Poorly chicken

[Boris70]

Hi,

 

Can anyone help. We have had a lovely wood burning stove fitted (as more economical and safer than an open fire) - however it's a real pain to light and then I can't get it to stay lit overnight.

 

Do you have any tips on how to light it effectively, and than what I need to do to keep it going as ZIP firelighters are making a fortune from me at the moment!

 

Thanks

[Shirl]

The OH does the lighting of ours so I can't really help there. All I know is he scrunches up paper and then puts kindling on top. He lights it and opens the vents of the burner (I think).

 

You won't get wood to stay alight all night though. Can you use coal? Coal stays alight all night so you can just top up the following morning.

 

I think it's a case of getting the hang of it. He did have a number of false starts when we first got it but now he doesn't have any problems.

[clucky1]

I agree re. coal for overnight as the wood does burn down quickly.

With our stove. We place a very small amount of straw or paper in centre. We then make a what I can only describe as a little house with the kindleing. With sides and a wood roof - leaving just enough space in the top for air to circulate.

[Eyren]

I haven't had an open fire for a while, but we recently stayed in a cottage with a wood-burning stove, and we did have a few problems at first.

 

As others have suggested, start with a bed of newspaper. Take a sheet and roll it into a loose tube, then tie it in a loose knot to make a ball. Fill the base of the stove with these. Then build an open stack of kindling - any shape that's stable enough to hold the weight of the logs. Next add a thinnish log with exposed wood - bark doesn't catch light easily (also make sure your wood is dry!). Pile a couple more logs onto that then, using extra-long matches for preference, set fire to the paper.

 

Interestingly, our problems with the stove started after we emptied the ash tray - not sure why, but the chimney may have been drawing too hard (?) as the flames tended to roar up once they got going

[Paola]

It is a real art getting a good fire going. OH loves playing but only gets the chance when we go skiing

[little chickadee]

I light a wood fire every evening and really enjoy it. I never use firelighters and dont' think you should need to when you get the hang of it.

 

My tips are

 

1 - scrunch up individual sheets of newspaper into balls and pile them in the middle of the fireplace/stove (don't be stingy at this stage)

 

2 - make a teepee with kindling going all the way round, then stack small, split logs around the outside of the teepee in the same shape.

 

3 - light the newspaper and blow from underneath if it needs a bit of help. the newspaper, will light the small kindling, and the kindling will light the smaller split logs on the next layer. When they are burning nicely you'll be able to put bigger stuff on .

 

Hope that's some help.

[Cinnamon]

This is really important - warm the flue first.

Light a long,scrunched up piece of paper & hold it in the fire,lit,just under the flue vent.

This will warm it up & helps the fire to draw properly.

 

Top tip,that

[fairy&cake]

Claret........................????

 

Clare will know, i remember her saying she has one and no doubt will tell you have to do it cheaper than Zips

[dogs and chickens]

I agree with little chickadee!

 

With our log burner, you have to open the air vent to full, to get it started then turn it down once going. We have our's one full turn open if that helps at all.

 

We fill our fire with wood in the evening before going to bed, then turn the vent to closed so it just ticks over. It will not keep going all night, but will burn out about 3a.m. We don't use coal but a friend of mine does and her fire keeps going all night so I guess that would be the way to go if you want to keep it going all night.

 

Oak or similar wood would be best, as the hard wood burns for longer.

[The Dogmother]

Hmmm, not sure what the problem is without looking at it, but have you had the chimney swept lately? It might not be drawing well if it needs sweeping. I always find that my stove roars louder when the 'chimberley' is clean.

 

As the others have said, use plenty of newspapaers and make sure that the vents are fully open. Mine has a door in the bottom for the ash pan, and if it's being a bit temperamental, I open that and it sends the air rushing in and the fire is going great guns in no time.

 

My first port of call would be the sweep though.

 

Good luck

 

Thanks Laura.

[little chickadee]

Chimney sweeps are actually not as expensive as you think they will be. Ours takes quite a long time and is very wierd, but it only came to £30, which considering the fact he has to drive to his customers is very reasonable I think.

[The Dogmother]

Mine costs £25 and he services my stove too at the same time. He drives here from Bicester, which is a good half an hour away.

[Christian]

We had our open fire swept a few weeks ago and it really does make a difference.

Think we paid £30 too.

 

Hope you learn the 'knack'!

[Chicken Licken]

I have a Rayburn and I think it is the same principle. I open all the vents (flue and ash pit). I scrunch up about 4 or 5 bits of newspaper and build a wigwam of newspaper around them. I light the paper and then keep the door open a jar to really make it draw through. When the kindling is alight I then add antracite (coal for closed stoves). I have now reached the stage where I don't need firelighters!! The principle for logs is the same - they just take more easily and burn more quickly.

 

To keep it alight overnight I empty th ash can, then riddle the grate and top up the fuel. Usually it is just going out when I get up in the morning and can be cajoled back into life with a handful of kindling.

 

I totally agree re. sweeping the chimney. My unswept living room chimney used to fill the kitchen with smoke!! Now they are both swept and they work so much more efficiently. My sweep costs more but gives me a safety certificate as a 'master sweep' so I feel I can sleep safe in my bed and leave the fire/ stove burbling away.

[Lesley]

Can I ask if it is a Scan or Jotul?

 

We've had a bit of a nightmare with our new Scan (Scan are now owned by Jotul)

 

It didn't come with any sort of user manual . The lad who fitted it told us how to light the fire..... but apart from the test he did using cardboard, we weren't to light it for 24 hours.

 

24 hours later - we'd forgotten everything he said I asked for a manual... and was sent a few photocopied sheets...... I asked again and the supplier contacted Jotul..... and they sent out photocopied sheets with slightly more info. This last lot did describe exactly how to light the fire and we've had no problems since. It seemed to take at least a week to settle down.

 

We use ash logs and lay the fire as described by most people above....... we make a platform on top of the newspapers with the kindling wood.

 

We open up both controls and the riddle bit as well. We then light the paper and push the door to. We don't close the door until the logs have taken - this warms the glass door andkeeps it clean as well. We then close the bottom of the fire up and when the fire is going well, we close the top control half way.

[Jules.]

Chimney sweeps are actually not as expensive as you think they will be. Ours takes quite a long time and is very wierd, but it only came to £30, which considering the fact he has to drive to his customers is very reasonable I think.

 

My parents have a coal fire- their chimney sweep is a little strange. Maybe it goes with the job?

[sparkleeeeee]

i have two logburners to light every day and as others have said newspaper scrunched in balls with thin kindling and sometimes a bit of dry bark. i leave the door open untill it has caught then gradually add more substantial wood. to keep it overnight you will need coal or we use some rather large cuts of old oak beam in the huge logburner, they can take two days to burn down.

OH is rubbish at lighting the fire, he uses loads of folded newspaper and huge logs i had to buy some firelighters from the co-op for him. having said that he did have both fires going when i got home today so it was lovely and toasty.

[The Dogmother]

I get some lovely kindling care of a neighbour who teaches wood work at school - she brings me all the off-cuts, I also use the slats from old fence panels. All the wood/logs is free, and I use very little coal (stove nuts, either Home Fire, Excel or Brazier) to keep it in for longer as my stove burns very fast and hot.

 

It's usually a dream to light and very easy to keep going with a little juggling of vents. Teh firebox osn't massive, but it gets the house very hot and the central heating clocks off and saves me gas.

 

I must say that it's one of the best things I've ever had; I boil a kettle on it and use it for baking spuds too.

[sparkleeeeee]

we do the same, using it as free heating as all the wood is s"Ooops, word censored!" from hubbies work. we have flat topped burners so we can boil the kettle on it (and spuds is a great idea!!) its also great for warming mulled wine when we have guests. .

when we didnt have any other heating the large burner heated our house for two winters it was great, although sometimes the sitting room was rather hot to sit in when we had it blazing. when we built the extension we knew another burner would be great so now we have two on at night and its lovely and toasty, they are such a good investment we rarely need to turn the gas heating on at all now, our last gas bill was £16 for the quarter and thats for the cooker mainly.

[The Dogmother]

Watch out when you do the spuds Sparkleeee; they cook VERY quickly!

[Boris70]

Hi All,

 

I can confirm it doesn't need sweeping, it was only installed in December, and isn;t used every night.

 

I do use loads of newspaper, and then have kindling (normally free pallet wood from my dad), and then add bigger logs. I'm at a loss really. We had a Woodburner installed in the last house, and that would light really easily, and stay going until about 5.30am when we got up, but this new one - no chance. We even use really good seasoned wood (2 years since cutting- silver birch).

 

It's from the same people, Franco Belge, just a bigger one - but strangely it burns wood a lot slower??? At the moment we'll put a bit log on overnight, and when we come down in the morning it;s gone out rather than burnt all the wood???

 

I'll try again this evening and let you know how I get on.

[The Dogmother]

Hmmm, how odd Boris. The only other thing I can think of is that perhaps the wind blows at an odd angle and you need a cowl on the chimmney pot.

[sparkleeeeee]

our new one burns slower because it is sealed better but gives out loads of heat and takes ages to burn wood. the old one burns quickly because it needs new rope and fire bricks and it gets very hot. i should really sort it out soon.

have you checked that there is not an air vent somewhere hidden that needs opening. we have a couple on ours that are hard to see. did they put a new flue pipe in? could there be something wrong with it? if you have the door open does it fill the room with smoke? i once had the top damper shut and opened the door when i lit the fire. i went outside to get more wood and the smoke alarm went off the house was full of smoke in minutes . it took ages to get the alarms to stop as they are mains and battery operated. the neighbours did come out to look

i found our local stove shop very helpful when we were looking for a new burner, could you call a shop for help?

[Boris70]

right - just lighting the burner now ( ver y cold here this evening). I've lit a load of paper first to get heat in the flue.

 

Now - all vents are open (2 - both on the front), and loads of paper and kindling on top.....

 

good news - the kindling has lit,............. but as soon as I've put wood on - all the flames have gone

 

So - added more kindling, and blown on it for a while until I got flames again, and the flame are looking quite promising now.

 

Fingers crossed baby boris doesn't get cold this evening!

[The Dogmother]

I'm sure that you've though to f this, but it won't catch effectively with the door open - you need to have the stove door closed and the vents open. Sorry to stste the obvious, but reading through your last post, it occurred to me that you might have the door open while it is catching.