No Smoke Start Up Method.

[Rollieman]

I have the small Englander 17 which is a great stove by the way !!

The only problem I was having was getting it started in cold temperatures, especially under 20 degrees without some smoke getting in the room plus clouding up the glass as well whereas it needs to have the door slightly cracked to get the flute warmed up to achieve proper drafting using small kindling.

Englander tech did tell me the model 17 is a bit more sensitive then their larger stoves to achieve optimum draft, thus needs to keep the door cracked for at least 15 minutes or so until the flute warms up.

Note: I have about 22 feet of metal flute straight up with not bends or turns.

I know everybody has their own way of starting their stoves, but I thought I would share with you what totally eliminated all smoke and keeps the glass perfectly clean at start up:

I simply used an "new" empty quart paint can stuffed with a full roll of toilet paper and filled with 70% rubbing alcohol, placed it in the stove, lit it, closed the door compltely with the air control wide open and walked away for about 20 minutes. This warms up the flute very nicely, you can actually see the difference in the flame increase as the flute starts to get warm. I then put the cover on the paint can which puts out the flame and remove it from the fire box, start the actual fire with the door CLOSED no need to keep it cracked because the flute has been pre-warmed ---------- works like a charm, no smoke at all and perfectly clear glass.

Note: you can find how to make this "alcohol paint can" on line, lots of video's available, takes less than two minutes to make, very inexpensive and can run for 3-4 hours per fill up, so good for over 10 start ups, can be refilled without replacing the toilet paper roll whereas the toilet paper only functions as a wick.

Love the Englander 17, but hated the start up process smoke ---- what a difference !!

 

[begreen]

LOL. That explains the name is Roll-ieman. Most folks find that a heat gun or even a hair dryer will warm the flue sufficiently. Top down starting also helps warm up the flue more quickly.
http://woodheat.org/top-down-steps.html
I note in earlier threads that there was a concern about lack of secondary burn. Is the stove in the basement? Were 3 more feet of pipe added to the metal chimney to try an improve draft?

 

[Rollieman]

LOL. That explains the name is Roll-ieman. Most folks find that a heat gun or even a hair dryer will warm the flue sufficiently. Top down starting also helps warm up the flue more quickly.
http://woodheat.org/top-down-steps.html
I note in earlier threads that there was a concern about lack of secondary burn. Is the stove in the basement? Were 3 more feet of pipe added to the metal chimney to try an improve draft?

Hi begreen,
The stove is on the first floor, it's a 2 story house with a high pitch roof thus why it has such a relatively long flute, It was always 22 ft. I was in error as originally reported which was basically a guess I'm now seeing good secondary burn which occurs after 500 degrees with the air control slightly closed as pointed out. These EPA stoves with secondary burn capability are amazing, absolutely no smoke or smell outside, I had a neighbor who once had an older first generation wood stove which stunk up the whole neighborhood !!
As I pointed out, I'm sure everybody has their own way of starting up their stove, this works for me, very simple put the can in and walk away which completely eliminated the need to crack the door whereas these paint can heaters give off a tremendous amount of heat which significantly heats up the stove and more importantly the flute with the door completely closed.
Thank you !