trouble lighting my woodstove

[steff bugielski]

I have had a wood stove for many years, but this year I seem to have trouble. I usually use newspaper to star the fire. I t has always worked well in the past. I am wondering if any body else has had the same problem. I do know that they have changed the paper in cigarettes, so they go out if not puffed on, and I was thinking they did the same to newspapers. For safety. Any thoughts.
Steff

[MelissaW]

Sounds like the chimney is drafting (I'm not sure if this is the proper term). When that happens with my wood burning furnace, I open up the ash door and the basement window. Sometimes I also open the damper and put a lit piece of newpaper in there to get a draft going. I'm no expert, and fly by the seat of my pants on technical stuff, but these things always help for me!

[Rita]

Are you sure your chimney is clear? When ours needs cleaning we can't even get paper to burn. Rita

[herefordman]

The new newspaper and ink is more difficult to burn, its not your imagination, just try to burn the flyers in the junk mail and see how hard that is to get lit.

[Cabin Fever]

You are right, newspaper doesn't burn as well as it used to. Try using a brown paper grocery bag. We use those wax firestarting bricks to lite our fires. I chop each brick into three pieces....that way I can start 3 fires with one brick. There are 24 bricks to a box which provides enough starters for 72 fires.....cost is less than 10 cents per fire. That 1/3 brick burns for 15 to 20 minutes and can start whole chuncks of wood on fire....in other words, there is no need to use kindling when using the wax starters.

As others have said, make sure that you start a draft in your chimney before lighting a fire. Sometimes you have to crack a window or door open so you don't get a down draft. You will need paper to start the draft. Just hold a lighted piece of paper near the point where the stovepipe exits your wood burner. Once the draft is moving up the chimney, light your fire.

[uncle Will in In.]

My folks used a corncob that was soaking in a tin can about half full of kerosene. They will burn like a fusee for a few minutes. One match and a few dry cobs put you in business in a very short time. And no the cobs don't flash up like gasoline would when lit.

[Haggis]

Herself buys self-lighting charcoal in large bags for starting fires in our stoves. Two or three brickettes under some dry kindling and the fire is up and going.

Sure is nice to not have to struggle with paper and other odds and ends, and a bag will last a very long time.