Do you struggle to light your log burner? If you are one of those people, you are not alone. It is harder than it seems. We don’t need smoke-filled rooms or flickering logs. Here are a few tips and downright hacks that will certainly help.
- Clean your chimney
When your chimney hasn’t been cleaned or swept in the last year there might not be enough draw on the fireplace from the chimney to keep your fire going. The best thing to do is call in a pro and get your chimney cleaned, especially at the start of a new season. It is possible for dangerous chemicals to build up in the flue, causing chimney fires.
- Prime your flue
You don’t have to worry, this isn’t as complicated as it sounds. Before lighting your fire, you need to mix the cold air in your chimney with warmer air. The chimney cannot remove the cold air if it suddenly gets too hot. Hold a piece of newspaper up to the damper, light one end of it, and roll it up. Repeat until you feel the air reversing (the warm air will be drawn up the chimney).
- Choose the right logs
If you are not using ready to burn kiln dried logs in Denbighshire. then there is a strong possibility the moisture content at the heart of the log is above 20%. When you burn logs that are not ready there is a chance your stove will fill up with black ugly smoke. Worst of all, creosote can start building up in your chimney, and can greatly increase the risk of a chimney fire.
The solution to this would be to only burn seasoned firewood that is kiln dried to a moisture content of at least 20% and below.
- Leave enough room
When you build a fire too quickly with too many logs, it can create excessive smoke as there isn’t enough energy for the logs to light. Make sure you leave enough space between your kindling and logs so that oxygen can circulate freely. Your fire needs room to burn.
- Top down fire lighting method
In recent years, the top down fire lighting method (also known as an upside-down fire) has become extremely popular among manufacturers and installers of stoves as well as chimney sweeps.
As well as providing a less smokey fire lighting experience, research has shown that it maximises fuel efficiency as well.
Keep logs at room temperature
Do you struggle to start a fire when you bring your logs from the log store indoors on a cold day? Well, logs kept at room temperature will always combust much more easily than logs that have been stored away in cold conditions. Try and store some logs inside your home so you have room temperature logs that will be ready to burn when you fancy lighting a fire.
Hopefully, when you put these fire lighting solutions into practice, it’ll be a success for that cosy evening by the fire after all!
