Burning wood on wood burner stove - HELP required!

System

Leaving the door open is also intrinsically unsafe as hot wood has a habit of 'exploding'.

Just checked my manual, and it does give a warning about the potential for poor stove performance in mild and cloudy weather.

SG27

I leave the door open sometimes. Just to see the fire for a bit as I have no glass. It's amazing how much the temperature drops. In the stove and the room. A fire guard is also a good idea unless you want burned carpet.

pambler

I moved into a house with a woodburner and a small stove that I burn smokeless fuel in as well last year - and I agree that there is a definite art to getting a fire lit and keeping it going. It also seems that everyone's installation is a bit different, and what works for one person doesn't necessarily work for everyone. I find that for me, I can get logs to burn much better if I get the fire going with a couple of briquettes first, once they are burning well, I then add logs, which then catch and burn much better.

I also use pieces of briquette to get my smokeless fuel going. Not saying this is right or best - it's just what works for me - it did take me a few weeks though before I became proficient!

hellbells

Is storage heating costly?on economy 7?

ericonabike

Just do it top-down [ooerr missus...]. Bigger stuff at bottom, then smaller, laid in 'lattice' formation to allow air through, then newspaper [rolled into tubes then loosely knotted so it doesn't move around on burning] then kindling. Light, leave door very slightly [less than 1cm] ajar. Only subsequent interventions until refuelling are to shut the door, then close the bottom vent, then reduce the top vent. Temp continually increases as the fire burns down, setting light to gasses [smoke] from the wood as it goes. Doing it the other way means dumping cold wood onto burning kindling, meaning the temperature has to go down. Plus the top-down method means you can lay it in advance then just set a match to it and 30 minutes later it's up to very near optimum temperature.

Kiran

I tend to get the firebox up to temperature using scrap timber (large source of free untreated) before putting any logs on. It lights every time. I like the idea of top down but the firebox isn't really big enough on either of my stoves .

oldtractor

one log cant burn 2 logs wont burn 3 logs make a fire.
basically have lots of kindling then place 3 small logs [ eg chopped up logs about 2 or 3 times the width of the kindling , on top wig-wam style. when these are well alight place the bigger log or logs on top of them. sounds like your logs are too big. split them with an axe

mgdavid

we always start with a small pile of coal in the centre of the grate, and use a Grenadier
http://www.grenadier.co.uk/electric_firelighter.php
Brilliant device, no fuss, no mess, no matches.

Lighting our woodburner from cold always takes a good hour before it's performing properly, it takes this long to heat up the stove, the chimney liner and the whole brick chimney stack. It needs to be warm to draw correctly. We light about now and keep it in until April except for the sweep in the new Year and any holidays or breaks away.

Better_Days

We have a small Morso Squirrel woodburner.

The best way for us to get the fire going is as follows:

Put a heatlog at the back of the stove. Scrunch up 5 pieces of newspaper and put in the bottom of the stove. Put kindling on top, crossed over itself, about 10 pieces. Light the paper. Open the bottom vent. Depending on the draw (which depends on the weather we may leave the door slightly ajar.)

When the flames are going nicely we add a small log or maybe two (and close the door if it is open). We use a stove thermometer and when the stove gets up to temperature we close down the airflow a bit more (but again it does depend on the draw).

More logs are added as the previous ones burn down. Bigger logs can be added when the stove heats up but we don't put big logs on initially.

When they get up to temperature they throw out an incrdible amount of heat and the chimney breast acts as a thermal store which also slowly releases heat.

I love our woodburner - it's worth fiddling around till you find out what works best for your set up.

[Deleted User]

grumpyoldgal wrote: »

thank you again.......but......


when refuelling or adding more logs - when is the best time and does it automatically result in the fire flattening out a bit?


God help us when I decide to try the smokeless coals lol!!

I start mine with kindling and a fire lighter with a small log on top. Once the log is well alight I add another