Winter Light Up Tips

Having a cold chimney is a common issue at this time of year with many days and nights dropping below freezing. People are known to have problems with the initial light up of their stoves at this time of year. This problem is easily fixed.

When you are using your stove in the winter it’s very important to remember that the chimney system is cold due to the cold weather conditions. The Chimney is filled with cold air. When you light your fire the cold air in the chimney will stop the warm air from rising, this in turn causes something best known as “air sink”. We always describe the cold air like a cork in the chimney that doesn’t let smoke pass. The result? A build up of smoke in the chimney which is pushed back into your house through the stove unit. This can be very dirty and worrying for a new stove user. Fortunately for us all there is a couple of things we can do to warm your chimney to prevent this happening

1. 1st method is simple, once your fire from the night before is out many people automatically close off the stoves air vents. This then becomes a sealed appliance which means that no air can travel through the chimney. This allows you to keep all the warmth in the room. However by doing this you are shutting the chimney off to the outdoors, and the chimney then fills up with cold air overnight or during the day. This is what allows the cold air in the chimney to build up. A good tip is to never fully shut your appliance over, this allows a small amount of hot air to travel up the chimney keeping it warmer and easier to light for the next time. If you have an internal chimney this is great however if you have a flue that runs externally up the building or out the roof leaving the air vents open is ineffective. This is because the flue is outside meaning that is cools down a lot quicker.
2. 2nd method is another good tip for this time of year. A top-down burn or commonly known as an upside-down fire, this allows for a cleaner burn. By setting your fire up as a top-down fire you make the best use out the firebox, producing less smoke with instant heat. To do this you place your selected logs on the base of the stove, ideally these would be smaller logs so they catch easier. Once the logs are on the base of the stove you build a tall tower of Kindling sticks on top of the logs. We feel that the best way is build this tower up in a ‘Jenga’ style allowing lots of air around the kindling for better combustion. Lots of people us paper to light up their stoves, as this can be cost effective. Paper does work however it creates lots of smoke and this can cause problems with cold chimneys. At Auldton Stoves we advise customers to use wax firelighters, these can be great especially in the cold winter periods. These lighters are odourless, easy to light and have a long burn life.

Made out of wax and wood shavings these little firelighters are eco-friendly and create far less smoke than commonly used newspaper. This allows the chimney to get hot quicker with little smoke, preventing the problem with smoke traveling back into the room. This is far easier than heating the chimney with a hairdryer as some people suggest!
Please Contact for more information or visit our website to view fuel options that we provide. We are happy to help.