Fire's Out - Now What??

Started my first fire last night & got about a 3 - 3.5 hr run time out of it. Felt no heat coming out of the registers so went down to check. Saw a few small glowing areas, tried to pull the hot coals towards the front(gingerly), & reloaded a small portion of coal. Outside temp. was about 42 degrees, which was about the same temp as all day. Noticed that the baro wasn't open due to lack of draft?? Anyway, I left the ash door open for awhile to try to save it, but no luck. NOW, do I have to empty out the stove to start over, or can I build a fire under the grating to help establish the fire again? I thought about using the oil burner to try & start it, but I don't think it will be hot enough. Man, I can see the learning curve on this is gonna be H-U-G-E.............

Anytime you loose the fire for what ever reason, empty it completely and start over. Trying to relight what you have in the unit will only further the agony.

Also, you have to get a really roaring wood fire burning before you begin to add the coal. If not, the wood will burn up before the coal catches. I use wood kindling with a large coffee can of charcoal soaked with a small amount of charcoal lighter fluid or lamp oil.
Disturbing the embers of a low fire, no matter how carefully, insures that it will go out completely.

Wood'nCoal wrote:Anytime you loose the fire for what ever reason, empty it completely and start over. Trying to relight what you have in the unit will only further the agony.

I agree. It may be possible to relight it but that is "iffy" & your time would be better spent cleaning it out & restarting. Make sure you fill your stove completely (to the top of the firebricks) stick with it.

Need more info what stove are you using and what steps did you take between the time you started it and the time you checked it.

Moving it around once its lit even a little will only put it out. See my post here for starting it:

Any info on this stove?

The key is patience but after 1 hour you should have a very good fire going. If you don't then you're doing something wrong.

Richard S. wrote:Need more info what stove are you using and what steps did you take between the time you started it and the time you checked it.

Moving it around once its lit even a little will only put it out. See my post here for starting it:

Any info on this stove?

The key is patience but after 1 hour you should have a very good fire going. If you don't then you're doing something wrong.

I believe the info on Cyber's furnace is on this thread...

http://nepacrossroads.com/post16560.html#p16560