Stove Advice

I have an Esse Ironheart and a Woodwarm stove. If the stoves have been out for a while or it has been raining and I know the chimney will be cold and damp I always try to warm the flue first by screwing up newspaper and burning it, usually a whole broadsheet. This helps the chimney to draw and makes lighting easier.

Before I open the stove door to reload with logs I always open the air controls to send any smoke up the chimney, then I always just open the door a jar for a second before fully opening it. Otherwise I get smoke in the room.

Last year I bought a flue pipe thermometer, its magnetised and sticks to the flue pipe. It shows the ideal temperature for the flue gasses. If your stove gasses are under about 200C then you are likely to make dangerous creosote in the chimney. Over 400C you are sending heat up the chimney and wasting fuel. A very useful device and slightly addictive.

Great website, will try some fuel at some point(fortunately have a huge stock at present)
We run a Moderator 10kw waste wood boiler which heats our home and hot water easily. it requires feeding about 3 times a day and generally will stay in through the night. Brilliant!
We burn a sawn up pallet a day.

We have had our Scan 4-5 multi fuel stove from Sandpits Heating Centre in Curry Rivel for just over a year now. At first we were burning nets of logs from garage forecourts (lack of storage space at home) until we discovered Woof! I'll never burn the 'wet' logs again that sooted up the glass and gave little heat in comparison to Woof!'s kiln dried logs. The other great thing about Woof! is the range of things to burn. We have tried Heat Logs, Heatabix, Leaf logs, Kiln Dried Logs, Bark Logs, Rastafire and Blazers. Next up is Straw Logs!

It's great fun burning all this stuff and trying different combinations to get the best fire. My personal favourite at the moment is a structured (ordered, criss-cross layers of kiln dried kindling, about 11 sticks) 2 Zip Natural Fire Lighters or 2 Flamers, 2 Heat Logs or Heatabix on top of the kindling and a good sized Kiln Dried Log on top of that. The Heat Logs/Heatabix provide a good, hot, slow burning base to the fire with good flame from the log. Very little smoke and a lot of heat! I keep this topped up with another Kiln Dried Log and then a Blazer or Bark Log for an overnight burn.

Alternatively if the fire has died down I might throw on a Leaf Log, which catches light really quickly.

Happy burning!

Use a small wood burner. During the day, it is fed a diet of Blazers, with the burner air inlets throttled back, after intially getting them going. Blazers, the name says it all. Usually breaking a log in two. Just carefully drop one on another only from about half a metre hight, at the half way point. This is important because they expand inside the burner. With a small burner, depending upon how the log sits inside, it can expand into the flue pipe blocking the exit for the hot exhaust gases. As it says on the bag, little ash, and what is left over can be used on the garden, ash contains minerals.

Bark logs at night, again breaking the logs up into smaller lengths. They don't burn as hot, but they do keep the fire in overnight. It is rare to have to resort to starting the fire a fresh. Clean out the ash in the morning, which should be done with great care as it can still be very hot. Watch out for hot sparks and coals (fire hazard). Then leave it in the ash tray to cool down most of the day before emptying.

Wood burners are great because the fire is enclosed, and neither the Bark logs or the Blazers pop like ordinary logs can. However one spark, maybe when cleaning out the ash, could get out of control. Always have a fire extinguisher and fire blanket in the house.

On a lighter note: If you have a flat top on your wood burner. Might not work on all wood burners, but a baking cooling wire tray on top, makes a great baked potato stand. Turn the potatoes regularly, beware very hot, use oven gloves. It can take a bit of balancing, or put potatoes in a group, sort of like mobile phones or hand bags at a party! Propping each other up, so all sides have been browned, sometimes a bit carbonised (blackened). If you like spicy, a heaped teaspoon of paprika, about a third of ground chillies, add a drop of cold pressed organic oil, stir and then mix into the potato.

Again ontop of the baking cooling wire tray, it is possible if a bit slow, to heat water using a Crusader mess tin. This mess tin has quite a tight fitting lid so there is less chance of spilling hot boiling water. There may be some leakage onto the top of the burner, it will steam off but might leave a mark. You can also warm soup up in the winter, for a nice cozy fireside snack.

Usual quantites per year are a couple of pallets of blazers and a pallet of Bark logs.

Many thanks to Woof Wood Fuels for their excellent service.