Talk me through using a log burner

[flummingbird]

I moved into my new house in April and it has a log burner, I've never had one before. I've had the chimney lined (as it wasnt) and am ready to start using it. But I want to be efficient! I can start a fire but how soon do I add a new log?

Should I need to open the air vents again to get a new log to carch light or if I do, am I doing it wrong?? How many logs a night would you expect to use (in say 3 or 4 hours in a small log burner)? Should it be fiery flamey all the time or just embers? Someone teach me...

Have you tried googling it?

You want to have a nice big blaze to start out with, that will heat up the flue and mean that it pulls properly. Once that is established it's all plain sailing, just add logs as and when needed. Much will depend on the size of the logs. If they are split quite small, they will burn fast and hard and you will go through quite a few, if they are bigger they will burn more slowly. Burning faster is cleaner than burning slower, but does put out sometimes too much heat.

Different makes tell you different techniques - we use kindling and non paraffin firelighters. Only add logs once the kindling is well alight. Add a couple of small logs. Let them start burning then you can partially close the vents. There are lots of different techniques though. If you have a multi fuel burner you can use coal/smokeless coal as well.

Start with all the vents open and use small sticks like the lightings you get in nets from the petrol station, then a small skinny log once the lightings are well aflame. Then add another log and once that has got going you should be able to shut the vents down. Log burners are all different, some you can shut right down and get the most heat that way, others are better blazing flat out. The most important thing is really dry, seasoned wood. Ideally stored for a year before burning. The wetter the wood, the less likely it will be to burn well, and if its too fresh all the sap will tar up your chimney and make it fumey and dangerous.

It does rather depend on atmospherics - a good windy draw will burn through more logs. But in my experience, I need to feed the woodburner for the first hour -90 mins then just keep it ticking over.
To feed it I used newspaper, kindling, firefighters and a couple of logs. Kiln dried logs work well. It is trial and error, and each day may be different.

Weirdly, yes. Likely 90% of the posts on mumsnet could disappear if you did a straight Google. But sometimes it's just nice to get a clear personal answer from someone that isn't trying to sell something. Less nice to run across sarcastic fuckers, but that's mumsnet.

I think there's loads on YouTube. Wine corks and toilet rolls folded j side each other are worth saving for kindling. Also dried out orange peel!
As others said, all vents open to start to get a roaring fire to heat everything up. Then gradually close the vents big by big to achieve a lazy flame (you'll know it when you see it!) which is where you use least fuel.

Great you had chimney lined. I'd get a CO monitor in the room somewhere too.

Enjoy!

Get a magnetic temperature gauge for the flue too. That'll show you the optimum burning temperature

My log burner is quite wide so I put logs inside around the outside edge to warm up whilst the kindling catches and gets going. Then I just love those logs onto the fire.
Big toasty fire before we get sat down it puts out a lot of heat and takes the cold edge off the room to hen gently feed it whilst we are sat in there. Also don't load it up before bed. The technique for keeping the fire going all night is different.

I use a wigwam start but my chimney sweep uses a reverse square big on the bottom going up smaller. Works well for him, I could never get it to work for me.

Thanks everyone 😁 I've got good dry logs and kindling etc. How long would you say I need to keep it really going hard at the start to warm the flue, or is that another you'll just know thing? It's quite small so 2 logs pretty much fills it up, I don't want to be going through too many logs and being inefficient at the moment!

I've found most of the stuff on Google is basic and factual for starting a fire but not for tending to it after that.

You want to avoid opening the door as much as possible, so I would get long burning wood like oak, stoke it up and let it sit there on a long and low heat.

Also get an air purifier that kicks in when the air quality drops, this means when you do open the door the room is then clean again in 15 mins.

Your first fire is going to be more difficult to get going I'm presuming you don't have an ash bed.
Aim for heat before you put anything big on. Small kindling and a lot of it until you can feel heat coming off the stove and then gradually increase log size. It's not flame that'll make them burn.. it's heat.

Once you've got going a new big log will catch and burn even without flames if it's hot in there.

Subsequent fires will be easier to get going if you keep a bed of ash in the stove

You can get one of these to indicate the optimal heat output zone. Too hot for too long will damage the stove. Thermometer
Also second you need a carbon monoxide alarm near the stove and preferably on the floor, as CO is heavier than air.
Top tip to clean the inside of the glass, slightly dampen some scrunched up newspaper and dip it in the cold ash. Easiest way to clean it.

A lot depends on the weather. You'll know it's pulling well and burning well when there is nearly no smoke and the fire looks nice and clean. On damp foggy days it will take longer than on clear days.

I hope you all have appreciative cats and dogs that lie in front of your fires and log burners.

It wasn't meant sarcastically. But it sounds like you're googling the wrong thing. If your wood burner has a make/model name on it, you can google for the manufacturer's instructions, which will be optimim for your burner. (I know the instructions for ours includes detailed info on when to open/close the vents etc).

If you can't find a make/model name, take a good photo of it and use it in a Google Lens search to see if you can match it to a brand

Good luck!