Lighting wood burner's

[Anonymous]

How do folk light theor woodburner's? What special tip's or techniques do you use?
I used zip firelighters for a while but they are messy and cost money. I sometimes use a couple of good handful's of coarse ash or oak shavings or side axe trimmings, 2 or 3 1 inch square bits of kinderling and the first log. That is generally ablaze within a minute. If I dont have shavings etc that day I use cardboard the wife keeps back cereal boxe's etc and I also tear up about a square foot of corrugated into short strips. I have 2 bits of scrap wood resting on the front of the grate as a ramp, with a air gap at the front, a few bits of thin paper, thin card bent into crude tubes, some corugated, then 3 or 4 kinderling an inch square, then the first log, again its normally away in less than 60 seconds. After a few minutes the ramp burns through, by then theres a decent bed of embers, give it a rattle, turn the air blast down and it just ticks over. It consumes about 1-1 1/2 cubic feet a day and is reckoned at least 90% heat efficient. It virtually heats the whole house as we're well insulated and the entire chimney stack being enclosed within the house structure instead of sticking out the gable end wall, stores plenty of heat and gives it out during the night

 

[mel]

mr spanton
i think that you have it pretty well covered
i like to warm the chimney , with a quick burning material , planner shavings from the extractor do the trick
the reason i do this is because the stove is the hotspot sort . top loader.
warming the chimney helps reduce the smoke when taking the lid off to top up
HTH
mel

 

[Losos]

Hi Mr. S

Your method seems OK - I use firelighters, they are called PEEPO over here (The brand name which has almost entered the language)

We have solid fuel for the house central heating and I have a wood burner in the workshop. I cut my firelighters into quarters which is enough to get some thin kindling going, then a few half inch square x six inch long pieces. Once these are going I put on some larger stuff and once that is roaring away I load the 1 Metre lengths (Cross section whatever comes out the stack)

I have given up on magazines and cardboard, the inks used in colour mags does not burn easily and I find the ashes restrict the airflow which is the really important factor. Cardboard i find is not much better.

 

[Slim]

once that is roaring away I load the 1 Metre lengths

:shock: How big is your stove??? :shock:

 

[Alf]

S'no good, I can't resist posting the footnote from "Good Omens":

Note for Americans and other city-dwelling life-forms: the rural British, having eschewed central heating as being far too complicated and in any case weakening moral fibre, prefer a system of piling small pieces of wood and lumps of coal, topped by large, wet logs, possibly made of asbestos, into small, smouldering heaps, known as 'There's nothing like a roaring open fire is there?' Since none of these ingredients are naturally inclined to burn, underneath all this they apply a small, rectangular, waxy white lump, which burns cheerfully until the weight of the fire puts it out. These little white blocks are called firelighters. No-one knows why.

Cheers, Alf

Who must have better things to do...

 

[Mark Hancock]

Alf

That's a perfect description of SWMBO's firelighting method :lol:

 

[gidon]

We leave the unburnt coal on the grating. Then cover this with newspaper, then small kindling (we ask the local green grocer for those wooden crates - make good small kindling). Then on that larger kindling - logs split into 1-2" x 1-2" ~10" lengths. Then on top of that a few pieces of coal. Then if it fits (it's asmall wood burning stove) we put a log on top of that. Light it, close the door, but just resting shut, open all the vents and come back in 20 minutes to a roaring fire ...

If that doesn't work we get out the pack of firelighters !

Cheers

Gidon

 

[Losos]

Hi Simon

My woodburner is a local made monster. It's very crude in it's design, but I must admit that once it gets going and loaded up with wood it sure does give out plenty of heat

I'm sorry I can't (yet) do piccies but in essence it's a 1 metre long tube about 600mm in diam. It stands horizontal

At one end is a 4 inch pipe which leads into the chimney, at the other end is a loading door (With an air flap) and below a smaller door for clearing the ashes. Inside are some grill plate type things, they just sit on runners either side of the 'tube'

It can take a while to get going and has an elephantine appetite but it keeps me warm in winter when we can get -20C at night and -12C daytime temps.

 

[Anonymous]

mr spanton
i think that you have it pretty well covered
i like to warm the chimney , with a quick burning material , planner shavings from the extractor do the trick
the reason i do this is because the stove is the hotspot sort . top loader.
warming the chimney helps reduce the smoke when taking the lid off to top up
HTH
mel

I find that when you light ours up theres a bit of smoke for a few second's while the flue warms up (ours was lagged with vermicluite insulation, the twin wall stainless pipe heats up fast and you dont get condensation either, less residue's etc) But when it reaches a certain flash point woomph it just bursts into a proper flame and begins to blaze, by then the smoke is being burnt off by the secondery air flow (similar set up as the boiler's on old steam train's) It draws like a balst furnace, almost too much draw. My Dad's flue is a simple French peasant single wall pipe with no lagging, and sometimes it takes quite a while to get it sufficiently warm and drawing well, he gets back drafts etc.
I haven't had any trouble with card cloggiing things up, I only use about 12 x 12 inches and a half cereal box. I DO make sure all the card boards and kindleing are pre dried though I set a batch to one side the night before. Has your stove got a decent draw losos, and how much do you use a day (firewood)
Cheers Mr S

 

[Anonymous]

mr spanton
i think that you have it pretty well covered
i like to warm the chimney , with a quick burning material , planner shavings from the extractor do the trick
the reason i do this is because the stove is the hotspot sort . top loader.
warming the chimney helps reduce the smoke when taking the lid off to top up
HTH
mel

I find that when you light ours up theres a bit of smoke for a few second's while the flue warms up (ours was lagged with vermicluite insulation, the twin wall stainless pipe heats up fast and you dont get condensation either, less residue's etc) But when it reaches a certain flash point woomph it just bursts into a proper flame and begins to blaze, by then the smoke is being burnt off by the secondery air flow (similar set up as the boiler's on old steam train's) It draws like a balst furnace, almost too much draw. My Dad's flue is a simple French peasant single wall pipe with no lagging, and sometimes it takes quite a while to get it sufficiently warm and drawing well, he gets back drafts etc.
I haven't had any trouble with card cloggiing things up, I only use about 12 x 12 inches and a half cereal box. I DO make sure all the card boards and kindleing are pre dried though I set a batch to one side the night before. Has your stove got a decent draw losos, and how much do you use a day (firewood)
Cheers Mr S