First topic message reminder :
Firing up the wood burning stove
There are lots of techniques for starting fires and like BBQ's I'm sure you will find a dozen blokes who know the right way to do it with a dozen different opinions. However you choose to light your fire? start with decent wood! Preparation is key. Buy it as early as you can. We bought ours a bit later in the year as we hadn't moved so wood was the last thing on our mind. We were also limited to what was available so late in the year but we managed to get 6 cubic meters of oak!. Our wood in total cost around 200 BGN which isn't’t bad for a whole winter. With properly seasoned wood and kindling you should be able to get a fire going in no time.
If it's a newly installed wood burner there are a few things to check. First, it's worth having a look round the house with a small fire burning to see that the smoke is going the right way and not coming out of anywhere it shouldn't? and it won't hurt to check the spare room isn't filling with smoke? This is also a good time to check your smoke alarms and carbon monoxide alarms are working if you have them fitted.
A lot of people are a bit shocked the first time they make a fire that some smoke seems to go the wrong way! Assuming you have cleaned your chimney, a common cause of smoke coming into the house from a wood burning stove is that the hot air pressure pushing the smoke out of the house is not as strong as the cold air pressure in the chimney pushing down. its a good idea to open a window in the room with the stove alight which will encourage a draught through the room and up the chimney. doesn't sound good if it's cold outside which it is or you wouldn't be lighting a fire but it is better than a room full of smoke. Getting the fire hot fast with as little smoldering as possible will help push the air up so it's worth burning some smaller wood and kindling to get things roaring before you get the bigger logs.
Another question is "
why is the top of my stove smoking?"
If it's a new wood burning stove then usually this is fairly innocent, just the paint and oil on the outside of the burner which basically burning off . This can happen the first few times you get the stove lit but if it keeps happening then you may need to talk to the people you bought it from because something isn't’t right! If you have an old stove that's giving off smoke then you could have a problem with some of the welds? or the door seal/glass seal may have deteriorated. It could be worth repairing the stove but look at the price for parts, there maybe wood burning stoves which are more efficient and inexpensive.
Another thing is to get the fire on was a set of fire place accessories-poker, ash shovel etc. which are a must! , you may need to put a guard around your stove to make sure no one gets burnt- children and pets.