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.

Thank you Bigsavak this is a real insight to the wood burners and what to expect for anyone who is new to them and I know from past experience that they can be a pain in the proverbial

Great write up this will be handy

I have just made my husband read this post as I was totally fed up gasping for air last year! As I am asthmatic this is not recommended! :Hair:

Hopefully things should be better from now on.

ps - I am not allowed to light the fire myself. Is it a man thing? [You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

Scunnered wrote:

I have just made my husband read this post as I was totally fed up gasping for air last year! As I am asthmatic this is not recommended! :Hair:

Hopefully things should be better from now on.

ps - I am not allowed to light the fire myself. Is it a man thing? [You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

A man thing

Good post for those having problems or don't know about these stoves, although they may sound romantic [You must be registered and logged in to see this image.] I think they are anything but

Thanks for this its something that is a bone of contention and its not as easy as most of us think to get a stove going if your new to it so any advice like this is very much welcome

“YEP”.no doubt about it,it is now that time of year when Mr Caveman wants to take charge of the fire. .ls there something in the males genes that programs us to take over the stoking of the fire for our loved one’s to look in awe how it is done,even though he has the facial appearance of charcoal with matted hair.Maybe it’s because there is an element of danger involved when trying to find different ways to get the fire going.When a man naturally volunteers to do the fire,certain chain of events take place.
1/A fire always goes well with several beers lined up for maximum concentration.This enables him to clear his mind of reason and to have a nethanderal attitude way of thinking.The grunts and moans are noticeable,which tells you he is now converted to caveman.
2/Always allow the nethanderal man to start the fire,lt’s part of his make up to put as much inflammable liquid on the charcoal and set fire to it.Grunts and moans are followed by..ooh!,what happened,while he is standing there with a charred face and singed hair with smoke rising from his head.
3/Never intervene at this point,because you will get comments like..l know what l am doing..or now look what you made me do.
4/As the fire is under way in a hours time with his noticeable self inflicted injuries.The beers that were lined up for him were there for the sole purpose to numb the pain when he inflicts injuries on himself.
5/He loves cooking on flame and not heat,which is still a mystery to this type of thinking.Maybe it has something to do with his ancestors make up to not understanding the signs what flames can do to the meat.
6/When the cooked meat is ready to eat and is being dished out by Mr netheradral man with such a smile of achievement,and you haven’t the heart to tell him it’s gross.Then you secretly feed it to the dog that is waiting under the table.
The Woman’s routine in preparing the social event is completely different to the man’s way

1/Woman goes and buys the right amount and what is needed
2/She prepares all the salads side dishes and the desserts
3/She prepares all the meats by marinading them in time for the wood stove in the right trays with all the necessary implements for cooking and at the same time waiting on hand and foot for the eager nethanderal man at the stove with lots of beer
4/Woman has done her part,and now man has to ruin it by placing the meat on the wood stove without the woman's instructions,because she has disappeared into the house to organize all the plates and cutlery on the tables.
5/She disturbed by the smell of burning flesh and drops everything to tell Mr caveman that the meat is burning on the plates and the top of his head is caught of fire.The caveman grunts and asks the wife if she could bring another beer while he is dealing with the flames on his head and the fire that is now ten foot high at this point,because he used lighter fuel to douse the flames out.But he always says it is under control,while he still has a beer in his hand.
6/When the flames eventually recedes by woman's use of commonsense.He takes the charred meat off the grill and hands it to the woman,looking like a negative.This gives the impression it is all part of the act for the evening,even though it wasn’t rehearsed.
7/The woman then prepares all the salads side dishes and places the cutlery next to the dishes.She brings the meat to the table in large bowls positioned them neatly in the middle of the table.
8After the meal,the guests thanked Mr Caveman for the evening and the unexpected performance act ,which makes him feel a sense of power he had it all in hand.The poor wife was in the background washing up
9/The woman just looks on without any praises from the guest
10/After eating, the woman clears the table and does the dishes,while the man is telling jokes that are so old and in the dark ages.
11/Woman notices a fireball coming from the wood stove area,because nethanderal man had this brilliant idea how to get the social evening off to a fine start.He pretends to be a flame swallower,by sucking in the inflammable liquid in his mouth and then spat it out on the open stove.After a short pause of thought he realized right there and then he needed the hosepipe to douse out the hot flames in his mouth and the surrounding area.But woman's natural instincts tell her to call the fire brigade and instantly thinking of having an affair with the fireman that assisted in the drama.
The most important thing to remember when organizing a fire,is to let woman do all the work ,while man can sit back and relax with his mates,because health and safety issues are involved here.

Well done from the OP. I love my woodburning stove but I have warned and advised several times in the past about how to use one. They are a great source of cheap heating and I have an oven in mine so I cook everything in it which makes it even cheaper. You soon get the hang of which wood to use for instant heat and which to use just to keep the fire going. We also have our heating man in to service it before the winter just in case!
It is definitely a man thing. I actually taught my 'significant other' how to lay a fire (with paper and kindling NO firelighters) years ago, but now if he's around I am not allowed near it. If I dare to put a log on I am told that I haven't raked it up properly etc etc etc. I got my own back today when he walked straight in, raked the fire and put on new logs just as I had lunch in the oven which was cooking nicely until he damped everything down.

Before I conected the pipes and lit mine for the first time I went up on the roof and dropped a large stone tied on a piece of string down the chimney and then pulled it back up just to make sure that there were no blockages in the chimney....Better to do it before rather than once you've lit the fire!

All good advice.

I think this is a brilliant post and we can all learn form others as to how we should do these things and get some very good tips too

Thank you borntolaze and oldun all good tips

borntolaze wrote:

Before I conected the pipes and lit mine for the first time I went up on the roof and dropped a large stone tied on a piece of string down the chimney and then pulled it back up just to make sure that there were no blockages in the chimney....Better to do it before rather than once you've lit the fire!

And there I was thinking you were preparing it for Father Christmas so he could join you in get stoned :Xmas2: :Xmas1:

Oddy

oddball wrote:

borntolaze wrote:

Before I conected the pipes and lit mine for the first time I went up on the roof and dropped a large stone tied on a piece of string down the chimney and then pulled it back up just to make sure that there were no blockages in the chimney....Better to do it before rather than once you've lit the fire!

And there I was thinking you were preparing it for Father Christmas so he could join you in get stoned :Xmas2: :Xmas1:

Oddy

Nice one!

So how many of you have now got a roaring fire going? and is it colder at night? one thing I would like to know is do they burn all night?