[FarmboyBill]

I quit using paper for the most part in my wood range and have went back to wood. It smoked worse with the wood. Today, after an alnight rain, there wasn't a bit of smoke in the house.

 

[JoePa]

One thing you got to realize is that the temperature outside has a bearing on the draft that you get in the stove - colder air is heavier than hot air and if you don't already have a fire going in the stove which by its nature will have a draft going up the chimney the heavier cold air will push down and until you have a draft established can push smoke into the stove and into your room - when I first start my wood stove in the cellar I put a hair dryer into the cleanout to warm the air and get a draft going - otherwise when I light the wood stove the smoke doesn't go up the chimney and starts coming into the room - you got to heat the air in order for it to rise -

 

[jwal10]

Barometric pressure makes a difference too. So does humidity....James

 

[FarmboyBill]

yeah, its colder today than it has been cause of the rain.

 

[happycat47111]

So if a hairdryer isn't an alternative, what's another good way of warming up a chimney?

 

[frogmammy]

This may sound silly, BUT....does it have any bearing on where you start the fire in the stove? Asking because I had that smoke in house problem maybe twice when we had a wood stove, but hardly enough to notice.

Mon

 

[jwal10]

Bill, do you have a lever that controls the flue or direction for the heat to circulate around the oven for more even heat? One way is a lot more direct to the stovepipe. Mine is at the top of the oven door, right under the stove top. Also do you have a little slide gate in front of the firebox that lets air through the firebox, directly up the flue? I open this to start the fire, helps get a draft going. Start a very small fire, slowly build up the fire to warm the pipe for better draft, then close. You may need another length of pipe outside. They call for a certain height above the roof pitch or peak for a good draft....James

 

[FarmboyBill]

Mammy I always start my fires as fiore back as possible lol. That's cause that's directly uinderneith my skillet which sits over the open hole.

James I have that lever, tho its at the top back middle of the range top. It has as guides

CLOSED OVEN OPE FULL OPEN, Full open is where I have the lever

I have a slide gate on the top of the range top at the far left, and another down the same side by the ash can. Both are currently closed.

I start my fires by putting in what comes in the mail and or feed bag, one, now that im using wood. I put in a corn cob that has been soaking all day and night, and light the cob. Then I put in the wood.

BUT THE THING IS< It was cold and rainy and I didn't have a bit of smoke.

James.

 

[7thswan]

I open all of the drafts on my stove/or cookstove when I start. I also have a damper in every stove pipe, just for extra control. On warmish days like these, I might even have to crack a door near the stove to get a better draft so that the stove/pipe dosen't have to work so hard. I only use enough paper to start a fire,paper ash is bad. I split kindling small so it starts fast and hot. Dh does not do as I do and it takes him longer to start a fire with a propane torch. Dh is a pyro,man he loves the fire,but I respect the entire process a bit more.

 

[frogmammy]

Paper and corncob for tinder? Why not use some twigs/small limbs for that?

If I remember right....and it has been a LONG time... I used two sheets balled up newspaper , 1 and 2 inch limbs & twigs, with a strip of plastic (about 2 by 6 inches, usually from a milk carton) on top so it would melt down on the limbs. When that caught my logs went in.

I do realize though, that was for heating, not cooking...although I did cook some on it.

Mon

 

[FarmboyBill]

I use paper cause that's what comes in the male and that's what feed comes in also. Got to get rid of it somehow.

 

[FarmboyBill]

comes in the mail lol

 

[Marilyn]

Another way to warm the flue is to hold the butane match right at its mouth for several seconds, maybe a minute. I doubt that it changes flue temp by much, but it seems to help here.

 

[JoePa]

Before I started using a hair dryer to heat the chimney air I would stick paper into the cleanout and light it - the paper would burn and very quickly a draft would start and the paper would fly up the chimney - I would do that right after I started a fire in the stove - but I was always wondering if lighted paper would end up coming out of the chimney - I find the hair dryer a lot easier - I guess anything that gives off heat would work - probably even a 100 watt light bulb - the idea is to heat the air in the chimney -

 

[FarmboyBill]

Well, it was cold enough this morning, I lit the heating stove and made pancakes on it. IF it stays that way, Ill be done with the range till spring.

 

[frogmammy]

Get a coleman camp stove Bill, easy to cook on and cheap. No smoke!

Mon

 

[FarmboyBill]

Well, I gotta heat the house anyhow with the heating wood stove, and I can fry eggs in a skillet or make pancakes on the big lid, so, that oughta wortk

 

[kasilofhome]

Check your stove and chimney.. It might be clogged.

 

[PlowGirl]

I used to use an older (antique) wood Cook stove for heating before I bought my kitchen queen. It smoked badly all the time. It is now out in the back yard where it belongs.

 

[FarmboyBill]

Kas, yesterday I didn't have a drop of smoke. How can the flue be plugged. Sides theres only around 4ft of pipe from end of stove to end of chimney,.