Laying a fire

Penelope_Penguin

zarazara wrote: »

Thankyou everyone. I 've learned a few tips. The paper and kindling unfortunately offen doesnt work for me, I think the logs I buy are quite wet really. A real nucience

They won't give out much heat then Can you buy them in the summer and allow them to dry out They'll be much better, then.

Penny. x

allydowd

HariboJunkie wrote: »

:eek:Please, please don't burn charcoal in the house. It gives off carbon monixide and chould never be used in an enclosed space.

Actually if you use natural gas, heating oil, petrol, or wood to heat your home you should be aware of the dangers of carbon monoxide. Charcoal is not the only source of carbon monoxide poisoning. You need to look after your chimney and any appliances you use.

If you take a toilet/kitchen roll tube and fill it full of scrunched up newspaper (and orange peelings if you have any) this will make a fire lighter, or there's the old army tip which has worked for me many times: Set fire to a tampon and use that.

Penelope_Penguin

I'll add this thread to the exising one on laying a fire, which has more suggetsions

Penny. x

ubamother

dried spaghetti burns amazingly as first kindling - also the fluff from a tumble dryer is awesome - never done this for inside fires though (as don't have one!) so don't know if either give of anything scary - works great outdoors.

helyg

This is how we used to light the fire at home:

First scrunch up a few sheets of newspaper and put them in the grate.

Then roll 2 sheets of newspaper diagonally into long rolls and knot them in the middle.

Lay the 2 knotted rools on top of the scrunched up newspaper, forming a diagonal cross accross the grate.

Then put 4 pieces of kindling on top, crossing over each other to form a square.

Then put a few pieces of coal on.

Light the 4 corners of the newspaper rolls, which should be sticking out.

When the fire gets going, put the logs on.

Sounds really complicated, but never failed for us!

maryb

Butterfly_Brain wrote: »

Pine cones make good fire starters dip in a litle melted wax and see this site because you can make the colour of the fire change.
http://tipnut.com/how-to-make-pinecone-flames-and-firestarters/

this looks lovely, I'd really like to try this. Do you know where you can get the chemicals from? I could get borax and salt (obviously) but the others, I wouldn't know where to get.

I did get some boric acid recently to make an eye wash (we always used to have it in the medicine cupboard when I was a child) and I had real trouble getting hold of it, most chemists I tried said you can't get it any more. I finally got it in a small family run chemists but it wasn't that cheap (although much cheaper than Optrex which seems to be based on boric acid).

Sorry I didn't mean to go off topic, it was just that these don't seem to be the sort of thing they have on the shelves at Sainsbury's

grastgirl

We moved into a house with a real fireplace this year and I need advice on the best way to keep it giving plenty of heat.

I can get the fire going OK - one piece of firelighter and some pieces of shop bought kindling (although some of the bits are bigger than they should be), and can normally keep it going OK when it's just wood, but I have to check it every 30 mins or so and keep adding to it regularly. We bought some smokeless coal/fuel stuff the other day and I've been trying to add some of that, but it seems to take forever to get alight, and I've had a couple of occasions when it's almost gone out on me.

Are there any tips you can give me?

camelot1001

Make sure your smokeless fuel is dry. Get the kindling really hot and add the coal on the top, not too much at a time and gradually build it up. Wood burns better on a bed of ash but coal (and the like) needs air to be around it so it may be that you have the wrong kind of grate, it should have gaps in it for coal.

Practise lots, it took me years to get the hang of it, good luck!

sueeve

And be sure that the chimney is swept, to get the good upward movement. Our sweep is coming on Thursday this week, no fire until he does; when I light it the smoke alarm goes off.

quintwins

i loved my fire i really miss it

anyhoo the way i did it was firelighters(or rolled up news u have any) and sticks, light the paper/firelighters til the sticks are starting to light then do a light sprinkling of coal just to cover the sticks not loads or you'll smother it, then leave it for around 10 minutes it shud be start then add logs or peat if your allowed (you can't if your in a smoke free zone), also once you've got it going nicely theres no reason u can't pack it up with coal and log it shud last a good few hrs then