woodburner and flames - silly question

suered

Thanks, both. It's under a year old, very light use so far cos it went it at the tail end of last winter. Swept and checked by the installer again under a month ago. It's not done that before - usually closing the primary (bottom) air vent down is more than enough to control it and very rarely shut down the top vent before (again, as per installer/instructions).

I let it burn right down and then put a "normal" bit of wood in - it caught straight away - this time with bottom vent totally closed and top vent open but burnt without giving me conniptions. That burnt down to red embers, but still with a small flame. Closed both top and bottom and put another bit of wood on - and off it's gone again, although not quite as bad as before. Even with both vents closed I can hear the wind roaring down the chimney/flames going like mad - is it likely to be just the wind direction/strength, do you think? I'll phone installer tomorrow and ask if he thinks he should come out to check, as I'm not sure I want to be lighting it again to do the joss stick test.........

(wibble, wibble)

suered

ian103, maybe we should get together and bribe my neighbours (who have a burner for water and heat) to do a masterclass - I'm in Cornwall too!

As I understand it, wind direction/strength and atmospheric pressure can all affect how the fire behaves. And whether you've got a cowl or not (I think) - I haven't.

ian103

we've got a chimney cowl.

since we've had the higher winds we have struggled to get the stove going with the logs - its even gone out tonight.

think we need the idiots guide!

suered

ian, yes, it's blowing a gale here too. How are you starting your stove? Paper and fair amount of kindling followed by gradually increasing bits of wood? Is yours a dedicated woodburner or multi-fuel? Mine's technically a multi-fuel (although it's confusingly only rated/tested as a woodburner and I'm only ever planning to burn wood in it), so I have the circular movable grate thingy as my primary air control on the bottom as opposed to a solid bottom. Are you leaving about an inch of ash on the bottom rather than clearing it out every day?

Chimney swept recently?

It sounds like we have opposite problems - no flame or too much flame....

Everybody on this board is very generous with their time and expertise - thank you all again.

ian103

its a multi fuel but the chap who swept it in September recommended wood only - previous owners have damaged a plate inside by burning coal / pellets. New plate is on order. Weve been burning old floor boards since we moved in - all burnt well but stock now nearly gone so I brought a bag of logs (hardwood) and by coincidence we have also had the highish winds since and weve not managed easily to get a good fire going.

We start a fire with kindling and firelighters, then some very dry floorboard which all goes reasonably ok, when we put a log on it all slows down / goes out.

It could be the logs, just need to get it sorted before I have a load delivered - who do you use?

Skulls

If all vents are closed and its still drawing when windy you may be able to fit a damper between the top of fire and flue, this again can be fully open or almost totally closed. On my villager burner I had one built in and on my first burner I fitted it as an extra. This will help control the burn. It is very easy to fit.

Skulls

ian103 wrote: »

its a multi fuel but the chap who swept it in September recommended wood only - previous owners have damaged a plate inside by burning coal / pellets. New plate is on order. Weve been burning old floor boards since we moved in - all burnt well but stock now nearly gone so I brought a bag of logs (hardwood) and by coincidence we have also had the highish winds since and weve not managed easily to get a good fire going.

We start a fire with kindling and firelighters, then some very dry floorboard which all goes reasonably ok, when we put a log on it all slows down / goes out.

It could be the logs, just need to get it sorted before I have a load delivered - who do you use?

Look at post 33 and treat it as though you have come to a hill and need to change down a gear or two. After 10 or so mins you should be able to start changing up a gear. You always need to change down a gear or 2/3 when adding new wood.

Dieselman

ian103 wrote: »

this has been a useful thread, just moved to a house with a stove, been burning left over wood for the last few days, just brought a net of hardwood logs and were struggling to get the fire going well.

does high wind have an adverse effect on how a stove works? if so need to find out best approach as were fairly exposed to sea breezes.

also what logs are best hardwood, softwood or a mix.

That is your problem Ian.

Them logs you bought will be wet i have not seen any in them netting bags which are dry i'm afraid.

Find a supplier who will deliver in cubic bags plenty on e bay or a van load ring your local tree surgen most of them do it.

suered

ok - think it must have been the wind yesterday as lit again now and just pootling along with bottom vent not even fully closed. Will ask the place I bought it from about getting a damper fitted.

Another question on wood, if I may. When I bought my supply in I didn't realise quite how much a full tipper load would be and ended up with the excess in the garage. Have brought some of it outside today to put in newly acquired space in outside logstore, but does anyone have a rough guide as to how long it needs to stay outside to counteract having been in the garage for a while with no airflow? There were a couple of bits of very pretty fungi

ian - how's your fire tonight? I got my wood from these guys http://www.forestryuk.com/Cost.html on the advice of my next door neighbour who said he'd tried a lot of suppliers and decided to stick with them. Just so you know, a full load took me over 2 hours non-stop to move a very short distance from where he tipped it to my logstores - didn't need a fire going after that!

dollypeeps

Brilliant post (no 33) skulls very useful. I have problems keeping my stove going when it's really windy too. I have 3vents on my stove though!