thought her husband may have cracked and the only thing i can see is the piece of cast iron between 2 bricks in the front.. Is there supposed to be a "hole" somewhere here? We were so desperate to see a fire that i actually turned the Ash dump plug sideways to allow air and keep it burning, but we want to do it the right way.

View attachment 300619

What moisture content is your wood at and what is your chimney setup like

 

[Jean from PA]

What moisture content is your wood at and what is your chimney setup like

Not sure of the moisture content. It's a tree that's been down for a yr but was cut up and split 3 wks ago. As far as my chimney setup? The original stove had an 8" pipe into a chimney. We bought the 6" to go into it. Photos of fireplace and chimney outside the house

 

[bholler]

Not sure of the moisture content. It's a tree that's been down for a yr but was cut up and split 3 wks ago. As far as my chimney setup? The original stove had an 8" pipe into a chimney. We bought the 6" to go into it. Photos of fireplace and chimney outside the house

Your wood is to wet for sure. I don't see pics yet of the chimney.

 

[stoveliker]

The important info is what the height of the chimney is. I.e. how tall. And if it is all straight up or has elbows.

Wood does not dry much until it is split and stacked off the ground. And most wood takes 1-2 years (after splitting) to dry. Oak can take 3 years.

Burning wet wood can result in creosote, and then chimney fires.

Finally, burning with the ashdoor open (or something similar below the fire) risks overfiring the stove. Maybe not with wet wood, but still, I would be careful and not get used to that unless the manual says it's okay to do so.