This might be in the wrong section, and I've tried to search and read a lot, but thought I'd just ask. I have an earthstove 1003C and have been burning some small fires this fall, and had some last spring as well. My problem is from a cold start, and not smoking the house up. I lay In two smallish splits n/s with a few inch gap between. Newspaper, a half of egg carton, and some kindling fill that gap with kindling laid across the two splits. Then more kindling and splits on top of that. At that point, I usually grab my heat gun and wedge it in the stove so as to blow hot air into the flue. That works quite well. Air fully open and light er up Today it's mid 50's out, breezy and cloudy. Decided to light a small fire. Same prep as always but thought I'd do a hybrid top down fire and start at top and bottom. Had about 5 newspaper knots up high right under the flue and lit those first. All I did was smoke up the house... Tried propping door open about 1/2" or so and that didn't help so thought I'd try door closed. All that did was show every tiny gap in stovepipe and door gasket... Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Can you try again with the door open at least an inch? The door cracked a 1/2" in mid 50's weather isn't worth the same amount of draft as say the mid 20's. I've tried a few top down fires, and they just aren't my thing (although others swear by it). I want as much heat and fire concentrated underneath my wood off the line.
I fight the stack effect on and off. When I have a downdraft working I move a baffle plate out of the way and place a piece of newspaper right in the flue outlet to move the slug of cold air out. Where's the stove and how tall is the chimney?
Stove in basement. Single wall up 4' and out the wall(two 90's) transitioning to double wall stainless, then straight up about 17' Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
basement wood furnace - have a branch off stove pipe points up flue stick shop vac output in it turn on shop vac for a bit then lite furnace . when furnace going ok , remove vac and cap that port. developed that trick after filling the basement with smoke in about 1.5 minutes one time due to down draft.
Try leaving your stove door open for about a 1/2 hour before lighting, this will create at stove/house draft and heat the inside to the ambiant air temp. Sometimes this works, other times it may not. Give it a try! Also, try some "dry kindling" like, splits of 2x4s or such. Get the fire burning quick, this generally helps out also. Silly question but, is your chimney clean?
Yes chimney is clean. Good question though. I had a sweep come and studied his work so I can do efficiently in the future. Thanks for all the suggestion. I'll try leaving door open for a while prior to lighting and also try cracking the door a bit more. I'll be able to burn 24/7 once it gets cold. Thankfully, I'm friends with previous owner so he's told me lots. Says once rolling, 18 hours should still have good coals for quick restart with warm chimney. Thanks Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
This thread may be of help. I have a very similar situation and fought with a smoky house quite a bit until I figured it out. I use a torch to light newspaper on the baffle or light it outside at the clean out. Cold plug | Firewood Hoarders Club
I used the shop vac trick several times at my old house. It was a US Stove forced air wood furnace and I had the same issues aforementioned with the smoke going the wrong direction. If i was not in a rush, right after the shop vac trick i would stick a heat gun in there on a piece of wood for a few minutes. Simple tricks, but i hate the downdraft smell!
Heres an example of my light off practice. This is my traditional "Halloween" fire for the kiddies! Not so much as a "fart" out of the stove! I open the door and had left it open for about an hour. In 10 minutes, my stack temp is already 300* I'll shut the draft knobs down to a half turn here in a minute and the temp will sit at 400* and not change!
