Lighting a Wood Burning Stove
We have now drifted into autumn, leaving summer behind us. The mornings have become chilly and we realise winter is just around the corner.
Log burning stoves have made a recent comeback into the many homes of London and the rest of the UK. Using a log stove can save on heating bills and still keep the winter chill at bay, making your home cosy and warm throughout the winter months.
But how can you light your stove in the most efficient way? It can take a bit of practice, but here are some guidelines to help you out:
- Firstly, you will need to completely open the main air vent, control, and airwash controls.
- You will then need to use a firelighter (or paper) with some dry kindling and lay it down on the grill of the stove.
- Then proceed to ignite the firelighter (or paper), using a lighter or matches.
- While the fire begins, to help reduce condensation and warm up the glass, keep the door open a little and open up the vents.
- Now you’ve got the fire going, you can start to add some bigger logs to the flames. Make sure not to add too many logs at one time, as this can suffocate the fire.
- Leave the fire to burn for 30 minutes, and then you can close the door of the stove entirely and any vents midway.
- Once the fire is in full-flow, you can close the main air control fully.
- If you wish, you can then utilise the airwash to regulate the burn speed now the stove is at working temperature.
- There are two types of logs you can purchase for your stove, softwood or hardwood. What are the differences between them?
Hardwood logs tend to come from trees such as oak, beech and ash. They are denser than softwood logs, which means they are generally heavier and overall, produce more energy. Because they burn longer, you wouldn’t need to use as many of them as softwood logs.
Softwood logs come from trees like pine, larch and spruce. They are far easier to light and get the fire going, and are usually cheaper to buy.
Both types are great to use on log burning stoves and will help to heat up your home in no time!