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Original poster

Any tips for a roaring open fire?

60 replies

EdieMcredie · 12/12/2006 20:31

We had our chimney swept yesterday but so far our attempts have only produced a lame fire. We have been using paper, kindling, coal and logs, in that order. How do you get really nice big flames?

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TillyRose · 12/12/2006 20:33

Firelighters, kindling, a base level of coal and when it is all well alight chuck a few very dry logs on top.

WhyDooLittleStarsShine · 12/12/2006 20:39

Firelighters then kindling wood placed carefully on top, then small bits of coal and gradually add more as the flames get stronger.
You need a good red heart to the fire then throw on loads of coal and logs.
Watch it roar!

Same as Tillyrose said, in fact

JanH · 12/12/2006 20:40
  1. Leave the door open (to the room where the fire is) to make a draught up the chimney
  2. Screw up lots of sheets of newspaper in the hearth (you have got a basket thing to lay the fire in with an ash tray underneath?)
  3. Lay some kindling in zig zags across the screwed up paper
  4. Put a few lumps of coal on top of the kindling
  5. Put a match to all the bits of screwed-up paper across the front

Once it gets going, put a few more bits of coal on.

If it refuses to catch, try holding a large sheet of paper (broadsheet!) across the fireplace to force the chimney to pull the flames up

Or put some firelighters on top of the kindling before laying the coal on top, and put a match to the firelighters.

Oh, and make sure everything is dry!

Good luck

puddle · 12/12/2006 20:43

Like Jan says.

But add a very dry log on the top, propped up (not flat on the coal)so that the flames burn through the kindling and catch the log and the coal heats up in the middle.

yomellamoHelly · 12/12/2006 20:45

We do as you, but firelighters rather than paper. Tend to light firelighers put in grate then pile kindling on top. Once that's taken some coal on, when that starts smoking some more and two/three minutes later a log (if possible one that's been inside a few days and has had the chance to dry out.
Have found smokeless fuel does take longer to get going and really benefits from being combined with logs.

Mercy · 12/12/2006 20:46

As JanH says, a newspaper held over the fireplace always worked for me

(those were the days!)

DumbledoresFairy · 12/12/2006 20:46

Once you have got it going, keep the draught open at the bottom of the fire (there is usually a grate thingy you can have either opened or closed) and feed plenty of logs or coal on. You can stimulate more flames temporarily by adding cardboard which will burn quickly and increasue the heat enough for you to add more coal/logs.

I do a fire every day so I am a bit of an old hand at all the tricks.

paulaplumpbottom · 12/12/2006 20:47

After you screw up the paper put them into coils. I don't know why this works better it just does. You should also use some firelighters as they help get things going. Its an extra but dried lavender sprigs and dried pine cones make your fire smell lovely.

JanH · 12/12/2006 20:47

What you need more than anything else to get a fire going is air - never put too much of anything on until it's really burning well

Rantaclaus · 12/12/2006 20:49

I would do as Jan H does (need quite a lot of kindling - more than you might think) except I wait til the kindling is burning well and then add some smaller pieces of coal - as they start to smoke you will know that the fire is going, so gradually add more coal.

Mercy · 12/12/2006 20:49

ooooooh, I'd love a real fire

WhyDooLittleStarsShine · 12/12/2006 20:50

Hark at you lot

MistletoeGolightly · 12/12/2006 21:05

I love the newspaper trick! Especially when the flames roar up behind and light up the paper - it always feels a bit dangerous!

Just to add - if you have double glazing or a generally very air-tight house, it's worth opening a window or a door. As JanH says, the key is lots of air and some modern houses don't have enough drafts! You can shut the door when it's going well.

I try to build the kindling into a kind of teepee topped off with coal or a log so that the flames are funnelled upwards onto the coal - what you don't want are horizontal layers of paper and kindling topped with a heavy platform of coal - if you do that the paper burns and the weight of the coal collapses the structure and smothers the fire before the blaze gets going. You need plenty of air and space underneath until the coal gets really hot - then you can whack it down with the poker into a nice solid fire that will keep going for a long time.

DingDongDraculaOnHigh · 12/12/2006 21:09

good seasoned logs is what you need
without those forget it

worleywinterwonderland · 12/12/2006 22:09

if you only want a fire for a little while you can buy ready to burn logs in tescos etc. you just set light to the wrapper and it takes care of itself. it burns for about 2 1/2 half hours. i find them quite handy sometimes when i cant be a*d to make it and i know that if i put it on when i get home from work it will be finished just as i go to bed. no worrying about the embers left.
i stock up on them in the summer sales!!

MistletoeGolightly · 12/12/2006 22:15

WWW your Tesco must be posher than ours - I have never even heard of such a thing let alone seen it in Tesco! Mind you, ours is a bit feral. My BIL won't go in there any more since he got accosted by a man wearing ballet shoes shouting at the rice.

Original poster
EdieMcredie · 12/12/2006 22:23

Thanks everyone, that's great. Have finally manged to get it roaring!! It's so nice!!

Oh and another thing how do you put it out when you go to bed? Or do you leave it???!!!

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Original poster
EdieMcredie · 12/12/2006 22:24

PMSL At the man in the ballet shoes!

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Heathcliffscathy · 12/12/2006 22:26

use tongs to move the logs away from the centre and to the sides (stand them upright). put fireguard in front.

MistletoeGolightly · 12/12/2006 22:26

Oh good! Glad all the tips worked - and that the ballet shoes man provided amusement!

I leave ours - I bash it down so there aren't any actual flames and then put the fireguard up in case the logs spit and burn the house down.

DumbledoresFairy · 12/12/2006 22:27

let it die down about an hour before you are going to bed. The aim is to end up with a just glowing fire when you go to bed, not flames.

JanH · 12/12/2006 22:29

Am at both the posh self-lighting fires and the lunatic in ballet shoes!

edie, do you have a spark guard? You can just leave one of those set in front of the fire and go to bed pretty much without a care (not with a blazing fire obv but once it's died down it's ok)

worleywinterwonderland · 12/12/2006 22:30

the logs in our tescos are in the sandwichbag section next to the matches etc. our morrisons does them also.
they are usually about £2 a log which can work out quite expensive, so i only get them in the sale in the summer!! but they are nice sometimes

MistletoeGolightly · 12/12/2006 22:35

Our tesco is very exciting all round. I remember when DS was about a week old I ventured out of the house all tremulous about breast-feeding in public and stuff, and was amazed to see a woman walking round the supermarket pulling stuff off the shelves with one hand and breastfeeding her baby with the other. I was sooooooo impressed!

Original poster
EdieMcredie · 12/12/2006 22:50

Wow that is a revolutionary Tesco MistletoeGolightly!!

Yes all this has been very helpful. Glad we can leave it and go to bed, it's just glowing now, there are no more flames left.

Yes we have a guard/screen infront of it more or less all the time as we have cats and they aint too clever!!!

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