ATTN: Survival guides!

Who better than to ask for such advice, than you guys?

So here is my problem: My family has a woodburning stove and it's not really the best. The fire keeps going out after a few minutes of burning and doesn't perk up once you put wood in it, so it comes as a constant vigil when no one is home and I am the one tasked with that.

Problem part 2: I hate dealing with flame and fire. I was burned a couple of times loading wood and I'm quite skittish dealing with propane torches which is usually used.

Knowing that learning how to build a fire is vital, and in the event of SHTF, I'd like to over come this fear, and not in my parents' words 'be a sissy'

Sincerely,
A Toast afraid of being burnt

reply to post by TheToastmanCometh


A good way to start a fire is 1) make sure you have proper ventilation! (that could be an issue! Make sure your flue is open!)

2) make like you're making cupcakes, but instead of ingredients, put in saw dust and paraffin wax.

Then take the solid wax "cupcake" and light the paper on fire around the edges.

It'll start any kindling you have in there and burn for quite some time.

reply to post by beezzer


One thing that works great that my mother would always do growing up is she would take dryer lint and leftover crayons on wax paper in cookie sheet. Bake them together until wax was melted, then insert twine covered in the wax(wic). They make great firestarters.

As for your stove make sure there is enough air getting in, not just from the chute but also make sure whatever other vent the air gets suck in from isn't clogged.

reply to post by TheToastmanCometh


Your stove must be attached to some sort of exhaust tube, and if it is the sort which features a hinged door, then what might be happening is that your chimney (exhaust) could be a little clogged with soot, preventing smoke from leaving the stove, and resulting in your fire being smothered. Also worth checking, is any access that fresh air has into your stove. Fire requires oxygen in order to breathe, and if the fire is not getting enough, it might be consuming oxygen faster than it can get access to it.

reply to post by TrueBrit


I think that might be the problem...every time I open the door to spread out the "coals" to get air in, there's a lot of smoke. i have both vents open currently (there's one on the pipe, another on the bottom under the door).

I could let it air out for a few minutes, then try starting it again, but it has to be done before the parents get home...or else I'm more or less toasted

Also Beezer, I'm going to pass on your recipe to my stepdad and see if it keeps the fire going too

reply to post by TheToastmanCometh


You might want to consider getting the pipes cleaned out then. Smoke should be extracted through the pipe fast enough to drain the majority of the smoke from the stove, up the pipe and out of the building. It might even be that something further up the pipe, on the outside, has clogged the thing partially. Birds nests for example, are a pain in the proverbial buttocks in this regard.

hesra is the stove in question if anyone wanted to know...

And sometimes I swear that it's trolling me because a few minutes ago, the wood was on and burning, now it flared down.

Sounds to me like you've got a build up of creosote in your chimney pipe, which is preventing your wood stove from burning properly. You need to let the wood stove go out and clean your chimney pipe immediately. If you or someone in the household can't clean it , hire a chimney sweep, before you have a chimney fire !! I've been burning wood for 30 years and usually clean both stove pipes (have 2 wood stoves going right now) in the Fall .

reply to post by conspiracytheoristIAM


Yipes! We almost had a chimney fire last winter, heard the alarm go off and everything...

that's why we try to keep the fire burning hot enough to make the room 74 degrees

But I'll just turn down the fire for now and see.

I'd rather go with central air heating, or at the best, geothermal or the gas fireplaces.

Other than the chimney issue, which from your description sounds like it may be an issue, there's the issue of seasoned wood. When was your wood harvested? Wood needs to season for at least six months if the tree was live when cut. But green wood wouldn't cause the smoke to come out of the stove when the door is opened. That won't happen if your flue is clear. I'd call the chimney cleaners if I were in your place and have them take a look. It could be faulty installation of the pipes but I'm betting on a build-up of creosote from your description, probably caused by burning green wood. Until you get that chimney cleaned, you have a safety issue.

reply to post by TheToastmanCometh


Does it have an exhaust fan system? Something to kick-start the chimney sucking action?



You could try making a solar space heater made from used cans. So, get a couple cubes of beer and get to prepping.
Link here: Solar Space Heater Made...

reply to post by ChuckNasty


If you see in the picture, there's a plug that does lead to a fan

But it has been confirmed that the chimney needs a good cleaning. Dodged a bullet.