Newbie Question - Smokey at startup

[kdzjeff]

Hello everyone,
I've been searching for answers to my questions when I found this forum which is perfect for me since I have hardly any experience with wood furnaces.
Anyway I bought a 12 year old house in April that already has a wood furnace installed and connected to the gas furnace ductwork. I had it cleaned and inspected and have a few questions. It seems the majority of the time I start a fire up smoke wants to seep fairly heavily out the closed door for a few minutes. It only lasts a few minutes and then is fine until the next time I need to start a new fire but is usually enough smoke to set my smoke detector off right outside of the room. I start it with a small chunk of fire starter stuff and small pieces of kindling.
Next question is about how much wood to have burning at one time to be most efficient?
Final question is about the fan. This unit has a fan that just plugs in to run and unplug to stop. Do most of you guys have your fans connected to a thermostat that will start and stop the fan or do you just adjust the flow in the tubes coming off the furnace? Mine has two round tubes that come off the top and run into a rectangular duct. At the top of the round tubes you can adjust these discs (for lack of better term) inside to change the flow.
I appreciate any advice as I have hardly any experience with these units.
Thanks,
Jeff

 

[buckwheat]

You may want to try starting your wood fire with a large wad or two of newspaper. The rush of heat created by the paper burning off helps to establish a draft up the flue, which should pull any smoke along with it. Your current method doesn't create enough initial heat to draw the smoke, thus it follows the path of least resistance, which is out the door and into the room.

 

[asb151]

You may want to try starting your wood fire with a large wad or two of newspaper. The rush of heat created by the paper burning off helps to establish a draft up the flue, which should pull any smoke along with it. Your current method doesn't create enough initial heat to draw the smoke, thus it follows the path of least resistance, which is out the door and into the room.

In addition, burning for the first 10-15 minutes with the door slightly open may help. The additional air allows the fire to get going and the stove & flu to heat up a little quicker. Just keep an eye on it and don't forget you left it open. Closing the door before the fire has had a chance to establish itself can sometimes lead to significant smoke.

 

[kdzjeff]

Thanks for the tips, that makes perfect sense. I tried leaving the door completely open once and it still smoked out the door. I can try just leaving it cracked and see what happens. Anyone have an opinion on the other two questions. How many pieces do you put in at once and would a thermostat hooked up to the fan be worth it.

 

[Bowtie]

Ya know, if I had found this site a year earlier, I wouldnt have had to learn all those lessons through trial and error. My insert reacts exactly how all of you described above. Use newspaper, leave doors open until the fire gets goin, fire starts nicely! I love this site.

 

[(WLL)]

try

You may want to try starting your wood fire with a large wad or two of newspaper. The rush of heat created by the paper burning off helps to establish a draft up the flue, which should pull any smoke along with it. Your current method doesn't create enough initial heat to draw the smoke, thus it follows the path of least resistance, which is out the door and into the room.

try rolling up news paper hold it up at the open valve and light 2 make a draft before lighting the fire. u will c the draft begin to work and when it starts pulling good its will be ready 2 light the more wood the bigger the fire the more heat the better the efficiency keep it hot n big all the time.

 

[wdchuck]

Hello everyone,
I've been searching for answers to my questions when I found this forum which is perfect for me since I have hardly any experience with wood furnaces.
Anyway I bought a 12 year old house in April that already has a wood furnace installed and connected to the gas furnace ductwork. I had it cleaned and inspected and have a few questions. It seems the majority of the time I start a fire up smoke wants to seep fairly heavily out the closed door for a few minutes. It only lasts a few minutes and then is fine until the next time I need to start a new fire but is usually enough smoke to set my smoke detector off right outside of the room. I start it with a small chunk of fire starter stuff and small pieces of kindling.
Next question is about how much wood to have burning at one time to be most efficient?
Final question is about the fan. This unit has a fan that just plugs in to run and unplug to stop. Do most of you guys have your fans connected to a thermostat that will start and stop the fan or do you just adjust the flow in the tubes coming off the furnace? Mine has two round tubes that come off the top and run into a rectangular duct. At the top of the round tubes you can adjust these discs (for lack of better term) inside to change the flow.
I appreciate any advice as I have hardly any experience with these units.
Thanks,
Jeff

Any chance you can still contact the previous owner?, It sure sounds like an add-on furnace, have you checked/cleaned the chimney. There shouldn't be any smoke coming out of a closed door, is there a rope-like gasket in the door, if not, there should be.

Agree on the paper to start some draft going.

Does the chimney run through the the house or is it external, internal usually remain warm enough to have a constant draft. Is there a damper on the smoke pipe that may be closed too much. Do you run a fire constant or occasional, regular HOT fires will keep things cleaner and drafting better.
Let us know how it works out.

My two coppers.

 

[RaisedByWolves]

Hi Jeff!




What you are experiancing is called a cold draft. Cold outside air usualy damp from condensation in the chimney wants to fall downward when the door is first opened.




Wadding up paper as mentioned will quickly heat the air in the fire box/lower chimney area enough for it to lift the cold damp air up and out of the chinmey.



Do this with the door closed to trap the heat inside the firebox.





Then your stove chimney can function normally.

 

[kdzjeff]

I tried throwing a few pieces of paper in first and still a little bit of smoke came out. When I saw the smoke I cracked the window in the furnace room which is in the basement and the smoke stopped coming out. Not sure if it was coincidence or not. I found a manual for a unit on the net that showed an air make-up involved in the setup. It would seem on my unit the fan would be pulling its air from the room which does have a door with slots. Could this be part of the problem? I'm away from the house for a couple days but will fire it back up monday. I may try cracking the window first for a few minutes while I light some papers and see how that goes.

The rope gasket is there. The smoke pipe runs inside a chimney which is built into the house with matching siding and stuff so I'm sure its not an add-on. Haven't discovered a damper yet for the smoke pipe.

Thanks for the help.

 

[kdzjeff]

Well I'm now able to consistantly start up the fire without smoke coming out. The paper method and I have discovered that my furnace is missing most of the parts to control the damper on the door. So while waiting on the parts I have been wedging stuff in keep the damper open when I want it open. There is also a 'Thermodisc' that connectes to the back of the unit that works as a switch to shut off the blower. Thats according to the lady at US Stove Company which is the manufacturer of the unit (HotBlast 1400).

Previous owners of the house had a box screwed together with 1x6's that I tore down and threw a couple pieces in the furnace and it got hotter than I'd ever had it. The black crispy stuff (creosote maybe??) that lined the inside fell off in sheets. I turned on the gas furnace fan which helped cool it off. Is this normal, good, bad?? I just got a temp gauge to attach to the smoke pipe to help me keep it in the ideal temp range.

Also the unit is setup as an add-on.

 

[cord arrow]

When I saw the smoke I cracked the window in the furnace room which is in the basement and the smoke stopped coming out.

Be careful there....that could suggest a lack of outside combustion air...very important (but over-looked) part of fossil fuel heating units.

Consider leaving that window cracked a bit...

 

[kdzjeff]

So those black crispy sheets that came off the sides, is that creosote? Also the last couple of days there has been smoke coming out well after I have a good fire going and I do open the door slowly. I'm planning on pulling the smoke pipe pieces apart after work today to see if some of the crispy sheets may have fell off in there as well and be blocking it some. Would you guys say that is probably it or maybe the rain cap as I've read here in other threads? I got the new magnetic temp gauge put on the smoke pipe which I barely rescued from one of my dogs mouths. It seems I wasn't running it as hot as what it calls the best operation range (225~500).

Thanks for all your input!

 

[ericjeeper]

Yes that is creosote

I am betting a dollar to a doughnut that your pipe is plgged or nearly plugged at an elbow.

 

[kdzjeff]

Yep...the smoke pipe was restricted but not clogged. Cleaned it out and its doing much better.

 

[Kneejerk Bombas]

I thought you had it cleaned and inspected?

 

[kdzjeff]

I did in mid Nov. I'm thinking I haven't been running it hot enough. I just got a temp gauge for the smoke pipe which says on it the best operation is between 225 and 500 or so. I am guessing just by feel that I was running slightly below most of the time for a month and a half. What I found when I cleaned what I could get to inside was a build up that made the 6" pipe have about 4" of free flow. It was crispy black crap that was raised off the sides some and would break apart in sheets. Does this make sense? I'm still learning how to operate this thing to be the most efficient.

 

[goof008]

I've found that if you run it hot for about 15 minutes with every load of wood you put in it keeps the creosote level down...and it lets the new wood heat up and get going.