how do you light your wood burning stove efficiently

[noyouhavehadawee]

do you use firefighters and kindling or old newspaper or what? we are in the installation process and i still can't light our chiminea never mind this . i am looking to avoid smoke filled house and giant ash piles.

We use all of the above (although rarely newspaper) but once it's going you shouldn't need to light it again for the winter ... there's a skill to doing it quickly and efficiently - I learnt from a 12 year old that had been on a Bear Grylls type course!!! - we're just about to deep six ours cause we're sick of all the messing around!!!

*although we do use firelighters as opposed to firefighters because that would be illegal, and very messy ....

I use old letters, junk mail etc, I find newspaper is not so good plus I don't buy any, I don't use firelighters because of the smell. I then put a small amount of wood on top, i.e. pallet wood that is dry, then open up both air vents at the bottom of the fire until it is burning really well, then close them to half open then put more wood on.

lol at my typo! just normal firelighters bbq style? we won't be running it 24 hours its just for cold day fun as we do have gch for early morning.

Make sure all old ash is cleared out
A couple of sheets of scrunched up newspaper as a "bed".
Dry kindling, some hot burning wood such as chestnut then some oak (slow burning) on top.
poke a firelighter into pile of kindling and have vents open and i leave door slightly ajar till the blaze really gets going, then shut door and turn down vents

thank you . i have not slept all night through excitement and partly because dd is full of snot! i expect a messy weekend.

i have no accessories at all, so i need a metal bucket for ash and something to store logs in decorative like for burning - are them metal holders use nor ornament or is a lined basket more efficient but more spider attractive?

I dont use firelighter anymore, just chuck all the junk mail in there a bit screwed up a little ple of kindling on top, get that going well for a couple of minutes and chuck a log on, once that is lit stuff it full to the top with logs and turn the vents down low goes for hours or all night if needed.
I pile logs up at the side, use my bbq tongs tto move anything I need and just carry the ash pan out as it is, chuck it on the flower beds if it is only wood ash.

sounds like a good plan and will save me money on a little brush . yes if i can light without extra expense that would be favourable. i was thinking burning paper rubbish would tar up the flue so was being cautious because this is more dh project and i am more obsessed with stopping my house burning down and it looking pretty

Sorry to change to subject, but how often do you lot get your chimney swept, we have had our woodburner for 2 winters now, its fully lined and we only burn clean wood in it, I told Dh we should get it done before thus winter but he said its fine!! Any advise ladies?

Open all vents.
Light a couple of sheets of newspaper first to warm the flue.
When that has burnt, screw up several sheets of newspaper or junk mail (not glossy types) or use firefighters.
Put plenty of kindling on top then light paper/firefighter.
Let it roar away until kindling is going black, then, and only then, do you add logs.
Do not close vents until everything is properly alight.
DH sells and fits stoves and is always having to give firefighting lessons!

Re chimney: have it done now, then your sweep will tell you whether you need to sweep annually or can skip a year or even two. There are lots of variables and there's no way your DH would be able to know that it's ok.

More firefighters !

I think you can make something from wood ash, is it clothes detergent?

If any f us ever do set fire to our homes we will be screwed becasue you lot keep burning all the firefighters

In terms of sweeping, it depends on a lot of things, mostly the type of wood you burn. Your sweep will guide you on this. Also check your house insurance; they may have requirements. I found this out to my cost- I moved into my house with a woodburner, assumed it had been swept as it was rented and unfortunately had a chimney fire three weeks later. The landlord's building insurance were a bit arsey about paying for the structural repairs as they couldn't produce a certificate of sweeping which was dated within the time period they demanded. My contents insurance specified that it had to be swept a minimum every three months between September and April, and once between then if I wanted to be covered in the case of a house fire which started from the chimney.

Thanks for that, ill start looking for sweeps this weekend, is it very expensive? What sort of price will I be looking at? Don't want to be ripped off by some "have a go chimney sweep"

about £40. try and get a hetas sweep.

Thanks georgedawes, I thought it would be a lot more than that. Will get Dh onto it while I'm in work today.

No it's not expensive, but important to get a good one, not some jack the lad who doesn't clean it properly. One tip is to call a (decent) stove shop nearby and ask who they recommend.

You really should have it cleaned at least once a year.

www.hetas.co.uk/find-chimney-sweep/

Really once a year with a stove? I have an open fire, re-installed in an original fireplace about a decade ago, and I have never had it swept. My advice and experience was that you soon know if you have a problem, because the chimney does not draw properly, the fire doesn't stay lit and/or you get smoke in your room...

Flow4 unfortunately a chimney fire may be the first indication there is a problem. This happened to my mum, who despite lots of advice, insisted her chimney was fine. 2 weeks later she had to phone 999.

I've got a wood burner with a thatch, our insurance insists on at least one sweep every year. This is with a brand new woodburner with a fully lined chimney.

That should have said " never had it swept since "...

Thanks, ET... I've just bought a house with two wood burners, so need to know the differences!

You should definitely have it swept yearly. You should get a certificate from your sweep (if properly registered). Without one should you have the misfortune to have a chimney fire you might well find your insurers reluctant to pay out. It isn't just the fire not burning well/chimney not drawing.

We just chuck paper and kindling on or use firelighters if the children have not littered our back yard with enough sticks. We store our christmas trees for a year then chop them up for firelighting too. We run ours 24/7 in the winter though. Running 24/7 is so much more efficient than lighting daily as it can take a while for everything to heat through. Ours does the water and heating too but we find that lighting in the evening and burning faster to get the heat quickly burns just as much fuel as burning slowly over 24 hours for a sustained level of heat.