Re: Woodstove fire building 101?

The message <3rv4utFljn70U1@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
from "Bill" <bill190nospam@xxxxxxxxx> contains these words:

> Question 1.

> What do you do with your woodstove when you have several days of mild
> temperatures and just need a "little heat"?

In all the stoves I've had, just burn one or two logs with the air
draft turned right down. It's easy with well-seasoned wood.


> Question 2.

> Because I just installed my stove this summer, and have obtained my
> firewood
> within the last month from the mountains (F.S. Permit), my wood pile
> has not
> had a year to dry out. Although I've been told that the wood in the area I
> got it from has been down for over a year, some of it seems to be wet and
> other wood very dry. I noticed that a log I placed in the wood stove was
> "hissing" - sounded like steam coming out. (First time I have noticed this
> happening.)

It should have a year to season *from the time you cut it up.*

> Anyway is there a way to tell if a piece of wood is dry or not?

If a log is seasoned, it will feel lighter than newly cut logs, and
the end grain shows some cracks. Any bark will be light in colour and
feel dry, not dark and damp..

Unseasoned wood (or a bad choice of wood) holds too much sap, so it
hisses as you've found. If you can see the end through the stove door,
you may even see hot sap running out. To season well, cut logs should be
stacked in an open-sided shed or barn with a roof. Keep rain off, let
wind in.

> Question 3.

> The instructions for my wood stove say to leave the door open a little at
> first to get the fire going. But if I do this before I have a good draft,
> smoke comes out the top of the door sometimes (not always).

That suggests your chimney may be too short for smokefree open-door
burning..Is your house single-storey by any chance?


I was thinking
> of installing a fan which would bring outside air into the house and
> provide
> "positive air pressure" inside the house and force the smoke up the chimney
> when first starting a fire. Comments?

Shouldn't need one

What makes the correct draft is a combination of:

Fitting the right diameter of chimney for the stove model

Avoid installing chimney bends, angles, and openings/junctions to
other rooms or stoves

The length of chimney above the stove .(low chimneys, like a single
storey house, pull less draft than the tall chimney on a 3 storey house)

If it's a metal chimney sticking out the roof slope, the outside
section needs to have the right clearance from the roof apex and any
other "wings" of the house roof. Otherwise, air currents across the roof
may cause a backdraft that's countering the desired updraft.There are
other factors, such as whether the house is in a hollow sheltered by
trees, or on a hilltop exposed to wind.

Janet.
.

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