What am I doing wrong?
 

I cant seem to keep a fire going in my fireplace.

It will burn for about 20 minutes then is a few glowing coals and some blackened wood and its out within an hour unless I poke and prod on it ever few minutes. As a kid, my grand parents heated with wood in a stove (I realize a stove will heat better than a fireplace), and I dont remember them having to jack with it ever few minutes to keep a fire going.

when was the last time you cleaned the chimney??

Are you using seasoned dry wood?

you got the heat and fuel, your not getting enough oxygen it sounds like.

about a week ago before I built my first fire of the year.

Gee, three replys while I was replying to this.

The wood was cut this summer as some tree removal that an uncle does on the side. As far as what kinda tree, its not pine or cedar, but past that, Im not sure.

which question does this response answer?!?!

OK, I edited my post to make a bit more sense.... I hope..

Too green to burn this year.

Ok, so wood needs to sit atleast a year before its burned. How long can it sit in the elements before its too rotten to use?

You need a woodshed, preferably one that holds 2 times the amount of wood you will burn in a year, 1 side is dry wood you can burn this year, the other end is green wood for next year.
The wood you are trying to burn now, is it split? Wet rounds are hard to get going.

pretty much anything over about 10" diameter is split and that is what I have had the best luck burning.

Add some diesel. That should get it burning.:D

while I would probably find the fragrance better than the stuff my wife uses, she would complain and then I would be sleeping in my truck.

Get a mix of green and seasoned wood. Get the fire going with the dry seasoned stuff and then slide in a couple green sticks to make it laaaaaast.

PISTOL

I just started using the wood-burner this year and understand what yer going through, it can be a pain.
If you have too high a draft, you get a"blast furnace " effect that will make your wood burn hot and quick.. leave ya nothing but ash... too little air for good combustion and you'll get partly burnt logs and coals....plus soot up your stovepipe/chimeny real quick( one of the Firefighters will sure chime in about the dangers of that)..

In an open fire place you need to utilize the flue and any air vents in the fireplace cover(if ya got one) to regulate the combustion rate...It'll take playing with it a bit to find the right balance for your set up.....sounds like now your not giving the fire enough draft or letting enough air into it to keep the fire going. The larger the log, the more air required to keep a good fire or coal bed going. If its not getting sufficeint air, it will only burn so deep into the wood, then it smothers itself. The smaller diameter the log, the less draft required to keep combustion going. Most of the wood I am burning has only
" seasoned" for about 6 months or less. Its good for the fire as long as the sap has had time to dry out of the wood.
I dont have a wood shed, so I cord stack it in the back yard, and I try to leave as much of the bark on it as I can to help shed water. On a rainy day, I can just pull wood from two or three rows down and its dry.
Remember also to start small...use progressivly larger wood to build up your fire to get a good coal bed made , it keeps the larger logs burning.


hope this helps.............. CD (the closet pyro[eyecrazy])