Stoves are easier to light than open fires.
Your first job is to get the stove ready. Clean out the ash and on multi-fuel stoves empty your ash pan. On woodburning stoves always leave plenty of ash in your grate as the wood burns best in a bed of ash. Just take out the surplus ash to stop it spilling all over your hearth.
There are several ways of building a fire and some require more effort than others.
You can screw up newspaper (I prefer to roll up a sheet of newspaper and tie a knot in it. You get more in and it doesn’t act like a spring.) And use that as the base to put your kindling on top.
The kindling should be small pieces of dried, easy to burn wood like old pallets or twigs. I always put a couple of larger bits of wood on (2 – 5 cm diameter) so the kindling doesn’t disappear too fast.
Now, this is when you clean the Stove. Hover up all the spilt ash and dust and clean the glass. Getting a Stove ready to burn is a messy job. From here on in it is much easier to keep everything clean.
So now fully open all the vents on your stove.
Light your paper and push the stove door to, but don’t close it. Leave a 1-2 cm gap. The air will rush in through this gap and quickly get the fire going. As soon as the fire is strong enough to get some larger wood on or a few pieces of smokeless coal (if that is what you wish to burn). You don’t close the stove door fully until the fire can maintain itself with the door shut. So if you shut the door and the flames sink or the vigour goes out of the fire, open the door again to the 1-2cm gap.
Once the Stove is burning well with the door closed you can keep loading the stove with the fuel of your choice, but don’t overdo it, especially with smokeless coal or you will cool the fire.
Once the stove is as full as you want it and burning well it is time to turn down the controls.
As a general rule wood likes the air from the top and smokeless coal likes the air from the bottom. Too much top air with smokeless coal and you will overheat the stove. Too much bottom air for your wood and it doesn’t burn properly and it messes up the glass.
If in doubt always refer to the manufactures instructions.
Enjoy your fire.
PS. If you’re in a hurry, just replace newspaper with firelighters.
PPS. Always use a HETAS fitter. Remember this is a bomb fire in your living room.
For more information on the best wood to burn on your stove click here.