Usually lighting a fire in a fireplace or wood stove is generally considered a simple task. For this reason, some forget the few basic steps that are useful for enjoying the fire to the fullest, with the result that what could have been a pleasant evening by the fire could soon become a smoke-filled room. This article outlines a recommended method that, when implemented, can help make your fire enjoyable right from the start.
Steps
Method 1 of 2: Light the Fire with the Grill
Step 1. Check that the draft valve is open
It is a device that regulates the flow of air that passes into the flue. This is the passage or smoke duct consisting of a stove pipe and chimney. There should be a lever that you should try to move in one direction and the other. On the one hand the valve closes, on the other it opens - check that the valve is open, otherwise the smoke will flow into the room. This is best done before lighting the fire. Once you have verified that the damper is open, you are ready to go.
Step 2. If your fireplace or wood stove has a glass door, open it about 30 minutes before lighting the fire
Thus the inside of the combustion chamber has time to reach room temperature. Cold air is heavier than hot air, so if it is too cold outside, a flow of cold air can be created that descends inside the flue and into the combustion chamber, and this cold air remains trapped by the glass door. Opening it allows some warm air to rise from the room through the fireplace or stove into the flue, and this should be enough to trigger an upward movement of air.
Step 3. Check for drafts
Light a match near the chimney opening and see if the draft goes down or goes up. If it's still going down, you should find a way to reverse this upward flow. It is not possible in any way to light the fire with the air flow going downwards. One of the possible ways to use in this case is the use of a fire-lighter (the Diavolina is a type - remove a cube), or wax logs that are available on the market. They light up and stay on, creating a little warmth inside the combustion chamber and favoring the inversion of the air flow from the bottom up, they also burn without producing too much smoke:
- Close the draft valve. This stops the air that goes down and pushes itself into the room. Many fireplaces or stoves, in addition to the draft valve, have a vent that regulates the flow of air entering the combustion chamber, and this vent can be used in place of the draft valve to control the air flow..
- Place the cube on the back of the shovel, light it and place it inside the combustion chamber, near the opening of the chimney. So you try to heat the top of the combustion chamber.
- When you have heated it up (you will need to practice to determine how long it takes), slowly open the draft valve and with a little luck and skill you will see that the flame and heat from the cube push the air upwards towards the flue. When the flow has completely reversed (you should feel the air sucking in the flame and the heat of the fire lighter), you can start the fire safely.
Step 4. Prepare the base of the fire with some newspaper (uncoated) and other bait
Bait or newspaper helps to start the fire since they create live flames from the very beginning.
- Crumple four or five pages of newspaper and place them on the grate of the fireplace or stove to make the base. Don't use too much, otherwise you'll get a lot of smoke unnecessarily.
- If you don't have newspaper, you can use other baits. Light and dry materials, such as dry moss, straw, small sticks. The baits ignite immediately and burn very quickly. The key is to put enough bait under the twigs for them to start burning.
Step 5. Stack the twigs on top of the bait on the grill, and create a stable base for the larger wood
If you don't have any twigs, you can cut a wooden fruit and vegetable crate into pieces and use the strips. Twigs and battens catch fire more easily than large logs, helping to create a larger flame at first and fueling the fire for a longer period of time.
- Be sure to stack the twigs horizontally. That is, lay them flat, not vertically. In addition to this, it leaves spaces to allow air to pass through. Air is the fuel for fire.
- Make a cross-layered stack. Stack two or three larger twigs on top of the newspaper, and then two or three more on top of the first ones perpendicularly, creating a kind of grid. Continue by stacking pieces of smaller twigs on top of the grid, each layer perpendicular to the previous one.
Step 6. Place one or two larger logs on top of the pile
Depending on the placement of your twigs, you should be able to safely place a couple of stumps on top of your twigs.
- It is usually preferable to choose smaller stumps over larger ones. Larger logs may look prettier and burn better, but they actually have a larger surface area which makes it more difficult for them to catch fire. Two strains of equal size versus one strain are usually always preferable.
- Stack the wood up to a maximum height of two thirds of the combustion chamber. You don't want the fire to rage out of control as soon as you light it?
Step 7. First, set the newspaper on fire
This will be the one to ignite the stack. Watch the smoke closely for the first half hour. It should be barely noticeable if the airflow is well directed upwards in the chimney.
- If the smoke turns black, the fire does not have enough oxygen. Use a fireplace poker to lift the wood using great care; lift it just as a lever, as when lifting a car with a jack. Be careful - all you have to do is just let some air pass under the pile. If the ash deposit under the grate is too much, use the poker to level it a little under the fire, leaving at least two inches of space.
- If the smoke is gray, it means that most of the combustible material is coming out of the chimney instead of burning.
- You probably didn't light the fire from above.
- You may have used damp wood.
- The fire may be receiving too much oxygen. It sounds like a contradiction but it is - fire is a delicate balance of air and fuel. When there is too much oxygen, the fire takes too much trouble to take hold of the fuel, and may produce more smoke than normal.
- If there are people between the window and the fireplace or stove, they will freeze because the fire will start sucking air. It will begin to forcefully pull the air out of the window, which creates a flow of cold air between the window and the fireplace or stove.
- Don't obstruct the airflow and let it go - sometimes if the chimney isn't long enough, this is the only way to allow the airflow to move properly to carry the smoke away. The rest of the room will stay warm - it's just the draft path that will be a little cooler.
- As soon as the smaller wood catches and the fire is burning, take a larger piece of wood. Carefully place it over the fire, making sure as much as possible that the pile does not tilt to one side.
- The larger piece of wood will take longer to catch fire, but once taken it will burn for a long time and you will not have to get up to move or arrange the wood. The burning embers will keep everything warm, so you can spend a couple of hours quiet and warm.
- Check the intensity of the wind. If it is over 30 km per hour, close the door of the fireplace or stove. Cold air will flow down the chimney, allowing hot and warm air to circulate, and preventing any fire from gaining strength.
- Make sure you use well-seasoned wood for the fire. It is difficult to burn damp or unseasoned wood. (However it will burn even if hardly, so if it is an emergency you can burn it even if it is humid.)
- A simple trick to warm the column of cold air filling your fireplace or wood stove is to make a fist-sized ball of toilet or kitchen paper. Place it on a plate or aluminum foil. Pour in a lot of alcohol and place it on top of the pile of wood as close to the chimney as possible (use a couple of tongs to avoid getting your fingers wet with alcohol). Give it a fire and close the fireplace or stove door. After a while, when the chimney is hot, you can start the fire by starting at the bottom of the stack using single-sheet paper balls.
- If you are still having trouble with the airflow, it may be because your chimney is not long enough. If it's too short, try using a pair of extension cords - they are usually found in fireplaces or building supplies stores. To attach the extensions to the existing chimney, use the materials that are usually used to patch the roof. You can also try to remove the spark catcher chimney - sometimes the top is mounted too close to the closed part. Over the opening, use a net or loose mesh fabric to catch ashes and sparks, but do not put the lid back on. This also favors an otherwise difficult flow of air.
- Before starting the fire, make sure that the air flow is correct.
- Do not insert coated paper or chipboard into the stove. The paints and glues, melting with the heat, will go up the flue and there is a serious risk that they will mix with other soot materials and stick to the walls of the flue itself, causing a plug that could catch fire or clogging it over time.
- Spend some money on a pair of fireproof gloves (welder gloves are fine) in case a glowing ember falls and you need to retrieve it immediately.
- Make sure that the maintenance and cleaning of the chimney is done well. Any cracks should be checked once a year to avoid leaks and fires to the structure of the house. It wouldn't be a good thing. The elimination of creosote (oily soot) that accumulates inside the flue avoids the risk of it catching fire, a terrible thing - very difficult to control and particularly damaging.
- Do not leave the burning fire unattended. Any kind of unforeseen event can happen - there could be a pocket of moisture or sap in a log that could burst with the heat. If it bursts violently it could break the glass of the fireplace or stove, and you could wake up with a bitter surprise.
- Be very careful when using combustion accelerators to light a fire, as there is always the risk of an explosion, fire or physical danger.
Step 8. Open a window slightly
If you are still having trouble getting good airflow to the fire bed, and the smoke is returning back into the room, try opening a window a couple of inches. This system works best if the window is on the opposite wall from the fireplace or stove and without obstructions - there should be no people sitting between the window and the fireplace or stove. Sometimes this creates a kind of "vapor block" in the room which favors the rising of the smoke through the chimney.
Step 9. Add larger stumps
If you are looking to enjoy the evening, you will need to make sure that the fire stays alive without the need for you to keep it busy by arranging it properly. Once the fire has started, you should begin to see some glowing red embers under the fire.
Step 10. At least half an hour before putting out the fire, ruffle the wood
Break it with the poker and try to scatter it as much as possible over the entire fire bed. The more you break it into smaller pieces, the faster it will wear out. After the fire has gone out, check that there are no ashes or embers still burning. Then close the draft valve so as not to disperse the heat through the chimney all the time.
Method 2 of 2: Light the Fire without the Grid
Step 1. Place two large logs parallel to each other - the bigger the better - at a distance of about 40 cm from each other
They must be perpendicular to the closed glass of the fireplace or stove door, or to the fireplace opening. These large logs will be the base of the fire and will contain the ashes that feed it.
Step 2. Place a crossbar between the two large logs
This piece of wood should be roughly the same in diameter as your forearm, and should remain parallel to the glass door or fireplace opening near your forearm.
This crossbar will support the other pieces of wood and will maintain a constant air vent from which the fire can take in fresh air to feed on
Step 3. Crumple some newspaper (do not use coated paper) on the fire bed
Alternatively, use other baits such as dry sticks or wood chips to use as a base.
Step 4. Put some twigs on top of the paper
If you don't have twigs, you can cut a wooden fruit and vegetable box into pieces and use the strips. Still don't place any large pieces of wood or fuel on top of this base. Try to arrange the twigs as if to form a grid, leaving space for air to pass through.
Step 5. Light the fire from the paper or bait
Make sure the fire starts to burn - you will need to hear creaks.
Step 6. Place a few pieces of wood in the middle of the large logs and on top of the crossbar
In this case these pieces of wood should be about half the diameter of a forearm, and should be placed parallel to the crossbar. Keep this arrangement at all times: two logs, a crossbar on top and the wood supported by the crossbar.
