Heating with wood is a great choice for people who care about the environment and want a heater for their home that will be unaffected by power outages, gas shortages and expensive replacement parts.
Wood is a renewable resource
Even though burning wood is relatively simple compared to pellet and gas stoves, there are still some fundamentals that should be understood so the fireplace or stove is operated at maximum efficiency. Air flow, venting, wood type and several other factors contribute to the health of your fireplace or stove and the heating ability of your fire.
First, let’s talk about the combustion process when wood is burning. There are three stages that can be identified when wood is being burned for home heating purposes.
Firstly, the water evaporates off. Nearly half of a freshly cut log’s weight is water. Since water evaporates and does not burn, it’s obviously not good to burn wet logs. That’s why it’s important to season your logs properly. As the wood heats up in the firebox, the water burns off, making a hissing noise. Wet logs are difficult to light, and properly seasoned wood will ignite and burn easily.
The wood then begins to smoke. This smoke is a cloud of combustible gasses and droplets of tar. This smoke can burn if the temperature is high enough and there is sufficient combustion air to do so. Smoke produces bright flames as it burns, and if the smoke doesn’t burn off it will flow into the chimney, where it either solidifies as creosote or vents into the atmosphere as air pollution. A large part of the total heating energy in wood is contained in the smoke.
Lastly, the wood becomes charcoal. The fire has progressed at this point and the gas and tar has vaporized out of the wood, leaving charcoal. Charcoal is nearly pure carbon, and it burns with minimal flame and smoke. Charcoal burns easily and cleanly with proper airflow. Burning charcoal produces high concentrations of carbon monoxide and should be vented outdoors.
All three of these stages of combustion frequently occur in a log all at the same time. One side may be charcoal while the other is still evaporating water.
So with this knowledge in mind, what’s the best way to start a wood fire?
The first step is locating where combustion air enters the firebox. Most modern stoves and fireplaces allow airflow through a narrow strip above and behind the glass door. This is referred to as an air wash. The air flows down the glass to the front of the fire, because the cool air is denser and heavier than combustion gas (smoke, etc). If the stove doesn’t have a glass air wash system, there should be an air inlet near the bottom of the firebox.
A conventional fire is started with newspaper, followed by kindling, then larger pieces. This method can lead to fires that collapse and smolder, and tend to be smoky and fussy. There are a few other techniques that are more effective.
1. Fire starters
You can make your own simple firestarters with sawdust and paraffin wax, or buy a commercial version for cheap. You could also cut up a firelog (preformed ‘logs’ made with sawdust and wax) for affordable firestarters. You place these among dry wood and light them and the fire will reliably and easily start. This is the simplest and easiest option but requires you to use or make firestarters.
2. Parallel logs
Put down two split logs with a space between them. Put some twisted up newspaper in the opening. Add some kindling on top of the newspaper and more kindling across the logs. The parallel logs allow for airflow so the newspaper and kindling light quickly. After the newspaper and kindling light, the two larger logs should also burn. At that point you can add more fuel and you have a good hot fire going.
3. Top-down
Place several full-sized split logs on the floor of the firebox. Then place several pieces of medium sized kindling across them. Then put more, even smaller pieces of kindling on top of those. After that you take four or five full sized sheets of newspaper, roll the corners up and tie them into ‘balls’. Place the knots on top of the kindling and light the paper. The fire will burn down through the newspaper into the light kindling, down into the medium sized pieces, finally igniting the logs.
4. Teepee
Place large kindling pieces in a cone around a stack of tinder or a piece of Firestarter. The flame from the kindling will lick upwards until the ‘teepee’ is ignited. After these large kindling pieces ignite, there will be a bed of lit firewood and coals and you can add full sized wood pieces.
These are a few great ways to light an effective and warm fire in your wood burning fireplace or free-standing stove. Do you have any other ideas or techniques? Add them in the comments below!
