New guy with a problem from last year

Do you have a picture of the outside of your home from a few directions? I have the same issue, but I have a monstrous hill behind my home I can get a down draft from winds which seems to cause this issue also. I use a heat gun on the high wind days in the shoulder months, and also light a flame near the door to see which way the air is moving. With the heat gun and the fire starters it only take a few minutes and voila....

 

I posted about the same problem as the OP. Using my propane torch shoved into the firebox exit seems to help. Keeping the fire going helps even more. Check the draft with by lighting some incense or a small piece of paper BEFORE lighting the fire. Teach the wife how to use the stove when you are off work and can supervise (gently and lovingly). Fortunately, my wife had learned to operate a stove before I met her. Still, like many women I've met, it's an all or nothing proposition. For her, a thermostat has two settings, max and off.

 

Last year I learned my youngest daughter (13) the do's and don'ts of the stove. A refresher course soon so when she gets home from school she can get it going before I get home from work. I get home 15 minutes after her so not to much can go wrong. She's extremely smart and cautious so I'm not worried. My wife stays clear of it since she burned herself. I told her that's what the big gloves are for......

 

Welcome to the FHC from a fellow Dakota Territory hoarder.

 

I have been around woodstoves most of my life and one of the things that keeps me comfortable is fire/smoke detectors, but also with a combustion source, CO / CO2 detectors as well.

My wife is OK with running the stove, but I like to give her a refresher course often. Ours, once we fire it up runs constantly all the way through till Spring unless there is a serious hot spell.

As always, SAFETY FIRST. A tear runs down my cheek anytime I hear of a house fire, no matter what the cause...

Sorry to get this off track, but it seemed like a good spot to inject a safety moment.

 

Hi Steve, welcome to the site! Have a friend who has a stove in his day light basement. The flue pipe exits through the wall and is on the outside of the house. As a result, the pipe has a big slug of cold outside air in it and the stove is basement cold. When he opens the door it back drafts. He solved his problem by laying a trouble light under his stove and always leaving it on until building a fire. The light heats the stove, fire brick and the exposed inside flue pipe just enough to provide a wee bit of updraft when he opens the stove to start a fire. All for the cost of lighting a 100 watt bulb. Might be worth a try.

 

I too will often use a propane torch if needed to get a draft going. Another thing I try to do is avoid using paper, it produces a TON of smoke. I have found that using a few smaller pieces of cardboard will produce hotter fire, with less smoke. I get thin hardwood at work that I use for starting a fire. Its about an inch thick, so I cut it into 6" sections and then split it into 1" strips with a hatchet. Make a log cabin type stack in the stove, with the cardboard between the first and third tiers, and hit it with the torch. Give it a couple minutes then add two splits on top of it and then close the door but leave it cracked. Then once those are going good fill the stove and you are good to go.

I run the stove 24/7 and I am the only one that runs it (aside from when Im traveling and leave the wife detailed instructions) I load it at 6-7am, and then again 12 hours later. Unless its really cold, like below zero, then I run it in 8 hour increments while running the stove harder.

 

Welcome SD Steve! Good to have another South Dakotan in the Hoard I’m in the South East part of S.D. good luck with your draft issue.

 

See, that is another issue that I have. A load of wood in my stove might only burn for 2 hours, then it is all coals/ashes. The instructions that came with my stove say to NOT install a damper in the chimney flue. At first I noticed it was not performing at all, so I cut one in anyway and soon after, most of the fire bricks cracked. Maybe I should have bought a different/better wood stove.

 

what do you have for a stove? It should definitely give you more than 2 hours of burn time. In shoulder season, I can pack my stove with oak and then cut my air way down and get almost a 24 hour burn.

 

jack straw used to use hair dryers to help light the fire as well. He ended up not doing it anymore, he found out several things. First, he went through a lot of hair dryers and they never gave off much heat, they were hard to keep lit, and they never stacked well.

 

Yeah what model stove? It's doubtful that installing a damper had anything to do with the bricks cracking...may be just the opposite, if your draft was too high at one point during the winter it's possible that caused it to overfire. More often though cracked bricks are from loading wood too roughly...or just old age.

 

Welcome to the club.... I’ve had a couple reverse drafts the first year. When doing a cold start, like after we’ve been gone for the weekend, I can feel the cold air coming in as I am building a stack of kindling for the start up. If I do, I swap the hose on the shop vac that I use for ash to the exhaust side. Put the end of the hose by the suction inlet before I turn it on to catch all the ash that will blow out of the hose. Then I’ll light the homemade cheater/starter, close the door and place the end of the hose against the inlet port on the bottom of the stove turn on the vac and force everything up. Maybe 2-3 minutes later it’s drawing on its own. Works well for me YMMV

 

Hello! You’re in the right spot for questions. Sounds like the fire was started, draft was wide open most of the time if the fire brick was cracked and wood only lasted you 2 hours. Let us know all the details on that one. I’ve had my old stove get pretty hot on me and may have overreacted on it but it’s important that we get an idea where you started at. Lots here work in the industry of stoves or just burn all the time so stoves aren’t a mystery to them. Some stoves are odd others are well loved here so more we know more we can help you out.

 

This one reminds me of the wood burner that we used to heat the shop when I worked for Fred. One chilly morning (California chilly) the first arrival lit the stove. In order to get it going faster, he tied down an air nozzle, stuck it in the air intake and walked away. By the time anyone noticed, the sides of the stove were glowing red and sagging inward.

Be careful about super-charging your stove.

 

Just want to chime in and mention that your problem should be easier to manage the colder it gets outside. When it's cold, draft will naturally improve. Heat rises! So there should be a natural suction out the chimney to help.

 

Ok so here is a look at my stove. Made by US Stove Company, model 2016E (B).
Still made in China though.
If you can read the second sentence in the EPA box there. It says "not approved for use with a flue damper."