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Successful smoke-free fires
25th January 2010
Anglia Fireplaces practical tips for successful smoke-free fires this Winter
Enjoying a real fire is one of the pleasures of a cold winter’s evening but according to Anglia Fireplaces burning the ‘right’ sort of wood is essential.
“Whether you have an open fire or a closed wood burning stove, building an effective fire requires quality firewood and good fire building practices,” explains Graham Vialls, Managing Director of Anglia Fireplaces, one of the UK’s leading fire retailers.
“Buying split hard wood that has been allowed to dry out, either over a period of a couple of years or kiln dried logs is the perfect fuel for a good fire. The reason it’s important to split a log rather than just burn a circular section of a tree trunk is that splitting allows air to get to the wood to dry it out; whole logs are far too damp and will create a room full of smoke,” said Graham. “It will also reduce the efficiency and the flame picture will be very poor.”
He continued, “Never burn soft wood such as pine as it’s full of resin. Although soft wood will create a roaring fire in seconds, the wood burns very quickly and uncontrollably and then dies out just as fast. Another downside of soft wood is that it clogs up chimneys and if you have glass fire doors will rapidly blacken the glass.”
Running short of firewood and picking up a bag of logs at the local garage or deciding to burn the remnants of left over DIY are definitely not advisable, according to Graham. He explains, “The problem with bags purchased at small local shops, supermarkets or garages is that they usually contain wet wood that hasn’t been properly seasoned. The bags also tend to be a mixture of hard and soft wood and more often than not just pine.”
Graham continues, “Using scraps of old skirting board, broken up pieces of pine furniture or old garden fencing can also be very dangerous. All these types of wood are treated with various chemicals so when thrown on a fire tend to be very acidic. They will literally attack the metal of the fire and chimney whilst also causing a lot of smoke.”
Anglia Fireplaces has prepared the following practical steps to help you obtain the best efficiency from your fire:
• Burn only dry, well-seasoned wood that has been split properly
• Burn only hard wood, Anglia’s favorites include Silver birch, Oak, Elm, Ash and Apple
• Never burn soft wood
• Never use treated wood
• Start fires with clean newspaper and dry kindling or fire lighters
• For wood stoves, refuel sufficiently on the mound of charcoal on the base of the fire
• Remove ashes from the wood stove into a metal container with a cover and store outdoors or spread the ash on the garden
One final consideration is that the efficiency of any fire is determined by the type of fire it is. Graham concludes, “A lot of people don’t realise that an open fire is very ineffective at heating a room. Using on average six logs per night, open fires only have an efficiency of around 15-20%. Compare this to a closed wood burning stove and efficiency rates can be as high as 80-95%.”
