Many manufacturers have different lighting techniques to aid ease of use and reduce smoke emissions. Do refer to your manufacturer’s instructions, or you can consult your installer and have them advise you on how the best way is to light your fire for your specific fireplace stove.
Traditional Method of Lighting a Fire.
With a small amount of kindling and firelighter, a small amount of heat will be produced to warm the flue. Firelighters are the easier method as they burn at a steady rate, unlike newspaper which can differ dependent on its state when burned.
When using paper, the paper will burn too quickly and will not ignite the kindling; this will lead you to restart the lighting process. Paper will not combust properly and will cause excessive smoke.
Traditional Lighting Steps:
- Use two tabloid-size pieces of newspaper crumpled into a loose ball about the size of a cricket ball or firelighters and place them in the combustion chamber.
- Place small pieces of dried kindling into a triangular shape over the newspaper, allowing for air gaps. On larger appliances place two smallish logs on either side of the kindling to allow for larger logs to be placed over the well alight kindling.
- Ensure that the air controls are set to the manufacturer’s guidelines to make lighting as easy as possible.
Upside Down or Top-Down Method of Lighting a Fire:
Since the dawn of wood burners, the traditional method of lighting a fire has been used, but with technologies advancing the little black box has been evolved. Appliances now are more efficient not as much heat is lost up the chimney and more radiated into the room.
When doing the upside-down method, and the kindling is ignited well, the flue will be warm and the logs on which the kindling has sat upon should now be charred and ignite cleanly.
Upside Down Lighting Steps:
- Place two small logs across the fire bed.
- Place 5 pieces of kindling across the two logs, then 4 pieces laid at a 90-degree angle across the bottom layer and place two firelighters in between the gaps.
- Add another five pieces of kindling laid in the same direction as the bottom layer.
- Set the controls of the appliance to the lighting position.
- Light the firelighters and close the door of the appliance. The fire will slowly increase, warming the flue gradually without producing copious amounts of smoke and pollutants to the atmosphere.
- Set the air controls to the manufacturer’s settings.
- Leave the kindling well alone until the top of the appliance is warm and then close the primary air control, the kindling will fall between the logs. Once these are burning well the burn rate of the appliance can be adjusted and more logs applied to the fire as required.