Why can’t I keep a fire going in my corner fireplace?

[ETOWNCANUCK]

I can’t figure it out.

My fire starts ok but quickly dies within minutes with half the wood burned.

I’m using dry and seasoned birch / pine.

The flue is all the way open.

I have good kindling.

I feel like I’m missing something so simple yet can’t figure it out.

I don’t use my fireplace all that often, mainly just a Christmas fire.

Any thoughts of what I could not be doing right?

[.338Mag]

If you have a clean out on the bottom, crack that open and the wood will burn up fast

[vcmm]

Fire needs o2 to burn.

[fatboyz]

My uncle used to have the same issue with his. He would twist up a few sheets of newspaper and stuff in the chimney and light it to warm the chimney to get it to draw.

[ETOWNCANUCK]

Originally Posted by vcmm

Fire needs o2 to burn.

Flue all the way open, mesh curtain.

[ETOWNCANUCK]

Originally Posted by fatboyz

My uncle used to have the same issue with his. He would twist up a few sheets of newspaper and stuff in the chimney and light it to warm the chimney to get it to draw.

Could that be it?

On account I don’t use it much?

[ETOWNCANUCK]

Originally Posted by .338Mag

If you have a clean out on the bottom, crack that open and the wood will burn up fast

No I don’t.

[kinwahkly]

You've got cold air in the pipe and you need to warm it up to move it up the flu. Use a hair dryer.

[Dog_River]

Have you ever cleaned the chimney ?

Other than that like someone already has mentioned, warm up your chimney with some news paper and get a good fire going with dry kindling. I like to use the long cabin method for kindling and when it gets going put small pieces of dry firewood on, then after it gets going good and you have some coals add some more.

Fire needs air ! Good luck and Merry Christmas !

[ETOWNCANUCK]

Originally Posted by Dog_River

Have you ever cleaned the chimney ?

Other than that like someone already has mentioned, warm up your chimney with some news paper and get a good fire going with dry kindling. I like to use the long cabin method for kindling and when it gets going put small pieces of dry firewood on, then after it gets going good and you have some coals add some more.

Fire needs air ! Good luck and Merry Christmas !

Chimney gets cleaned all the time,

I’m in a town house association, it’s been cleaned more often than when I’ve used it,
Gone to smaller pieces of wood to keep it going.

Thanks and merry Christmas to you as well.

[buckbrush]

Yep, sounds like you just aren't getting enough draw going up. Light a bunch of paper like stated,once it starts shut the door and just hold it open a crack, it will start going like a forge, sucking air.

[Digger1]

Do you have air coming into the house? Same problem with a window open? I have a little vent behind the woodstove bringing air in. Otherwise it sucks air and CO down my water heater chimney.

[ETOWNCANUCK]

Originally Posted by Digger1

Do you have air coming into the house? Same problem with a window open? I have a little vent behind the woodstove bringing air in. Otherwise it sucks air and CO down my water heater chimney.

I have a window across from the fire place, I now have it open a bit.

[ETOWNCANUCK]

Thanks fellas I think I got her now,
Didn’t know I needed to warm the chimney first but think it’s drawing good now.
The open window is helping.

Thanks again.

Merry Christmas.

[Digger1]

Great. I use a 4" vent pipe half open for air in. And for goodness sakes, have a couple carbon monoxide detectors in the house. I'm glad I had em. Merry Christmas!

[calgarychef]

The hair dryer is a great suggestion, sometimes during in inversion I can't get my chimney warmed fast enough and the smoke comes back in like you wouldn't believe. Blowing a hair dryer up the chimney always gets it moving.

[densa44]

If the house is already warm, it sounds like it is, you can move the cold plug out by just burning a couple of sheets of newspaper. The O2 is a different matter. Modern houses are nearly air tight. The first house my wife and I moved into, you could hols up a kleenx and it would blow staight out like a flsg. Not so to-day. I think that the window is the key.

Merry Christmas

[zabbo]

Sounds to me like the chimney is drawing ok or your house would be filling up with smoke. Do you have a grate to put the wood on or do you just place it on the bottom of the fireplace?? The grate allows air to get under the wood.

[Dean2]

Glad you got her fixed. I too am watching the fire waiting for the rest of the house to wake up. Merry Christmas.

[Wolftrapper]

I use one of those small bottle torches to pre warm my stove now. Like others have said after warming the chimney it draws better and less chance of getting smoked out.
Good advice to on the co detectors.
Enjoy your Christmas fires all of you.

[J0HN_R1]

Originally Posted by ETOWNCANUCK

Thanks fellas, I think I got her now.
Didn’t know I needed to warm the chimney first but think it’s drawing good now.
The open window is helping.

Thanks again.

Merry Christmas.

Good to hear, and Merry Xmas !

[357xp]

Sounds like a fresh air intake problem. All wood stoves require their own fresh air intake in a house now for good reason. The other day I had my 4” intake closed off and trying to light fire like the op, smoke started pouring out of the stoves air intake and into the room. Turns out the dryer was on plus intake closed. Dryer was suckin air into the house via cold chimney. Opened the window and intake and she was burnin fine in short order.

[Unregistered user]

i really like my log lighter.

[nast70]

When we moved into our current house, the fire place had glass doors. One of them broke, mysterious circumstances that the writer will not divulge to protect the innocent in our home.
I had never had one with doors, should they be open or closed when burning? Seemed to be in the way when open so I never replaced the panel.

[CaberTosser]

Originally Posted by nast70

When we moved into our current house, the fire place had glass doors. One of them broke, mysterious circumstances that the writer will not divulge to protect the innocent in our home.
I had never had one with doors, should they be open or closed when burning? Seemed to be in the way when open so I never replaced the panel.

If it has glass doors with gaskets around the edges it probably has a combustion air inlet pipe, but this would need to be verified as perhaps it has the connection for such an air inlet but it is just drawing air from the room.

As 357XP noted there can be chimney problems from various exhaust fans in the home, being his referenced clothes dryer, to a kitchen range exhaust or a bathroom fan. Yesterday I was stoking our fireplace and the kitchen exhaust was on, I had not properly latched the doors and some smoke was coming out from the resulting gap. Our fireplace does have a dedicated pipe bringing in combustion air, but a powered fan will overtake a natural convective chimney and that draft had not been re-established. Closing the doors properly solved that issue. Opening a window open served to help ventilate as well as to balance building air pressure for that chimney to kick in while the fireplace doors were still open (which opens it to the buildings air pressure, which may be somewhat negative due to running exhaust fans).

[Unregistered user]

Originally Posted by nast70

When we moved into our current house, the fire place had glass doors. One of them broke, mysterious circumstances that the writer will not divulge to protect the innocent in our home.
I had never had one with doors, should they be open or closed when burning? Seemed to be in the way when open so I never replaced the panel.

Same thing happened to me, haven't found a replacement yet. We leave the doors open and let the screens stop the sparks. We close the doors at night. The glass keeps a lot of the heat in and sends it up the chimney.

[Night hawk]

I didn't want to derail but Seeing as the op has solved his draft problem...
I have a professionally installed freestanding wood stove and this year my insurance co started charging a 10% surcharge. Anyone else also seeing this
B.S $ grab ?

[CaberTosser]

Originally Posted by Night hawk

I didn't want to derail but Seeing as the op has solved his draft problem...
I have a professionally installed freestanding wood stove and this year my insurance co started charging a 10% surcharge. Anyone else also seeing this
B.S $ grab ?

The existence of a fireplace in a dwelling increases fire risks. Generally from user error or bad installation rather than freak accident but it is certainly a statistic the insurance companies track. The questions in this very thread indicate some people don't have a full grasp of their proper operation. Others might not clean their chimney regularly, or they might burn wood that's not completely dry which reduces combustion temperature and results in a flammable creosote build-up in the chimney. When there is extra moisture in firewood that moisture consumes heat when it transitions to steam, this both lowers the stack temperature and impedes complete combustion. The incompletely combusted hydrocarbons accumulate on the chimneys inside wall and can eventually be ignited by a hotter fire when some properly dry wood is burnt, such a chimney fire can have some bad consequences especially with a lower quality chimney.

[Redneck Tommy]

Originally Posted by Night hawk

I didn't want to derail but Seeing as the op has solved his draft problem...
I have a professionally installed freestanding wood stove and this year my insurance co started charging a 10% surcharge. Anyone else also seeing this
B.S $ grab ?

I installed a wood stove last year a the insurance company came and checked it out made sure everything was up to spec but the rate did not change.

[Big Grey Wolf]

We are somewhat derailed, however something to note; wood can be too dry say below 20% MC. Also do not split wood into blocks that are to small, then you can get way to hot a fire risking home fire. Thus bigger blocks after good fire start with kindling and keep your air intake lower when you have good coals, lastly do not put 10 blocks in at a time. A large bon fire in the middle of your living room is not advised!