A New Way To Light Your Wood Burner
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 20 ก.ค. 2024
- Here at ecofiresandstoves.co.uk it turns out that we have been lighting our stoves the wrong way according to the Scandinavians.
They happen to know a great deal about wood burning, in fact you could say - they are the real experts.
On a recent trip to Denmark, the company behind one of the most popular stoves the Heta Inspire 40, showed us how they light a fire in Scandinavia,
In this video Pete demonstrates 'Top Down Lighting' and how it can make the lighting of a stove much easier.
Many people experience problems lighting their stoves from scratch and also have to overcome many have problems getting them working after cold conditions.
This is the easy way.. - แนวปฏิบัติและการใช้ชีวิต
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I had a lump in my throat watching this, not because of the stove but the staffy sat in front of the stove in the background because my old staffy used to do that in front of my old parkray fire years ago and she was the double of your dog. Thanks for the tip and give your dog a treat from me.
I bought a house in the summer that has a modern multi fuel burner. The previous owner apologised for the fact that it smokes badly. The first time of lighting, I used your ‘Top down ‘ method. No smoke in the room at all and 9 fire started very quickly. Good as gold - many thanks.
I see the dog in the background has found the best place! I have lit my woodburner like this for ages!
I'm always impressed by someone who's willing to admit they have learned a better way of doing things.
I live in northern Scotland, and it gets cold here. My smaller stove has a straight-up chimney and, in the frost, is basically a rod of cold heavy air; that's what sinks down and pushes the smoke into the room. The old-school method I use is a few sheets of _dry_ (60 seconds in the microwave) newspaper rolled up and poked through the baffle plate gap into the base of the chimney pipe. I light that and let the heat push the column of cold air out. I only need to do this when it's really chilly, -5C and below; the rest of the time it's fine.
Top-down lighting really does work though, including for outdoor camping fires. Basically, the Scandinavians know all there is to know about burning wood so there's always more to learn from them.
P.S. If you split your own wood and want a good maul, the Gransfors Bruks version is truly phenomenal. You'll never want to own anything else once you've had one of those.
Happy burning - stay toasty!
Just used this method this morning 10 degrees F and not one puff of smoke in the house
Thank you , love this new idea , I have had stoves most of my life this is absolutely the best way , just lit my stove the way you recommended and it was incredibly simple and effective. Just goes to show one is never too old to learn, today I am officially a pensioner and today has been a school day, thank you . Brilliant so impressed.🙂
I have always burned top down since moving to Austria six years ago. My fire lighter is on top of the kindling and it all burns top down, it’s counter intuitive, when I was in the UK was firlighter,kindling,logs. But it really works and the flue gets warmed very quickly! Clear video, good news the word is spreading!
Tried this over the Christmas in our stove down the country and it worked really well. Usually when the stove hasn't been lit for a few weeks it takes a long time to get going and smokes out the room. Great tip - thanks
This method is awesome! I have been struggling with a new EPA rated stove for about a week and one fire start with this method and I am sold! Works great!
Christmas day today, first light for ages and the easiest and light ever, zero smoke and massive flames almost form the go. Brilliant thank you.
I have been using this method for the last 4 years. It really does work. A hot fire very quickly. Thank you for sharing!!
After read the instructions for our insert wood burner I've always set the fire this way. Never fails!
Tried your Scandinavian new way the other night half way up/down the the Troodos Mountain range on the island of Cyprus where I’ve lived and worked for the last twenty two years, despite rumours to the contrary Cyprus does have a winter it’s short sharp and can be absolutely freezing. The stove an old British Army stove built in the 1930’s presumably in a Tank factory with all sorts of adjustable baffles and additional air intakes has never fired up so quickly or efficiently despite me installing a new stainless steel double skin flue and keeping the flue almost entirely inside the building when I rebuilt the old house, the old single skin galvanised flue that I took out had scorched the roof beams! Plenty of wood around but it’s mostly pine so together with a neighbour we buy a container load of dried Central European Oak each year which for the first time has burnt really well. My neighbours tried your new Scandinavian way and has had a very good result as well.
Thanks Pete from us both. and Regards to Fleet, I knew it well a long time ago.
I use "top down" AND "bottom up" simultaneously to start my home-made wood burner. I ignite the top only, to allow the chimney to heat up and as the embers fall through the stack of kindling then the bottom ignites. This method gives me a completely smoke free fire very quickly, with the door closed. Of course the fire starter stack, I call it, is surrounded by large dry logs that will burn for at least 90 minutes or more before adding more fuel.
That's the method I was shown by my stove installer back in 2014.
If its cold outside, scrunch up a ball of newspaper and light it. A quick burst of heat will shift any cold air in the flue. This should be the first thing you do before attempting to light kindling etc.
Just tried this new method for first time. Works incredibly well. Will be using this method in future now. See if I ever get a smoky lounge ever again!
Great tips!! Thank you. Stopped the smoke in my living room. Let's hear it for the Scandinavian method!
I've heard of top down before, but this is a good demo. I'll give it a spin!
Great tip, thank you. I've always just used news paper and plenty of kindling to start off with but will give this a go.
Thank you Pete, as newbies to log burner stoves we will certainly follw your advice.
I'm a German stove builder. I'd lay the logs with the bark away of the fire, because the bark is the natural protection from fire for trees.
As igniter I use only woodwool drenched in wax and small dry conifer wood pieces.
Ignite the wool on the logs and then put the small wood pieces on the igniter. Full airflow and ajar stove door until it burns well.
Works good thanks. If your wood is dry enough you could use far less kindling. What also helps is adding some airflow underneath the wood on the bottom by propping up some or all of the base layer wood with some kindling or a fire brick or whatever.
Thanks Pete, these are really useful and informed videos.
I tried it this morning and it worked just as you demonstrated. I have been struggling to get a good fire going till I watched your video. I think building the kindling cabin high is the key. Thank you!!
Hi buddy. I have a bbq hut and tried this today. Game changer! Ive shared with two communities. Thank you! 👍
Thats a great demo, well explained. Going to try that tonight, thanks.
Been doing this for years. Keeping the door ajar works great!!
Fabulous.
I’ve spent ages trying to figure out a way to light a fire. This is the way I’ll do it from now on. Worked first time. Warm as Toast within twenty minutes.
Thanks
Nice mate. My chimney sweeper showed me the exact same method and since then, I am only lighting my fires that way. It works very well.
Tried this new method. Works a treat. Thank you...
Wish our wood and kindling was all neat and perfect cut like that. We use hand chopped wood and the sticks for kindling.
Thanks for this. Gonna try it in my first log burner in a few weeks time.
Thanks for posting this and one of the others you did. Game changers. Owned a wood burner for just a few months now and this has changed and tuned my approach. Last night the stove was running like a peach. Your video thought of everything and has totally upped things this end for me. Thank you.
Thank you for your comments Jonathan
Just bought a new house with a log burner and this is a great tip as will be our first time using one - thanks for the video
Same reason I’m here :)
I'll try this tomorrow morning. I might get a different result because I have a horizontal rear flue which then goes outside and up the outside of the house in an Inox chimney, this means it is very cold for most of the chimney tube. Worth a try though.
Thanks for a great vid. Im new to this, i tried this step by step. The issue i had was the two logs on the grate did not catch fire properly and fizzled out. The logs were dry. Il keep trying 👍
This is great, can't wait to try it. Thank you!
Never to old to learn!!!
Brilliant thanks a lot!!!
Thanks for that, really useful to know. Appreciate it. Cheers
Just tried this today. Works a great 👍
I just strike a match and break wind gets them burning like a charm everytime! Eternal blue flame 🔥
Great technique! Will definitely be trying this. Thanks for the good video, will subscribe.
Thank you steve and good luck
Great video. Very clearly explained method.
Just tried this and it worked a treat 👍 exactly as described. The fan was working in less than 4 minutes and 15 minutes later I have beautiful glowing embers! Thank you!
Great info. Thanks for sharing.👍
From the Rocky Mountains here at 8k ft.. thanks for the in depth info.. We have 2 Stoves.. I use only the main in the open living area..
I see your Cat loves the fire.. cheers
That bit of advice at the end about the cold plug of air was amazing! Thanks,
This is great- but the best bit is the cute dog getting comfy in front of the stove in the background 😂👍🏻
Thank you for the help from Visalia CA.
I've been doing this for 15 years. It works great. I do it with camp fires too. Smoke is unburned fuel that results from trying to burn too much fuel with too little heat. This method lets the fire burn down into the wood at the right rate, and only burns what the fire can consume. I do use brown paper grocery bags to make paper knots, which I placed on top of the kindling and light with a single match. I never get smoke in the house doing this.
I’ve been top down burning for years, I found that it uses less wood / burns longer, One good load can keep the fire going all evening and heat 10 radiators by using this method.
Thank you . I Will follow your advice in future.
Very helpful video which got me started when we bought our stove.
Can you tell me: What stove fan is featured in the video?
Ours is pretty noisy
Great tip. Looking forward to trying it.
Great, thanks so much! Works great 😃
Thank you so much. Nice explanation
Always glad to see different ways to start off the fire. I be trying this way the next time I start up the stove.
Thank you for your videos, they've really helped with a problem we had with the smoke coming back into the room on cold, damp, still days.
Good to see that 4 years on from the original video, the same dog still has its place by the fire in the background :)
I watched for his/her reappearance too! beautiful grey muzzle now :)
Great tip. All makes logic sense. Thanks.
Thanks so much Pete! We had a new log burner 2 yrs ago, and hated the cost and hassle for a stove which lit properly only about 50%of the time. We had been smoked out the room several times, and the installer came back and ‘showed’ us, how embarrassing and still didn’t help (of course it worked the day they were here but not after!). But they didn’t show us this method! We are now lighting no problems! No smoke and much quicker heat. We also open a window and the room door to crate a draught at the start, we think it helps on a still day.
Hello Pete, great tip there for a new way of lighting the fire. Question? I have the same stove as demonstrated there and would like to ask "What size rope do I need to replace the door seal please"?.....................Great video bye the way.
Just tried and O M G the heat is incredible and it's the hottest it's ever been. Also due to no smoke it appears that we won't have to keep cleaning the glass which we have had to do in the past.
Been lighting off top-down for decades in my Morso stoves. Cold objects above the nascent fire serve to quench (stop) the flames, generating serious pollution for those downwind. Infrared radiation rapidly propagates the fire down into the rest of the startup batch. Of course, it's good that such batch be of very low MC (moisture content), something you check with a meter. That process helps to rapidly heat up the flue, minimizing accumulation of poo that can feed your next chimney fire. Stay safe and warm.
I will definitely try that this weekend with my Juno 5
Very interesting, thanks for posting 👍
Great advice, thank you.
Thank you. Varry helpful.
Hadn't seen that before - we'll give it a try in our new stove
great idea thanks for this tip can i apply the same method for starting my stove with coal we have a woodburner at home and a stove on our narrowboat just wondered about coal top down cheers
Wow. Last night I couldn’t get my stove going. Just tried with the same wood this morning and I’ve got a nice fire going. Gosh!
Good job Pete cheers
Great video. Thanks.
What a superb video ! - Thanks for taking the time to upload it .... we had a woodburner for some years, and sometimes would have to open all the doors and windows to le the smoke !! - We have now moved and are just having another fitted and will be using this method in the new one
when starting a stove from "cold iron" I use newspaper to get the cold air out of the outlet pipe, with the door cracked open and the window open to max the airflow into the stove. After the fire gets going, close the window and then when the stove is going well, shut the stove's door.
It’s important to use dry logs and kindling too. The “smoke” that was referenced in the video is mostly water vapour and CO2, both of which are used to extinguish fires. Less moisture in the fuel = less water vapour and CO2 = efficient burn.
Thank you for nice explanation
i am impressed. pete your a proffesor of log fires ..i know your are good .i can tell your are a professional.if your werent youd being sounding like rod stewart.the rusty version
Hi, thank you for the video, we’ve just moved into a house with log burner which I’ve never used before. Should I wait till it gets to 400 degrees Fahrenheit and then start to close the vent and should I close the primary air vent completely or leave it half open and then leave the air wash fully open.
Threw out a badly installed multi fuel (lucky to be alive) and replaced it with a wood burner I followed your method to the letter and the glass never blacks just a slight brown band along the bottom of the glass about 3/4 inch due to the airwash being deflected by the grate after 45mins almost shut the primary vent and the stove is glowing hot, it is a 6kw Invicta Samara, I am living in France at the moment, my sitting room 5 x 7 meters is like an oven.I just hesitate a second when I open the door place a log and the draw keeps all smoke and dust going up the flu good advice. People do say you don't light a wood burner like that,I just say try it, it never fails
An alternative method for a box wider than deep: 1. Shovel out ashes if more than an inch in the bottom, 2. Place two short kindling, 90deg to the opening, about 4-6" apart, 3. Place two main logs on top, 90deg to kindling, 3. Place choice of firestarter between those logs, but not falling thru, 4. Place 2 larger pcs kindling on top, slightly angled to main logs. 5. Close door but leave open a crack, 6. Light match and check draft. If okay, open door and put match to firestarter.
very interesting thanks
I have been doing the same for years but I use a bed of kindling then add the logs then the kindling on top
The bed of kindling creates air flow under the logs.
Try it out.
Well done. Thanks
I stuff a couple crumpled up sheets of newspaper up the base of the flue/top of the woodstove and light them to warm up the flue/chimney. On very cold days, the initial blast of hot air starts to upward flow of smoke.
I'll try that in the morning, thanx for the video.
Did it work?
@@Pnev1 have not tried that way' I ush' use little bit of charcoal and/or some fire starter gel'
Makes sense. Give it a try tomorrow
Worked great - my fire was smoke free and started fast!
This the second of your videos I’ve watched, just one question with this new way of lighting do we retain the ash bed as previously indicated ? Thanks
I use newspapers and no kindling. Just smaller dry logs. Works well.
I love that in the instructions of my stove it says only to have the fuel so high, this guy is like "bruh go to the roof"
Thank you it’s much better doing it this way 👍
will give this a go tomorrow (we used to live in ch.crookham and have been to you many times ,now live in central france)...oh what fun we used to have with our smoke filled room...till our neighbour told us the reason ....a really hot fire to push the cold air up our chimney(-11 to -20 outside )we use broken up wooden veggie/fruit boxes and then oak..works a treat...though 1/2 an hour of full heat ...your stovax temp gauge was already at 250C...would you not be getting into the too hot area?
Top down is the best but I also put newspaper within the kindling layer. Fire up top works it’s way down and kills any smoke, which is what you want to avoid.
I us this method when Having a BBQ put charcoal unlit down first and lit hot charcoal on top burns 5 times longer great for roasting, it's call d the minimum method
Before starting the fire I cut my kindling finer down to 1/4 to 1/2 inch sticks 16 inches long.Then I fire up my Bernz a matic torch and light it.Im lazy and don't want to wait 30 min. to get a fire going.I am still using the same small bottle of fuel from 2 years ago..Fire starters are expensive. One other way to get a jump on the lighting is to take a sharp knife ,then cut in at slight angles towards the ends.Make about 6 cuts shaving thin slivers on one or both ends and it makes great torches for starting fires.It doesn't cost anything but time.Dad used to do it while watching tv in the evenings,shaving an arm load of little torches..Dry pine,fir and cedar work best. PS I also lay in two small chunks of wood down just like in the video ,kindling,and when it lights off I lay in up to 3 small chunks of wood that are as big around as a 50 cent piece..Woo hoo look out, fire at its finest...
Hi , I use a layer of newspaper half a fire lighter a little bit of kindling and then I fully load the woodburner with logs and it takes less than a minute for the fire to be raging
Thank you for a very interesting video. Interested in your thoughts on 'Stove Fans' ? Are they really good on circulting warm air around and through an enclosure ? Stating once again with a wood burning stove and wonder if the use of a flue-pipe thermometer can aid in getting timing(i.e. Temperature of flue) right before closing down Primary/Secondary air controls ? Any experience of Cat Stoves worth passing on ?
The fan is spinning so quickly, it's impressive. Makes me wonder and think it must be effective, a little at least?
They are efficient for blowing hot air into the room and certainly heat the room faster. Good for starting but if you have any sort of stone or wood lintel above the burner it stops them absorbing as much heat and negates the radiator effect they have for hours after the fire has gone out. Hope this helps!
What a great idea… a top-down fire. Wow!
Here in the "states" we use (crumpled into balls) newspaper (or junk mail) in the middle of your kindling stack (just front, back, and sides, put another log on top near the front) so no expensive fire starters needed... as paper burns at about 451 F (you may remember the movie "Fahrenheit 451", where they burn all the books)... it heats the box. pipe and stack very quickly...
Great video, i just got a wiking mini 2 installed and are learning to use it. When doing the jenga with the kindling, how many pieces of firelighters do you recommend putting in between the layers of kindling? and do i put some firelighters between the bottom layer and another 1 or 2 between the toplayer?
Listen again to how the top-down thing is structured. Progressively larger DRY fuel bits below. Fire starter ON TOP. Leave door cracked until flue starts to get hot; close gradually.
Hi EcoFires.
I’ve just come across your page for the first time! I’m a neighbour in Basingstoke!
I recently moved into a house with a log burner… I’m so nervous and apprehensive starting up my first fire. Will it smell my house out of fire? Will the smell linger.
Quick Tips on what to use and must have’s for starting a fire? Thank you! 😊
It’s been serviced and chimney swept and ready to use… I’ve got children in the house who suffer with asthma, will this affect them?