First Fire In New Stove Guidelines Please

Yes, I am warming the house; and that is nice, but the draft is not correct; With the damper completely open, the fire should really burn, isn't that correct? I have the damper completely open and have to have the door ajar to get a burn; otherwise it appears to starve for air. The wood is not wet, it may or may not be at 20% but it is not wet, it does not sizzle or ooze anything; as soon as it hits the hot coals it will start to burn.

 

It should burn good wide open with good dry (read:spilt and stacked for a year) wood.
Wood will burn when green...just not very well.

Cut up a 2x4 that is not treated and burn it. See how much more flame you get from truly dry wood.

You may need more pipe, but unless you were splitting and stacking wood 12 months ago, that's a significant portion of your problem.

 

How much wood are you putting in the stove at once?

 

How cold is it there now? Keep in mind the warmer the outside temp, the worse the draft will be. And 10* one way or the other can make a huge difference.

 

Kimberly, this may seem like an obvious thing, but are you sure you have the draft open? Reading through the manual that HDRock posted, the air control on that stove is opposite the one on mine.
Just thought I'd ask because sometimes it's the simple things we don't think about as being a problem.
You're doing great so far.
I'm not sure I'd want to try putting another piece of pipe up there either. Nice to see you have a brace too.
Oh, and if the wood is catching within seconds of being put on coals, I don't think the wood is the problem.

I'm into a batch of dead Oak that does that...most of the time. I still have a few pieces that don't want to light off real well though, and they were all css at the same time.

 

I am only putting a couple of splits; I can not control the burn; even after the fire is really going. I just played with it and I can not control the burn.

 

Fairly quickly; yes. Maybe I can do a video.

 

Yes, draft control is working; I tested that in case maybe it was not opening.

 

If you still have the door open a crack, you won't be able to with the air control. Makes the air control just about useless.

 

Oh, the house is nice and warm; in Fs, 79 in the main room, 71 in my bedroom, and even warm in the kitchen.

 

Well then, something is working correctly if the house is that warm.

 

Yes, I know. Once the wood burns down into the large coal stage; still together and all, I can shut the door. I need to see if I can make a video; I only have a cheap video camera that does something like 480 resolution.

 

Yes, that is why I am only loading a couple of splits, medium size; because I don't want to risk over firing the stove, but with the door ajar, I can not control the burn, and often if I shut the door and try to use the damper, the fire smolders out.

 

That may be the problem. A couple of splits don't burn worth a flip. Rule of thumb is three splits stacked in a triangle, minimum (with a decent draft). The splits have to feed off each other to maintain the fire. Plus the chimney needs heat (temp difference inside vs outside air) to drive the draft. You are probably being too careful not to over fire the stove, to produce enough heat to promote a draft. The thermometer will guide you when it arrives. Meanwhile, try 5 (stacked) splits on a small bed of coals. When its flaming good, shut the door with the draft fully open. The flames will die down at first. Be patient. Give it 10 min. 5 splits won't over fire your stove, especially if you have a weak draft.

 

X2

 

Where do you have the air control when you close the door is it all the way in or all the way out?