Log burner novice, help needed

[doodleygirl]

We have recently a multi fuel burner and have some questions if anyone fancies helping. What is the quickest, most efficient way to extinguish the burner at night or do you just leave it burning and go to bed as I’m not sure I can do that.

What is best to burn logs, coal or both? I have googled but the answers are conflicting. Thank you

I use coffee logs, which are compressed coffee grounds. They're fab and give off more heat than actual logs. The smell slightly of coffee in the bag but not when you're burning them.
I time putting the last logs of the evening around when I'm going to go to bed, so they're just embers by that point. I close the air vent and they just go out, no worries.

Thank you, I’m currently googling coffee logs, so you go to bed when the embers are burning, that sounds doable. I am a bit of a worrier

Once the door is closed, the fire can't escape in any way. Burner will still be hot to the touch, but will cool down.

We have a burner for wood only, but have successfully also burned peat in it. We had a log burner in our last house and we both also grew up in homes with open fires.

Unlike an open fire, a burner is much safer and can be easily left unattended to burn overnight or when you are out the house. You can move the controls to restrict the air flow, so that the coal / wood burns very slowly and doesn’t completely go out and it will continue to radiate heat.

You can also get special briquettes (made from either coal or compressed wood shavings) that are designed to burn very slowly all night. This saves you having to relight the fire the next day, as you would just add more fuel to it and open up the controls to get the fire going again.

We tend to light ours mainly at weekends in the winter and in the evenings if we are going to spend time in the living room where it is located.

You can buy the quick light logs from home bargains, which are easy to use - light the paper and it can burn for a couple of hours - a quick and handy fire that can be lit when getting in from work for example.

Have you just had the stove installed, or moved to a house where it has been installed? Either way, make sure you get regular chimney sweeps carried out.

It may take a bit of trial and error to get used to your particular stove, as size and design can determine how they burn. I would also check that you can burn actual coal like in an open fire, or if it has to be the egg shaped coals that are like barbecue briquettes - (smokeless ovals I think they’re called) depending on the stove and if the property is in a smoke free zone, you may not be able to use regular coal.

If you are buying wood, get a mixture of kindling and logs, but make sure they are kiln dried as they burn better and cause less residue building up in your chimney. Again, Home Bargains can be good for picking up bags of kindling and logs, at least until you sort out a delivery of wood / coal.

If your burner has a multi fuel grate, you should be able to use both at the same time - e.g. set the fire with kindling and then add coal / wood on top.

You will get a feel for what works best for your own stove, your family and your house needs, it also depends on the age of the house and the weather - good luck!

We’ve also used coffee logs successfully, but they don’t seem to be readily available - can I ask where you get them? We’ve picked up some in Morrisons a few times, but they don’t always have them.

We keep ours going 24 hours a day in cold weather. Stoke it going to bed, turn down the vents and it burns slowly. Open up the vents in the morning, throw on more wood.

If it's mild...just don't put as much on it and let it burn out slowly. E.g. I might light it at 6pm but not put anything else on it...it'll burn out by 10pm.

Logs better than coal unless its really cold and then mix the 2.

Make sure you have a carbon monoxide detector @doodleygirl

Multifuels are more robust than wood burners, however, they are a bit of an antique these days. They were fine when coal was allowed, or anthracite. They work best with good, seasoned or kiln dried wood. They usually have a bigger fire box than wood burner, so you can get more heat out and you don't have to clean the Ash as often because they have an Ash box.

They also have botton vents, so you have much more control over the burn and can "blast" the fire if you ever need a few minutes of extreme heat.

At night, just but the last load of logs in about an hour before you go to bed. Slumbering a stove isn't reccomend, the gasses cool down as they reach the top of the chimney, forming creosote on the cowl and flue pipe. This creosote can flow back down the flue and build up, causing chimney fires. Best to open all vents and let the fire burn itself out quickly.

@unsync i have a carbon monoxide detector, the fire installers left me one.
@Chiseltip , not really sure what slumbering means. I have been told to close primary and secondary vents when I want the fire to go out as this starves the fire of oxygen, in your opinion is this correct?

Slumber mode is when an appliance is purposely set at a low or minimum output normally for overnight burning to be revived in the morning without the need for relighting.

Only some are suitable for this so check out the instructions for your specific one.

Please stop burning peat. It’s a valuable carbon sink.

Slumbering means keeping a low temp fire burning overnight, so you can just load the stove first in the morning and get the fire going again.

It's a really bad idea, might be OK for a bungalow, but a disaster for a two story or any installation with a tall stack.

Use dry wood, and when going to bed open all the vents to burn off the remaining wood and embers. This literally burns out the fore very quickly and prevents it slowly dying out, causing creosote and soot build up in your flue.

Also, get a stove thermometer, stick it on your flue, about a foot above the stove. Make sure you keep the temp in the "best operation".

@doodleygirl
I hope you live rurally because log burners produce a considerable amount of pollution. If I remember rightly, about 17% of the air pollution in London is caused by log burners. Our next door neighbour’s log burner is very smelly and sometimes makes my washing smell of smoke.
They should be banned in built up areas where alternative fuels are available.

@TerminalMoraine as far as I was aware my question was regarding how to best use a log burner rather than where I live but thank you for your comments, duly noted.

I love closing up the fire at night and coming down the next morning at it’s still putting out some heat. It takes away that chilly winter morning feel

To echo @TerminalMoraine if you have anyone in the household who has asthma or similar then you really need to rethink using a log burner - they chuck out so much particulate matter and on a cold night around here you can barely breathe due to the air quality from everyone who’s decided a nice fire in their burner will be nice. In central heated houses with double glazing 🤦🏻‍♀️

@Rainbowshine why do you think your unwanted advice is needed. I obviously did my research regarding multi fuel fires, it’s incredibly patronising to believe that your comments are needed or wanted.

The smoke that @Rainbowshine is on the recieving end of us unwanted, too! I hope you do live rurally @doodleygirl otherwise it is a very selfish way of heating your home and making your neighbours health worse.

Hey op, I have two one wood burners, one newer one,defra approved, one much older one, I run a powerful hepa filter air purifier in both rooms, and keep the air constantly clean, it tells me the air quality, and yes during late autumn and winter the filters do get more dirty and pick up more as I’m using the burners, the air purifier picks up speed and detects dirty air only when I open the doors to put a log in. When the doors are closed the air quality is excellent, in both rooms, but particulate does come out when the doors are open.

so my recommendation would be to always run a hepa filter air purifier, open and close the doors quickly when putting logs in, ensure chimney is swept annually and use seasoned wood. My husband has asthma and he is totally fine with the burners.

so as much as the poster is maybe not giving an articulate comment, and I do love the burners , I do think it’s not ideal to breathe that stuff in, so running an air purifier, make sure it’s hepa filter, is always a good idea.

seperately, I’m intrigued by everyone saying open the vents and burn the wood off, I have always done the opposite, I shut the air off and the fires go out. I’ve never had a problem with the chimneys, they are swept annually and the soot is soft and powdery, no creosote or anything sticky.

I have one and make no apologies - I can’t afford the insane price of gas and electricity to keep my home adequately heated in winter whereas I have a free source of wood. I don’t qualify for any fuel subsidies. i Have the cleanest burning stove available on the market and only burn very well seasoned wood.

Whilst wood burning has become an ever more important (relative) contributor to pollution, petrol/diesel cars, trucks, some buses are still the major sources of small particulate matter in London at least.

I have a multi fuel stove and a multi fuel Rayburn.
Usually burn seasoned logs, peat and some solid fuel.
the Rayburn is far superior and is rarely out during winter. After the CO monitor the most important thing is not to have anything flammable within 30 cm of any part of the stove or single skin flue pipe. Do not stack logs against the stove.

@Rainbowshine @TerminalMoraine @MrsJamin

Im a proud owner of log burner, go away and lecture elsewhere

We just closed the vents at night to let it cool down slowly. The fire/embers were contained.

I never burnt coal, can't compost the ashes which was a big disincentive, and most our wood was scavenged so no need to think about coal as cheaper. I guess coal is more energy/cost efficient to burn than wood if you are buying all the raw fuel, but I quite don't like the smell of coal fire too, so another reason I didn't.

Get a sweep in to look at it, recommended once a year although if we didn't burn much by end of a winter, sometimes we skipped a year..., the sweep will spot any safety problems as well as make sure you are very low risk for a chimney fire.