From the Great White North:

The wood stove at my cottage has two vents:

- The first, (usually at the base of the stove), controls the air supply
into the stove. It should be fully open when the stove is lit, and you
adjust this vent later to cool down the stove (by cutting off the air
supply) if it gets too hot. The stove will also last much longer at night if
you decrease the air entry to a trickle.
- The second vent, (usually above the door of the stove), recirculates the
hot air before it escapes up the stovepipe. This keeps the stove hotter than
it would be otherwise. But this vent should be closed when the stove is
first lit, because the recirculating hot smoke interferes with the starting
of your fire and will pour out into the room if the door is open. Once the
fire is established and the stove is getting hot, then you can open this
vent.

I suspect the "recirculating" vent was bringing smoke back into your stove
when you were trying to light it.

Never, never, keep the door open when the fire is on. You will be nice and
pink when they find you, but it will be from carbon monoxide poisoning, not
warmth!

Do you really have this stove in your garage? I don't think that is code in
any country. Be very careful of other inflammable materials.

George
(Canada)

"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. 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?