"Phil Crow" wrote in message
m...
I bought a wood stove for myself for Christmas (18Wx24Hx30D, with
firebrick lining) and now it's all installed per local fire codes.

There are two screw-cap type vents on the front of it, and I burned a
small fire in it on Tuesday as a kind of test drive. Armed with that
knowledge, I decided to burn a "real" fire in it tonight. I
understand the principles of operation of the wood burning stove.
However, I'm not sure I understand the 'nuts and bolts' of wood stove
use.

Do I light the fire and leave the door cracked until the wood (not
kindling) is burning well? I had my vents open all the way and the
door closed; the fire just smoldered.

Close the door, slightly open the top vent, and open the bottom, forcing air
through the fire.

I opened the door, smoke got all over the garage, I closed it.
I opened it a crack and noticed
that the draft was drafting pretty hard, so I left the door open a
crack. About 2 minutes later, with a mild, uh, whoosh, flames
appeared. I let that burn for a while, then closed the door with the
vents wide open. By the way, she was a little warm at this point.

After that, I closed one vent completely and the other about half.
When things started to cool down, I started opening things up again,
until even leaving the door cracked open wouldn't revive the flames.
At this point, I choked it down all the way, and I've been checking on
it periodically to see what's happening with the fire. I suspect that
the fire will just go out completely (or very close to it) due to lack
of oxygen.

Did I do this right? I'm a little worried about creosote, but I'm
also worried that the stove is going to, I dunno, explode or something
if I burn it *too* hot. If any of you have some insight, I'd
appreciate it.

Thanks,

-Phil Crow


Am I doing this right?

For the most part you don't want a roaring flame as much as you want a
smoldering cinder fire. Slowly burning hot embers=efficient burn=heat.
The screw caps on the front are to control the air flow to two separate
areas, one above the fire, and one below, or at least they were on my stove.
They are like a jet on a carburetor controlling the mix of air through the
stove. The more air through the fire will cause a faster burn. I use to have
a thermometer on the stack to keep an eye on the temperature of the exhaust.
One other thing is if you're worried about creosote, don't burn pine, stick
to harder wood, oak, maple whatever.

Dave