Lighting a Wood Burning / Multi Fuel stove

[NorthernRaider]

Lighting a Wood Burning / Multi Fuel stove
© NR 2013

Three times lately neighbours and friends have asked me now to “take a look” at their wood burning stoves cos “ we don’t think its been put in right cos it’s a swine to light” and it usually become quickly apparent theirs bugger all wrong with the stove, just the owners have not got the technique right.

So here is how I light my little stove.

(Note decent firewood needs to be under 14% moisture content or you will only end up lining your chimney flue with dangerous tar and creosote deposits and you will also lose large amounts of energy from the fire by wasting the heat to drive out the moisture from the wood)

Open the air vents Top and Bottom if fitted (slide lever to open or pull out rod, or unscrew wheel to let air in, If none is fitted then leave the door slightly open when lit)

Take six to eight pages from a weekly free paper or newspaper and scrunch them up, Mrs NR likes to twist them when she does the job, but I just scrunch them up.

(Some people use volatile fire lighters but they are expensive, smelly, toxic and not needed if you do it right)

Place the papers into the grate and place a little well-spaced stack of tinder pieces such as bits of dowelling, dried twigs, or ready-made kindling of about 20 mm squared by about 8 inches long on top of the scrunched up paper.

(I use about 8 to 10 pieces on Kindling in a little stack)

Set fire to the bottom edge of the paper in a couple of spots

Close the stove door too but leave it slightly ajar so as to create a venturi effect thus driving more air into the stoves combustion chamber.

After a few minutes when the kindling is thoroughly ablaze try closing the door to see if sufficient temperature has been created to keep the fire going, if it starts to die open the door again to help get the combustion going fully

If the Kindling is burning nicely then start to feed in more fire wood that is a bit bigger up to about 50 mm square(ish) and wait until it is thoroughly burning before gradually feeding in more fuel.

(Wood burns TWICE, first you are trying to heat the wood until it gives off the first burn flammable gases, this is called gasification, then when all the gases have been burned off you get secondary combustion as the wood itself is combusted through being charcoal to ash so don’t overfill the stove because you need space above the fire for the gasification to work)

Once you have a good solid fire of between 250 and 450 degrees going you can start to add smaller spilt logs or bits of tree limb, or if it’s a multi fuel stove bit of coalite, coal or whatever RECCOMENDED coal material is permitted.

(Temps under 250 will see creosote created which is a danger for chimney fires, temps over 500 may damage the stove especially if its part constructed with steel instead of cast iron)

You can now start to regulate the burn rate by adjusting any air control fitted or by using the chimney vent flap, when burning coal the air supply should be regulated from the bottom of the stove, and when burning wood from the top of the stove on stoves fitted with twin air systems.

Points of note

You can use some wood ashes in the soap making process
You can add a bit of wood ash to your compost to make better fertilizer
Always clean the fire properly as some waste products are corrosive and can over time damage the inside of the stove
Get it swept at least every two years
When not in use leave the stove door and air vents open to prevent rust and corrosion (Source AL)
Don’t prep a fire by leaving it ready to light for the next time, this again only traps moisture and causes corrosion (Source AL)
Use dry wood for fuel and hard woods offer better calorific value than soft woods
Don’t burn rubbish especially plastics on the stove.

[Sunna]

Spot on, iv been lighting fires this way for years also try using friends / familys old yellow pages bt phone books ect food wrapping junk mail the list goes on and on.

[Binnie]

agree, you can't rush a fire!

[Geordie_Rob]

My dad makes his own fire lighters. Soaks little wooded blocks about 1 inch square in meths inside an old jam jar. He only uses 1 block to light the fire each night & when his jar is 1/2 used, he makes another jar ready so the meths can saturate the wood plenty before use

[Highlander]

Its hard to think that there is anyone out there that cant make a fire, yet I know people who have tried to start a fire with logs,... its just another sign of our modern times with our gas or electric being turned on with the turn of a switch,...... when we were kids we all knew this job as a basic need, and were usually the ones who had to light the fire

[Steve]

On a related note, I recently discovered that the seed heads of dandelions are easy to light with sparks from a fire steel.

[bigpaul]

there are a lot of sheeple out there who don't have a clue how to lay and light a fire, post shtf I am expecting lots of burning houses especially in cities.

[Tarrel]

NR, that's exactly the process we use in the Rayburn, and it works well.

I was once shown how to light a fire "South Africa style". I was told to put a fire-lighter square in the fire pit, and balance a single log on it, about the thickness of my forearm, then light the fire-lighter. You can imagine my reaction!

Anyway, we tried it, and it worked! The mopane wood they use for firewood out there is so dry, it will just burst into flame. It's also so hard that it's virtually impossible to cut into smaller pieces.

[Mortblanc]

It may sound a bit funny but there have always been folk that could not light a fire. If you read enough history you will find constant comments about folk running to fetch a neighbor to start their dead fires. Boys often earned extra pennies by going about and kindling fires for the housewives of the neighborhood.

My father grew up around wood and coal burners but could not start a fire in a gunpowder plant.

My Grandmother cooked on a wood burner and kept a bucket of corncobs soaking in paraffin for a quick start up in the morning. She would light a corncob and toss wood in on it and had a fire going in short order. They heated with coal in open fireplace grates.

[bigpaul]

most people in this country PRE central heating grew up with coal fires in the fireplace, I know I did! as a baby I would sometimes be washed in a small bath in front of the fire......hard to realise now! point is anyone who grew up POST central heating has never had to light a coal fire and wouldn't have a clue how to do it!