Best way to revive a fire

Been burning coal since 07 got pretty good at it but always took me a little time to revive a fire. You know leave the house at 6am return at 10PM stove barely chugging along after a 16hr burn ,play with it for an hour or two sometimes you can save it. Well I kinda stumbled on something that realy worked killer for me. I found an old case of Duraflame logs downstairs that are probably over 10 years old which gave me an idea. Got home from Foxwoods with the wife fire out house kinda cold , wife kinda cold just wanted to flip the burner switch and go to bed but instead I shaked and poked the living crap out of the dead fire. I raked all that was left to the rear of the firebox. Me being a cheapskate I break the Duraflame log in half drop it in the front of the firebox right in the middle shovel in some fresh coal light the outside paper of the log close the door done deal. The stove was throwing some good heat in notime. Went to bed. Well the next morning I whoke up to a nice warm toasty house I check the stove and it had a great fire. I probably had about 5 minutes invested the night before . The Duraflame trick worked again for me a week later same results. So to date this seams to work the best for me.

The problem with coal, it burns up, not down. So if you can create enough heat under the ash, you may be able to light fresh coal on top of the ash. I've placed paper & cardboard on top to add heat & create draft from below. I've tried wood on top but in the end, easier to dump & relight, for me anyway. neither is a sure bet for me.

It's like gambling. You can waste an hour trying to revive a weak or dead coal fire and still not win.

Last yr. I bought a bag of pellets at walmart and mixed it with 'nut coal and it worked but took 30 min. Now thanks to a suggestion I keep a bag of lump charcoal on hand and scatter some on the close to dead fire and shazzam! Back upstairs in 5 min. with a loaded stove and set for the over night burn and in he morning it is beautiful!

After I shake down a weak fire, I'll add coal as usual and then turn on the draft inducer till its pulling a .08 or even a .1"wc with the ash pan door open. Its usually about 10 minutes later that I have a raging fire

It can be a bit of a catch 22 reviving. Sometimes they are right on the brink but if you shake it, you lose it, but it needs sone danged air! I open it up and use a thin rod to make some airways. I can imagine that draft inducer really helps. In my case it's hit or miss but I always keep some charcoal handy and do as the OP stated. Shake out the ash and move the good stuff aside enough to get some charcoal (or duraflame) under it all. Add some fresh and walk away. 30 min later we're back to good.

I find that I'm having really good results with burning coal for a couple of days, then after a thorough shakedown, I switch to wood for 5-6 hours. This rebuilds a really good bed of embers onto which fresh coal can really take off, and it also burns up any remaining coal mixed with the ash, making the subsequent shakedown really easy. This seems to work well for us. The Duraflame logs are a fine idea too. I use those to start from a cold furnace once in awhile, but mostly I use a pizza box filled with Matchlite or some other cheap, self-start charcoal to get my wood fire going, then loading up with coal once the wood embers are hot enough.

Gasoline ..... but that works better on outdoor fires.


If mine goes dead, I just dig a hole about the size of a softball in the center of the ash/semi-burnt coal, make a small pile of charcoal, put a layer of coal around the firebox but not on top of the briquets yet, douse with #2 & light her off. Once charcoal is burning good, another layer around the firebox, and on top of the briquets. Better than a full cleanout, but takes some time to get it going.

SMITTY wrote:Gasoline ..... but that works better on outdoor fires.

Smitty, don't be so reckless ... People have gotten killed putting combustible fluids on a dying coal fire. The vapors will flash and explode. I worry about the newbies trying such a thing. It would be a hard lesson learned..

Always a comedian in the crowd...

I have faith that the smarter elements of society frequent this board ...... otherwise, they'd all be burning oil or wood .. and NOT reading about coal.

SMITTY wrote:I have faith that the smarter elements of society frequent this board ...... otherwise, they'd all be burning oil or wood .. and NOT reading about coal.

Yeah, that makes sense.... I didn't look at it that way

Thanks Smitty

nortcan wrote:Thanks Smitty

Hey, ya never know... Its seems logical to put some lighter fluid on a dying coal fire.. I mean thats what I did to get the charcoal grill fired up faster ..... People that come here looking for advise might take something thats obviously dangerous to you and I but think, these guys on here been doing this and seem to know what they're talking about. I'm gonna pour some gasoline on and latch the load door closed and see what happens next




Seems every now and then somebody posts stuff on here that is a hazard. And good thing they did!! How about that guy with the jumper cables in his fuse box... Smitty?......

Without a doubt kingsford charcoal.Even if coal is completely out , pile some up with newspaper, light ,wait 5 mins, shake down and add coal works everytime. Bonus you don't have to empty stove with a shovel & pail less time & less mess

Cowboy charcoal and some firestarter gel. No smell and no mess. You will be cranking out heat in notime.