How to light your stove
People may think that lighting your stove is easy and when you know how to it is. Using the right kindling and using the right seasoned wood can also help light your stove and keep it burning for longer.
Before we get down to lighting the fire, it is helpful to understand some differences between ordinary fires and wood burning stoves:
1. The wood burning stove is in an enclosed metal box. It therefore takes a lot of heat energy to get it hot (particularly if it is made of cast iron )
2. Air intake is controlled by one or more valves
3. The design means you can preheat the air so the stove burns much hotter than a conventional wood fire
4. The wood stove is therefore much more efficient in terms of converting fuel to heat energy than an ordinary fire
Preparing your fire
With most fires you are able to light it with newspaper or you can use firelighters depending on what you wish to use
With a wood stove it is good to light the new fire on a bed of ash so don't remove all the old ash when preparing the fire. Open the stove door and add several sheets of scrunched up paper to the top of the ash. Some people prefer to roll the paper into a cylinder then twist the ends together.
Next add small bits of Kindling, on top of your paper or firelighter, Kindling is any easy burning material but typically a soft wood like pine chopped into small pieces with a hand axe. Firelighters are typically made of paraffin wax. Some manufacturers add small amounts of kerosene or other light fuel to the wax in order to make them burn better.
Have larger pieces of dry, seasoned wood ready to add as the fire catches hold.
Your wood burning stove may typically have both a primary and secondary air input controls or valves When lighting the stove these should both be open in order to get as much oxygen to the fire as possible.
The Primary Air Input Valve, brings cold air from the room under the burning wood. The Secondary Air Input Valve takes air which has circulated around the stove and over the front viewing glass (helping to remove soot and keep it clear).
This means the secondary air is already very hot when it meets with the hot gases from the burning wood. The gases therefore ignite in the upper part of the stove making the stove much hotter and releasing more heat energy from the wood than with a conventional, open fire.
Making sure your wood is seasoned
Having seasoned wood helps to keep your fire in better condition if its too wet the stove will not burn as well and it may also cause problems with the chimney causing it to clog up with tar. Seasoning typically takes about a year for newly felled wood.
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