Before you light it. 

Cold air sinks and hot air rises, and any cold air trapped within your flue can make it hard to start. Before each fire leave the door open for a while to help purge any cold air lingering in the chimney. If it is a damp, or still day, then it is worth opening a nearby window to provide more fresh air to help the flue draw. Also make sure no extractor, or transfer fans are on, as they will make it hard to light.

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Keep the ash. 

In many situations wood burners run better when they have a bed of ash. An ash layer a couple of inches deep can help to insulate the fire and to burn fuel more effectively. 

It is a good habit to regularly maintain the ash bed by turning it like top soil, then levelling it as a flat surface, well below of the door opening. This helps to prevent it from becoming like a ramp, or hard like concrete. Too much ash reduces the efficiency of the fire, and increase the risk of burning wood falling out onto the floor.

Some fires also have secondary air flow tubes along the rear wall of the fire and it is important to not allow the ash to touch or cover that, or it will negatively affect the way the fire runs. 

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*Multi fuel fires, where only wood is burnt, can benefit from being converted into a wood only fire by shutting and then ignoring the bottom controls. Allow the ash to build up so that it comes up through the grate, or cover the grate with some sheet metal (tins with both ends cut off and flattened will work) to allow an ash bed to build up, so the fire is being built on a layer of ash. Just use the top air control to alter air intake, and open the main door if you need a wee bit more draw. This doesn’t work on all multi fuel fires, but it is worth trying, as this change may increase your fuel efficiency. 

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Use dry & warm fuel. 

Everyone knows that wood needs to be dry to burn, but how dry is often misunderstood. Ideally, wood should have no more than 15% moisture content, and should be stored with access to air and sunshine – don’t store you wood anywhere you wouldn’t try to dry wet washing. Cold wood takes more energy to ignite and will likely just smoulder. Starting with room temperature wood helps to get the fire going quickly, and speeds up building a hot charcoal bed.

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Using the fire correctly. 

The aim is to run your fire like a charcoal BBQ, with a really thick layer of glowing wood coals, rather than a lot of blazing hot flames. Softwood is a must for the efficient running of modern low emission burners, because it breaks down into the desired charcoal bed quickly. Burning this way is safer and more energy efficient, and far less damaging to our air quality, and your fire.

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• Start your fire by laying starters and a generous amount of kindling close to the back of the fire, as this heats the flue and promotes draw.

• Wait for the kindling to burn down so its glowing red, rake it around a bit to make a bed, and then add slightly bigger pieces of softwood (no bigger than your wrist), repeating the process until a layer of glowing red charcoal covers the entire base of the fire. 

• Now you can use larger pieces of wood (no bigger than your calf) but add only add one new log at a time. Once the fire is established, break up what is already burning before the next piece.

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Air intake. 

The air control should always be opened fully when starting the fire and every time new wood is added. Turn it onto high air intake a few seconds before opening the door to reload, and leave it on high for at least 10 minutes every time more wood is added.

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Once at least 10 minutes have elapsed, it can be turned down to a lower air flow. Doing this helps to achieve secondary combustion, which is when the waste gases burn rather than being vented up the flue, resulting in more heat from each piece of wood, and a cleaner flue. Think of it like how you cook steak, a ripping hot pan, add the meat and leave it on high to sear, then turn it down to cook.

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Less is more. 

Don’t be tempted to overload the fire. Again, think of cooking steak. Overcrowding the pan causes rapid heat loss and a very tough piece of meat. Most manufactures recommend that no more than 25% of the internal space of the fire should be fuel. The space around wood allows for more airflow and for greater flame height meaning you get more heat from each piece of wood. Over stacking also means a greater chance of bumping the top baffle or other parts inside the fire, causing them to shift out of place and not work correctly, or meaning they have to be replaced much sooner.

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Fuel choices.

 Most new model fires are only rated to burn softwood, and burning hardwood negates their low emission rating, causes considerable damage to the internal parts of the fire, and sometimes cracks the metal firebox. Harwood also voids most warranties.

 

We always recommend burning just Plantation Pine/Radiata, or a 50/50 mix with Oregon/Douglas Fir.

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Blue Gum is a particularly risky choice because of the highly combustible and corrosive Eucalyptus oil it contains. If Gum is left to smoulder, it coats the inside of the flue with a thick tar that is very flammable and could cause a chimney fire. However, if it is burnt hot it horribly damages the fire, often beyond repair. 

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Old man pine and Macrocarpa are also a very resinous woods that produces dense black smoke, and a thick greasy soot that quickly coats the inside of the flue. These woods are also risky in terms of chimney fire as they are can be very sparky. They tend to cause similar damage to fires as what Gum does, meaning you spend more on replacement parts, and needing regular chimney sweeping. 

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Coal is still allowed to be burnt in multi fuel fires here in Dunedin. However, as there is only inferior quality coal available, it is a very dirty, smelly, dusty, and unpleasant fuel for you, us, and your neighbours.

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Don’t burn any plastic, rubbish, treated/manufactured timber or driftwood – the smoke produced is highly toxic, and will cause harm to those inside and outside your home.

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Smoking fires. 

As a result of modern technology and insulation, most homes have very few drafts. This can cause problems because fresh air needs to be constantly available, or the fire won’t be able to draw. If the house is too airtight then a vacuum effect can be created, and this sometimes causes smoke to leak out of the air vents or the door. This can be helped by opening a window to allow a fresh supply of air to enter the room, or a vent or fan system can be installed if it is an often-occurring problem. It is also advisable to ensure that all powered air extractors (range hood, heat transfer systems etc) be turned off when starting a fire, as they remove more air from the room than can be replaced. 

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Air inversion. There is an atmospheric condition, known as air inversion, which is basically heavy, dense air trapped at the level of the flue making it hard for smoke to travel up and out in a plume. During periods of air inversion, fires simply don’t draw properly and there isn’t much that can be done about it. One way to tell if air inversion is causing draw problems is to look at the smoke that exits the flue: if it eddies around the top of the flue or flows downward onto the roof instead of rising as heated air normally would, an inversion layer is most likely present. Air inversion episodes occur most often when cold weather turns warmer, or when warm weather suddenly turns cooler, but it can also happen on those cool, damp, still days that we have from time to time. We call them, “crap fire days” and most fires around the city struggle to perform.

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Clean Air 

We believe that everyone who uses a fire has a responsibility to burn as cleanly as possible. By following the advice in this sheet, and having your flue swept and fire checked regularly, you will be helping to improve our air quality, while also safely and efficiently heating your home.

 

Thanks for taking the time to read this.

Krystal & Nic