Smoldering Shoulder Fire..

[Mellery]

Thank you begreen - I like the sound of child's play for starting the fire very much ! : ) !

Super cedars will allow me to breathe a lot easier this Spring and Fall and I definitely need that.

I had once last night walked away and forgot I left the door slightly open. Multi-tasking is over-rated :/ and my heart fell into my stomach when I walked back into the stove room.

And I do love the quick start-up and burn quality of our dry Douglas Fir (MM 5-9%). I read somewhere on here to place it at the bottom of the firebox and put the harder wood on top of it for the secondary burn. Worked wonderful over the winter

 

[begreen]

It has to be cold out for me to use our precious hardwood. I will usually start a fire with doug fir and once the coal bed is established and then switch over to hardwood if I have it. This last winter we burned locust and it was wonderful.

 

[Mellery]

Ahhhh! Just noticed you're in our part of the world I don't think we have locust here but we have a lot of fruit and nut hardwood - almond, walnut, plum etc. from the northern Sacramento Valley.

I think I'm going to have to keep an eye on the creosote in the stove pipe burning so much fir but I'm all for saving the hard wood ( big bucks getting that and having it delivered) vs. burning the free stuff from the yard for the majority of time. So good to speak with someone about all this, you are perfecting our world of wood-burning here and I really do appreciate it, so thank you again : )

 

[begreen]

Seasoned doug fir does not create creosote. You will get accumulations if the flue is not hot enough. As long as the wood is dry and the fire is not smoldering (no smoke coming from the chimney) fir will burn well. That's why for shoulder season burning I recommended hot, shorter fires instead of a stove packed full of wood and left to smolder. Be sure you test the wood for moisture on the freshly split face of the wood, never on the end grain. 5-9% is a suspect reading. 8% is the dryness of kiln-dried wood flooring.

 

[Mellery]

I decided to keep the small, hot fire going today using your suggested couple of medium-sized splits at reload. Worked perfectly to keep the chill off all day and still going nicely : ) Just can't thank you all enough for the help!

I noticed the stove top thermometer read 300-350 every time I looked. No smoldering and tiny bed of coals. Usually we would turn on the furnace for this mild weather, but this is wonderful! And so much cheaper using yard tree wood.

5-9% is a suspect reading. 8% is the dryness of kiln-dried wood flooring.

Instruments do fail but here in Northern California, it's very very dry. I'm sure you're familiar with our fires. It doesn't rain here in the forest Spring, summer or fall but only in the winter months. Starting with delivered, seasoned wood or dead trees standing and add in low humidity, cross-hatch stacking for 3 seasons of 4 a year with no cover and that's what we get.

The oak and walnut is higher at 10-15%. That low moisture has problems of it's own, wood burns quickly. We are in the process of building a wood shed with a roof to combat this by starving it of sun

 

[Bobbin]

I occasionally had the same problem with my shop stove, Mellery. I followed the excellent advice to make sure the flue was "warmed up" and that solved the issue for me. But, I have also discovered that burning seasoned red pine on those raw, chilly, humid days that are common in a maritime climate hastens things along and prevents "the smoulders".

 

[Woody Stover]

I like the Meeco SureStarts, a wafer of wood, paper and paraffin about 1.5" square and 3/8" thick. I score 'em and break 'em in half, and use two halves per start. I have some finger-sized and slightly bigger Red Pine kindling. I have an E-W loader. I load the bottom/back first, then put smaller splits (Cherry or soft Maple) on the front/top, then starter square chunks on those. After the starter squares get going, I place the Pine on top, which produces a decent amount of coals and gets the small splits burning. But yeah, it's a little slower so if you're in a hurry, forget it.
Sounds like your problems this time were mainly due to poor draft.

 

[Wood Duck]

The draft from my flue is OK in cold weather, but is weak in warmish weather like you describe. When I build a shoulder season fire I use lots of kindling and small (1" to 2") splits, crack the door, and don't close the door until the fire is really going strongly. I suggest you try a whole lot of small, dry wood and kindling for your next shoulder season fire. After I burn the first hot, short-lived fire my flue will be warm, the draft will have improved, and I can add bigger splits.

 

[Mellery]

begreen, this morning's fire started quickly : ) small fire, small splits, lots of room in the firebox for air to room around and I'm so grateful for all your time and help.

Well, everyone's time and help; so many good suggestions. So, thank you all !! Very kind and it really means a lot to me.

 

[begreen]

Yay! A warm fire with coffee or tea is a nice way to start the morning.