How to get the most from your wood-burner

Recently, Sadie Nicholas shared ten lessons she’s learnt from ten years of having a wood-burner. In response, Spectator readers offered their own advice for getting the most from your wood-burner – from maximising the heat and minimising the mess to fire-lighting tricks and cooking tips…

Join the fan club

‘Combine wood-burners with small fans. The problem with heating a room in winter (or cooling it in summer is air circulation). A small fan or a large fan set on low speed quickly circulates the air, warming the entire room faster. It actually does cut down the cost of heating a room.’
‘We highly recommend a free-standing fan on top of the wood-burner, which has vastly improved how heat is distributed. We leave doors open which means that our wood-burner has become much more efficient than just warming the vicinity.’
‘A fan placed on top of the stove gives air circulation and far more quickly heats the air. Stove fans are powered by an electric motor which uses an electric current created by the thermal difference between its base and its cooler periphery.’
‘We’ll put the heating on for an hour or so in the morning but generally, in the evenings we only use the wood-burner. The fan on top of the wood-burner utilises heat from the wood-burner to work and then circulates the heat through the other rooms in the house.’
‘A nice little device I have on mine is a Vulcan sterling-engined stove fan. It sits on top of the stove, and once hot enough, blows hot air into the room rather than having it sit around the stove. Getting it to work is an art though, It requires the top of the fan to be cooler than the bottom of it, or the fan will not turn. Also it will not work below a certain temperature (about 150ºC). The best method I found to start it off once the stove is up to temperature is to put the fan on the cooker hob for a few minutes until the fan can be made to turn freely on its own, and then quickly carry it to the stove, leaving the fan itself to keep up the difference in temperature.’

Try cooking with it

‘I occasionally throw a couple of spuds wrapped in tinfoil into our wood-burner for an hour. My wife has even praised my cooking skills.’
‘The top lid doubles as a hotplate – it roasts chestnuts, will bake potatoes and heats anything in a metal container.’
‘Do buy a log-burner with a flat top: don’t be tempted to put a domed “stylish” top on it. Then when the electricity fails, a flat top can be used to boil a camping kettle and heat pans of food. Do buy toasting forks too. Toast and crumpets are never better than done to an open fire (embers, not full flames).’
‘We have two flat-top stoves with room for two saucepans – great for heating soups, stews, mulled wine etc.’
‘I keep a copper kettle of water (one gallon size) on the top of my wood-burner and it’s almost boiling water each winter evening. I heat up soup at lunchtime on it in an ordinary pan (lid on), and if I’m having pasta, I put cold water in the pan and on top of the stove when I light it (4.30 p.m.) and it’s boiling (or almost) by 7 p.m. when I transfer it to the electric cooker and cook the pasta. My chimney sweeps’ wife cooks stews on the top of theirs (cast iron pot with lid – start the stew on the main cooker).’
‘I burn coal on my wood-burner. The ashes go into a metal dustbin. I discovered if I left the lid of the dustbin slightly open by two inches or so, the ashes inside continued to be “hot ashes”. I tried the baked potato lark. Lo and behold, two hours later a baked potato that tasted just like the ones my parents would throw on the bonfire years ago.’

Choose your wood wisely

‘Ash is by far the best firewood. And unfortunately, there’s tons of it about at the moment because of ash dieback.’
‘We find willow is good – it dries quickly being a very wet as opposed to sappy wood. It gives good flame which always makes a room feel warmer. It burns quickly though.’
‘We use mostly birch (very good heat) but also pine, spruce and alder. Any wood is good for burning provided it is properly seasoned and dried (rule of thumb, at least two years). Flue blockage is usually caused by burning unseasoned wood. With unseasoned wood the fire does not burn so hot, and the resultant condensation combines with particles and gases to form a tar-like corrosive lining.’
‘Ash and birch both very good, both really “weed” species and more plentiful than beech in the UK, as they grow quickly and grow anywhere. Certainly ash can be burned straight from the tree without all that seasoning / drying; birch will dry very quickly.’
‘Pine is fine as long as it’s seasoned and you get your chimney swept at least once a year.’
‘Beech is the best wood if you can get it; burns hot and long.’
‘I burn only kiln-dried hardwood delivered by pallet.’
‘You never quite know what are the “hard woods” being sold to you. If you get elm or a few others you’re wasting your money.’

Don’t spend a fortune on firewood

‘Suss out a local business that generates scrap wood, and they will usually be happy for you to remove it – ideal kindling! Get an electric chop saw and a hand axe, easy peasy.
‘Any logs from gardens are fine, but they need at least one summer outside, protected from rain but well ventilated.’
‘More woods than you expect burn very well, such as hawthorn. If you gather free wood, you’ll need a proper, toothed log horse, chainsaw and eye protection. I’ve never invested in Teflon legwear but have been very, VERY careful about potential kickback.’
‘Keeping an eye out for neighbours having trees felled or the council boys trimming branches means free fuel in two or three years’ time. Enjoyable workout chopping the logs too.’

Dry matters

‘It is essential that the wood is dry: it then gives off far more heat, there is little smoke and smell, and it is light to carry in a basket. Norwegians refer to wet wood producing “sour smoke”.’
‘A moisture meter is cheap and useful. There are unscrupulous people out there who will sell you “seasoned” wood that isn’t. With decent wood a chimney sweep once a year is all we need.’
‘16 per cent is the max damp reading to check if a log is dry enough to burn… you can buy a cheap moisture meter from the installer’
‘You can burn wetter wood if you need to – but mix it with 90 per cent dry wood’

How to clean the glass (or not)

‘Best way to clean the log-burner glass in my experience — use newspaper but wet it slightly, dip it in cold ash, then scrub the glass. The ash works as an abrasive and the glass comes up a treat.’
‘Scrunched-up wet newspaper with cold ash is the best way to clean the glass.’
‘Dry newspaper will just smear the glass – damp absorbent paper with a coating of ash from the pan is much better.’
‘When the stove is cold, a bit of damp (not wet) kitchen roll dipped in the cold ash will clean the glass very well, but then use another cloth to thoroughly clean it. Never leave streaks – or the glass will crack when heated.’
‘If you use the wood-burner properly and there is no need to clean glass with paper. Open up the dampers and a good blast cleans any soot off glass.’
‘Pay the extra for one that has a glass air wash, designed to deflect some of the hot gasses back down the glass inside. It keeps it much cleaner and cuts down the cleaning needed when setting the fire.’
‘Clear the screen with newspaper and vinegar dipped in wood ash (not coal ash as it will scratch it).’
‘To clean, burn it hotter with wood that has lower resin content.’
‘Our glass clears when we open the draught and liven up the fire if glass has got sooty.’
‘Clean the glass using a moist paper towel dipped in the fireplace ash. It’s slightly abrasive’
‘To get a clean burn – which keeps the glass clean, reduces tar buildup in the chimney and reduces particulate pollution – burn very hot for short periods, rather than smoulder for long periods; use the driest logs you can manage (mine move from the garden to the shed to a radiator in the house); and ask for feedback from the chimney sweep – is your soot “good”?’

How to get the fire going

‘Here’s a counter-intuitive tip: light the fire from the top, not the bottom. Place a layer of logs on the bottom, preferably with split side up. Place a firelighter on top and then a good bridge of kindling. Pull out all the stops to get this burning well and once it is the stops can be pushed in for the rest of the evening. I was astonished when it worked the first time. It is a more efficient burn than lighting from beneath producing less smoke (which is just wasted unburned energy) and I seem to get twice as much heat from half the amount of logs. My partner won’t accept it and continues to draw the fire for ages to keep it going under the old method and the heat escapes up the chimney and the logs burn away more quickly.’
‘The Swedish method: we put a flat surface log at the bottom, a small cheap firelighter in middle; stack small amount of kindling over firelighter, light and walk away. Burns from top down and is foolproof.’
‘I heat my big soapstone stove twice a day by this method: one or two chunks of hard wood at the bottom, then some of pine (all in the same direction) with a firelighter cube on top and another piece of pine or whatever smaller material I have at hand. Full draught for five minutes and then leave it alone. My chimney sweep (once a year) says my chimney looks impeccable.’
‘Think of warming the flue before you start. We have two stoves, a closed one in the snug and an open one in the sitting room. In the sitting room, the flue goes up an 18th century chimney which is lined with a stainless chimney; it took us some time to realise that the fire would not draw until the massive air cavity surrounding this internal chimney had warmed up. Solution: fill that space with vermiculite. Now, after warming the flue with an ignited sheet of newspaper, we are “off”. The snug is different. The closed wood stove there has an external chimney which cools down quite quickly. Starting it needs a flaming newspaper stuffed up the sweepers access at the base of the chimney outside. If it gets too cool when the outside temperature gets very low, its “draw” decreases to the point where the CO detector goes off: solution – keep it flaming until the last of the wood has been consumed,’
‘Newspapers, cardboard twists and kindling are all you need to light it. When it’s roaring away, add a layer of coal, topped with logs, and the heat builds up quickly. Those pesky joints where a branch joins the trunk are hard to reduce, but get them to just fit through the door, and placed on a bed of coal, they will burn away happily for hours, ensuring a warm house after hours out. Nothing wasted.’
‘Screw up some newspaper sheets as the base, add some bits of cardboard – toilet roll tubes or egg boxes are good – a few bits of kindling and that’s it.’
‘Use a decent amount of kindling. And your wood needs to be well seasoned. The red embers of the kindling should drop on to the logs. This heats them up and the gasses are released from the top and they burn rather than going up the chimney. Lighting from below means that all the log is being heated and the gasses escape without igniting. It’s the Norwegian way and they tend to know about these things.’
‘I lived in an old Victorian schoolhouse for a few years. The log-burner had a hell of a long flue, with a Z-kink in it to get past some stonework. Getting a decent draw going was a schlep until I started putting a handful of paper on the top of the wood/kindling and used a plastic lab bottle to squirt isopropyl alcohol on to it. Lit with a long taper, the instant punch of intense heat that gave off got the wet, freezing air in the chimney moving right away. With that room/burner the sweet spot was to light the tinder about five seconds after the alcohol and it drew like a charm every time, even in the depths of ghastly, freezing February storms.’
‘I learned to light fires with just newspaper and logs (preferably with cut sides), no kindling, with the logs forming a pyramid, which works well in both open fires and log-burners, and doesn’t need firelighters if the wood is nice and dry. It does take a bit of skill and works best with ash, cherry or silver birch to get the fire going.’
‘You don’t need anything special to light it. Place two dry logs an inch apart in parallel. Firelighter between them. Thin dry logs across the top. That works. Once it’s going shut bottom air flow and only use top air flow to control. Log-burners like being run up to temperature and don’t like just ticking over so much.’
‘Light it with junk mail and splinters from earlier wood, no need for firelighters. Gradually build it up.’
‘For years I used twisted newsprint and kindling. The method came from a stove manual: “Lay out newsprint upside down before rolling into tubes…” (“Upside down”? That is in fact a real time saver: one is less tempted to stop and read articles spread out before you.)’
‘Try two split logs with a small piece of firelighter (don’t need a whole one) and a criss-cross of kindling on top. Light and leave for 10-15 minutes. Works a treat every time and gives fire a base from start – plus gets flue hot ASAP.’

Finding the best firelighters

‘Dried conifer trimmings is good for starting the fire rather than firelighters or paper. Discovered when we burnt an old Christmas tree. And pine cones are nature’s firelighters.’
‘Wood wool is excellent as a firestarter.’
‘We save corks and chuck some of them in – slow-burning firelighters – and my father-in-law saves his walnut hulls for us – they are added to the kindling.’
‘If you have trouble starting fires I can recommend a Grenadier firelighter. Google it.’

Dealing with unwelcome visitors

‘When you’re not using the wood-burner in the summer put a little bowl of Dettol in the grate. It stops wasps or bees nesting in the chimney because they don’t like the fumes.’
‘Don’t store logs indoors unless you want to run the serious risk of spreading woodworm to your furniture and any exposed roof timbers.’
‘You should have a basket cowl on chimney to prevent bats.’
‘Many years ago when we had a gas fire fitted into a fireplace, a bird came down the chimney and was stuck behind the fire. When the gas fitter came to remove the fire to get the bird out his advice was to open a large window in the room and draw the curtains over all the windows except the open one. When the fire was removed the bird did exactly as he had said it would by flying straight for the brightest light it could see and out of the open window (this being during daylight). The same course of action would presumably work for a bird trapped in a log-burner.’

Get the stove (and the set-up) right

‘Make sure to get a stove of the correct size. What is the volume of the room to be heated? The nice-looking stove may be too small, or more likely too large – remember, you need to be able to sit in the same room as the stove when it’s on. Buy from a reputable dealer who should visit before you confirm your purchase to ensure you are buying the right size, and that safe installation is possible. Do you need to line the chimney (additional cost, but burning wood or pellets in the same chimney that has been used for a coal fire can cause corrosion)? Get the seller to install the wood stove, seal the chimney and install the liner – not really the jobs for an amateur.’
‘Don’t buy a stove that is too big, or you will be sitting in the garden watching it. A relatively small 10kw or less heats a huge area.’
‘Make sure the stove installer is HETAS registered. If you decide to sell the property, it will come up in searches if it’s registered or not.’
‘Don’t hide the pipe. The exposed metal pipe gives off as much heat as the stove itself.’
‘Never buy a steel stove – always cast iron, preferably with a back boiler to provide hot water and central heating.’
‘One common problem with wood-burners is the “cold back” effect where air is drawn across the room from the doorway, creating a cold draught. We put up with this for years until I discovered a solution: run air inlet pipes from the outside. Charnwood (and no doubt other manufacturers) make inlet kits for just this purpose. You then install metal ventilation pipes – in my case carefully hidden, which can be difficult – from the back of the ash box to an outside wall. It works a treat, as you can then draught-proof the room entirely, as no oxygen is needed from inside the house. It made a massive difference. In fact it worked so well I did the same with our one remaining open fire in the sitting room. This entailed core-drilling a flue way through the chimney, which I assumed was nine-inch brickwork, but which turned out to be more than three feet thick! This provides combustion air directly to the back of the fire basket, greatly reducing draughts across the room.’
‘My 12kw wood-burner has an external air source to avoid sucking the oxygen out of our (well sealed) house. It’s amazing how rarely this seems to be a consideration.’