Hello, I have read and watched about people that recommend building fires upside down. This is counter intuitive to me and goes against physics. For $#¡+$ & giggles, I tried it in our Napoleon 1400 woodstove. It worked, sorta. The fire started, but was slow. The stove was very slow to start pumping out BTUs. Am I missing something? Thanks!
How did you build your top down fire? I use it all the time and it works for me 95% of the time. It isn't for everyone. It helps to get the stove and chimney heated up so the draft is better. If you have a good draft, then you might not need to do it that. Tell us more about your setup, chimney etc.
Top down is definitely slower. You do get less smoke but that is probably because of the slow burn. After all, you are only lighting the top of the wood. Some like it but I don't. It still works better to start the fire on the bottom as that way the heat and flames ignite more wood; hence the fire gets started quicker.
Ive always did from the bottom and never tried the top down. Makes sense that it would warm the flue for a better draft.
Husky or Stihl Horizontal or vertical Tomato tomato Top down, or down up Whatever works best for you. Personal preference. Me? Bottom light
I've also always started fires in the stove from the bottom...but just recently been trying the top approach for the benefits of getting the chimney heated sooner. Not ready to give up on it yet, but early indications tell me I will return to my old ways.
I burn from the bottom up, this method has worked for 46 years, I've no interest in trying top-down method.
I do a modified version of this. I build it like a top down fire; Bigger splits on the bottom, kindling & a starter on top. Then a put a fire starter between the two bigger splits. That seems to help get things going quicker. I find hardwood kindling helps too.
Thank you, all! I did not think I was missing out here, have long realized that there is always more to learn. When I tried a top-down fire, I built upside-down. Started with 3 logs, then medium kindling, followed by fine kindling topped by a bit of newspaper. Our stove is in the basement, goes out through a former window well, then 24' of triple wall pipe ending higher than the peak of the roof. When the stove is cold, it suffers from " stack effect " or cold air flowing down the pipe. Cracking the garage door open a little bit reverses the flow & it's easy to light. Now my next dilemma CAD, should I buy another saw ...
No!!! Buy another five. When I joined FHC in 2019 I had three saws. Now I have over a dozen. They come and go.
Open the stove up and give it a blast of warm air with a hair dryer...depending on the stove model, you blow warm air "up the chimney" as best you can...above the baffle, through the bypass, whatever. It works well, just don't point it toward the ashes!
This crew is a bad influence when it comes to chainsaws! Over the years, I never had more than two. Now, if I count all the saws, it's something like 10. Five of which get used regularly.
These three questions should the first three on the questionnaire for the FHC dating site! It would solve a lot of problems later on!
