Allow Kindling To Blaze Before Adding Big Wood
Where there’s fire, too often there’s smoke - and frustration and a general lack of romance. So much for a quiet evening at home.
But building a fire doesn’t have to be a hassle. Fireplace experts shared some of their best techniques in the quest for fire.
First, pay attention to the obvious.
“You have to make sure the damper is open. It’s forgotten more often than most people care to admit,” says Greg Grinnan, owner of Ace Chimney Express, a chimney cleaning company. It also pays to have the chimney inspected and cleaned regularly to prevent chimney fires.
Next, take a piece of newspaper, light it, and hold it at the base of the chimney, Grinnan suggests. The heat from the paper will get the hot air moving up and out and prevent a downdraft of cold air from filling the chimney.
“A lot of times a guy will be using his fireplace for years, no problem. But all of a sudden smoke will back up unto the room,” says Ralph Canaan, who owns the Hearthside Fireplace Shop. “What happens is a tree will grow up near the house and it will grow taller than the flue. And the wind will go over the tree, then right down the flue rather than letting the air up.”
That’s about all you’ll need newspaper for. Too much of it, or solely using fake logs such as Duraflame, will line the chimney with creosote, black soot that can be as flammable as gunpowder, experts say.
“Newspaper has a tendency to fly up the flue, and it might create a stronger fire than you want,” says Ronnie Dobbs, section chief of fire prevention for the Dallas Fire Department. “Paper is thin, so it will break up easier and it could get past the spark arrest at the top of the chimney.”
Instead, place a pile of kindling at the base of the firebox, using small branches, bits of wood, even pine cones. Lighting it may take a little coaxing; blowing on the flame or using one piece of newspaper as a torch to light several areas might help. If you have a gas starter installed in the fireplace, it could speed the process.
All three experts agree: Wait until the kindling is blazing before heaping wood on the grate.
When it’s time to add wood, Grinnan, the chimney sweep, says it doesn’t matter what wood you choose, just as long as it’s “dry.” Dry wood is brown, with loose bark and cracks at the ends; it’s easier to keep burning. “Wet” wood is newly cut and tends to look yellow at the ends.
Grinnan also suggests adding two more medium-size logs to the fire, placing them perpendicular to the ones you just laid onto the grate, to form a tick-tack-toe shape. Whatever shape you choose, make sure there is ample room between the logs to let air move up from the burning coals at the base to the chimney above. The fire needs oxygen to burn, and the more surface area that’s exposed on a log, the better it will burn.
What if the fire smokes? Make sure the damper is open, then open windows to bring fresh air into the room. That air will feed the fire and “get the heat going up the chimney and draw the smoke out of the house,” Canaan says.
To stop the fire takes some anticipation. “If you’ve got a fire going and you want to go to bed at 11, you don’t want to be building it up at 10,” Canaan says. “You want to start backing away from it at 9.”
If the blaze is still smoldering at bedtime, just put the fire screen in front of the fire, or close the glass doors if your fireplace has them, and let it naturally burn out. If you try to force it, by pouring water on it or breaking the wood up, you could end up with a mess.