Tips on wood fired heating in the home

THE weather here in the Dordogne has taken a real wintery turn in the past couple of days, so the wood burners are fired up and smoke is rising from many chimneys.

Stocks of logs are being whittled away and the job of keeping the home fires burning falls upon the shoulders of who ever is nearest the fire.

A useful website that offers plenty of hints and tips on keeping your house warm is WoodHeat.org.

One of the pages I've been reading up on is how to start and maintain your fire, it offers ways to get your fire going without waiting too long and advises against adding one or two logs at a time.

If you are thinking of installing a new wood burning appliance or want some in-depth reading there is a free 80 page .pdf booklet you can download as well.

What are your own tips and advice for ensuring the woodburner keeps ticking over? Please feel free to leave a comment below.

Comments

[Phil in France_Normandy]

We have a CH wood-fired boiler rather than a stove, but priciples are the same. Make sure chimney is mechanically (not chemically) cleaned at start of season, check all door seals are in good order (should not be able to pull a piece of paper through between doors and firebox when the loading door and ash/regulator doors are closed) and replace seals if necessary. In season use a catalytic cleaning log after 2-3 months if you get a lot of soot and tar build-up.

We can keep boiler burning overnight on one large log, with the CH pump off and thermostat turned to 55°. In the morning, fill with wood and turn thermo up to 70° to let more air in - turn it back to 60° once the fire is away again. One fill keeps it going most of the rest of the day.

[John Gulland]

Thanks for the tip of the hat to woodheat.org, Craig. It has been a labour of love for my colleagues and I since we put it online back in 1996.

Looks like Phil in France could use some of the tips on efficient operation from our site.

In thirty years as professionals in the wood heating field, we've found that keeping a fire burning and making heat with a stove, furnace or boiler is the easy part. The more challenging part is to do it without wasting wood and making a lot of smoke. Helping people to meet that challenge is one of the main reasons we put so much effort into the web site.
Regards,
John

[Craig McGinty]

Thanks Phil and John for the comments, I'm sure readers will have taken away some useful advice and tips.
All the best, Craig

[Schofields]

Some great advice for those who are firing up their wood burners now temperatures are dropping.

Professional installation is always advisable, as there have been instances of chimney fires in roof spaces due to diy installations.

As mentioned by Phil, “make sure chimney is mechanically (not chemically) cleaned at start of season”

Some French insurance policies stipulate that this is done, although not all. It’s worth checking your own obligations as you don’t want to be uninsured should a chimney fire occur.

Philip

[Chris Comley]

Some useful info, will keep it bookmarked. Might not hurt to provide an "international" section, for those of us not too worried about the situation in north america. :-) Any idea how many Kw of heat I can get from my 3 stere of oak?

[EMMA]

Hi

Thanks for posting this, we've just bought our first stove (invicta pharos).

I have a question I hope you can answer.
Your wood burning guide states that there should always be flames when there is soild wood, but I have kiln dried oak and no matter what I do I can't get it to sustain a flame - rust a red smolder. People have told me that this is because oak is a smolderer - any thoughts or tips? Should I be concerned?

[th george]

looking to buy log burning boiler to do central heating, 12 rads but some large ones, also warm room have idea of size needed but need to know of a company that supply & install near to thiver/la coquille any answers would be greatfully recived