A Guide to: Lighting your Stove

Flamecraft • 5 April 2019

A general guide to lighting your stove.

You will need:

  • Firelighter’s or newspaper.
  • Dry kindling (either seasoned or kiln dried).
  • Small Logs (either seasoned or kiln dried).
  • Bigger Logs (either seasoned or kiln dried).
  • Long safety matches or a safety lighter.

Please click hereto check our wood guide for further advice on burning logs.

Always check your stove’s user manual for lighting advice, as some models can vary.

Step One

Ensure your door controls are set to the open position.

Place a firelighter on the grate/bottom brick. The number of firelighters needed can depend on the type used, check the instructions on the box.

If using newspaper, ball up five to ten sheets and place on the grate/bottom brick.

Step Two

Stack kindling on top of the firelighters. A good handful will usually do the trick (7-12 dry sticks).

Stack in a criss-cross pattern like above.

Step Three

Place two or three small logs on top of the kindling.

Step Four

Using a long safety match or lighter to light the firelighter, and once the firelighter is lit close the door.

Please note: some stoves require the door to be open by up to 3cm for five to ten minutes when lighting, please check your user manual supplied with your stove.

Step Five

Once your fire has caught, (usually within 5 – 10 minutes) add more small logs as needed.

For the first 30-45 minutes, it is best to only add small logs.

Step Six

After 30-45mins you can add bigger logs.

Adjust the primary air control as necessary from this point. Please check your stove user manual for the best settings, as directions can vary depending on models.

Step Seven

Sit back and enjoy the view. Adding longs as and when needed.

Refuelling

Refuel onto glowing embers, not flames. If you open the door while the fuel is flaming, then flames can come out of the opening.

When adding more fuel to the firebox, ensure that there are enough glowing embers remaining so that any new fuel can ignite quickly. If the fuel cannot catch quickly excessive amounts of smoke will be produced.

When there is only a small number of glowing embers, add kindling to avoid excessive smoke.

When refuelling, leave the air inlets open for a minute before adjusting to the setting.

Please always remember to wear heat resistant gloves while refuelling.

Showroom Tip: Get a Stove Thermometer

A stove thermometer is one of the most useful gadgets when it comes to burning fuel on a wood burner or multi fuel stove.

They are magnetic and stick to the flue pipe.

They usually have three areas:

  • Creosote/Sooting
  • Optimum/Best Operation
  • Overheating

It is best to get your thermometer to read as ‘Optimum/Best Operation’ as quickly as safely possible. As if the stove remains in the ‘Creosote/Sooting’ area for extended periods it can cause a high build-up of creosote, soot and tar, which can cause a chimney fire if it catches alight. To avoid heavy build-ups, it is best to get your stove to a high burn for at least 20 minutes, twice during the burn time. E.G. If you are only lighting your fire for an evening, try to get the fire as hot as possible without overheating the unit, twice during that evening for at least 20 minutes. This will help reduce build ups of soot, tar and creosote.

Beware overheating your stove

If your stove thermometer reads that it is ‘overheating’, shut down the air controls as quickly as possible and wait for the thermometer is well within ‘Optimum/Best Operation’ before adding more fuel.

Overheating/Overfiring your stove can lead to chimney fires and will invalidate the guarantee on your stove and or pipework.

Overloading

One of the most common causes of overheating a stove is through loading too much fuel into the firebox. Be careful when adding logs to your firebox, some stove user manuals will advise on the optimum log load or ask your installer for advice.

Showroom Tip: Wood burns best on a bed of ash.

If you are regularly burning wood, leave a bed of ash over the grate/bottom of the firebox. Only remove surplus ash when necessary, as wood will always burn best on a bed of ash.

by Flamecraft 3 December 2020
We all made it through second lockdown and are pleased to be open to the general public once more. We welcome customers to come visit us, but kindly ask they adhere to the government guidelines regarding social distancing. While we understand lockdown was frustrating, we are in a tier 3 area and therefore we also ask that our customers shop responsibly and only come into the showroom for essential purposes when possible. We are still able to take orders for stove spares over phone and email and in many cases out manufacturers will deliver these directly to our customers to help us to reduce the need for people to put themselves at risk of Covid-19. We know we sound like we are lecturing, however we want to ensure all our customers have a very happy and healthy Christmas. With all this in mind, we have reduced the hours the showroom will be open. We will review these regularly and open for longer if needed, we are also able to arrange appointments to visit the showroom at Baytree outside these hours, Our December opening hours are as follows: Monday: CLOSED (Pre-booked appointments available) Tuesday: CLOSED (Pre-booked appointments available) Wednesday: CLOSED (Pre-booked appointments available) Thursday: 10am - 2pm (Pre-booked appointments available till 5pm) Friday: 10am - 2pm (Pre-booked appointments available till 5pm) Saturday: 10am - 5pm Sunday: 10am - 4pm We kindly ask when pre-booking appointments Monday - Wednesday that customers give 24 hours notice and Pre-booked appointments are available between 10am - 5pm. On Thursdays and Fridays appointments can be pre-booked on the day before 1:30pm via calling 01406 373600. We are available via emailing flamecraftuk@aol.com outside our opening hours and will try to reply to customers as quickly as possible.
by Flamecraft 3 November 2020
With second lockdown looming many of our customers are concerned about being able to purchase fuel and spare parts during second lockdown. We completely understand this and whilst our showroom wont be open to the general public we are running a 'Call & Collect' service.
by Flamecraft 1 November 2020
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The clearskies scheme has been recently introduced, and many of the wood burners and multi fuel stoves we sell have a clear skies mark. However many of our customers see this logo and are left wondering what it actually means. Therefore we have put together the basics explaining what clear skies is, and how this potentially will effect choosing a wood burner or multi fuel stove.
by Flamecraft 23 October 2020
EcoDesign 2022 is changes to regulations for the Stove Industry.
by Flamecraft 16 October 2020
It is the season for hot chocolate, fluffy blankets, hot water bottles and curling up in front of a roaring fire. With the days getting sorter and the nights getting longer it means we are busy installing wood burning and multi fuel stoves in homes. Like for many this year has been challenging, and we have worked tirelessly to ensure our customers will still receive the best service possible from us. We also understand that with the challenges of the past year many of us we are looking for more affordable heating options for this winter. Over the summer we have had many discussions about the issues we are all facing, and we knew we wanted to do everything we could to ensure our customers can still enjoy owning a wood burner or multi fuel stove. On top of the challenges this year has brought us all we are also very aware that since the announcement of the incoming Ecodesign regulations more and more of our customers are coming to us looking for Ecodesign 2022 Approved wood burners and multi fuel stoves. While we had Ecodesign stoves available, we wanted to give our customers more options to choose from. So, we knew we had two targets: 1. Have wood burning and multi fuels stove options available for a range of different budgets. 2. Expand our range of Ecodesign Approved stoves. We went through many different ideas until we finally realised the solution was in front of us (literally in a pile of brochures we had from a trade show we visited last year). A manufacturer that had a huge range of Ecodesign 2022 approved wood burning and multi fuel stoves that meet our own guidelines for quality and design (as well as being manufactured in the UK), and to top that off offering a range of price points that would allow us to offer more affordable stoves. So of course we gave them a call.
by Flamecraft 9 October 2020
With the cold weather rolling in we are extending our opening hours to the following: Monday: CLOSED Tuesday: CLOSED Wednesday: 10am - 5pm Thursday: 10am - 5pm Friday: 10am - 5pm Saturday: 10am - 5pm Sunday: 10 - 4pm We look forward to seeing you.
by Flamecraft 9 October 2020
Everyone has their own style and taste, and they develop and change over time. In recent years our customers are coming to us wanting more sleek and contemporary designs that allow for a full view of the flames within a wood burner or multi fuel stove. We have put together a selection of stoves that have been designed for modern living with a contemporary aesthetic. Every wood burner and multi fuel stove on this list are Ecodesign 2022 approved.
by Flamecraft 11 September 2020
Inheriting a wood burner or multi fuel stove can be confusing, but we have put together a checklist of the things you should know when buying a house with a wood burner or multi fuel stove already installed.
by Flamecraft 25 July 2020
We are open again and ready to welcome customers back into our showroom. However following government guidelines and to keep our team and customers safe we kindly ask customers to adhere to the following: When visiting please follow Baytree Garden Centre's one way system. Due to the width of our showroom and the positioning of our doors we are only able to accommodate one household at a time whilst adhering to social distancing. We are unable to ensure that there is a 2 meter distance between households due to our built in displays which allow for less than a 2 meter gap between them. Therefore we may politely ask customers to wait outside with a 2 meter distance from the door if we are already serving a household in the showroom, or return later. Please sanitise you hands upon entering the showroom. We are doing our best to sanitise the door handles, card machine and any handles on the stoves between customers. We kindly ask customers are patient with us as during busy periods they may be asked to refrain from touching the handles on the stoves until they are sanitised. We politely ask that you speak to a member of the team before touching any accessories or care products in the showroom, as this will allow our team to sanitise the products to ensure they are safe for the next customer to handle. Update: We kindly ask you wear an appropriate face mask/covering when visiting our showroom. We apologise for any inconvenience this may cause and thank you for your patience at this challenging time.
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