shouldnt i be able to start a fire with kindling with the door WIDE open with no smoke coming into the house? now this installer is saying he may have to "insulate" the chimney....
With the blower off, yeah. My installer had me try putting a candle in for about 15 minutes just to get some warm air going, then try to start a kindling fire. It worked pretty good. Tho, since we've been using the starter things, we never bother with kindling any more - they work really well.