Wood burners

[Diny]

Have managed to get to grips with our wood burner fairly easily. We had one back at home so we have 'kind of' an idea what to do.

Ours burns down to a few embers during the night but it soon sparks up again once abit of kindling is applied, then on go the logs (delivered the other day by Barry the banjo layer) and we have lift off.

Now that we've moved the into the family room and decided not to use over half of this HUGE house, the wood burner is keeping us nice and warm.

Good luck.

Diny

[Bubbles]

Barry the banjo layer)

:eek Now that sounds painful :eek

I hope he didn't demonstrate Diny

[Soon2baKiwi]

This is probably a silly question but ... does the chimney still need to be cleaned the same as a chimney from an open fire at home does? i.e. every year?

[shagen]

I asked about starting a fire but forgot about the chimney! Can you clean it yourself or do you need to get someone to do the job?

[veronica]

chimney will need cleaning every year the fumes are the same whether its an open or closed fire. Shagen, are you in rented accom. might be worth asking the landlord when it was last done.

[Bubbles]

Can you clean it yourself or do you need to get someone to do the job?

Shagen, thats what the kids are for.

[shagen]

Thanks Veronica. The wood burner is in the new home we are moving into soon. Our present home has an inefficient gas burner.

Our gas bill was more than our electricity bill lasy month. Someone told us that was becasue the gas heater was ancient and did not have a thermostat.

[shagen]

Shagen, thats what the kids are for.

Then I will need to hire somebody to clean the kids, house, the chimney again and me!

[selchie]

If you keep the fire hot (about 500-600F), you shouldn't get too much soot buildup in the chimney. Dry wood is important for a hot fire. If you can get eucalyptus, go for it! Just don't get it so hot (~700F) that the firebrick starts to glow. I recommend getting the chimney cleaned AND inspected first thing, then have it recleaned in a year. Ask the sweep about how bad the buildup is, and decide how often from that. We've gone to every other year, and the sweep says there's hardly any soot. Yes you can do it yourself, but it can be messy, and the sweep should know how to spot signs of trouble. Hopefully he can also give you a lesson in operating the stove. That's how we learned not to burn the house down.

Oh, and if it's cold outside, you may need to burn a wad of newspaper to warm up the air in the chimney before starting the wood fire. It will get the air rising, and keep your fire from dying or smoke from flowing into the house.

Someone mentioned throwing ash in the garden. It is a great source of potash, but is also strongly alkaline. Not good if the soil already is alkaline, but good for acid soils. Because of high rainfall, I'm guessing that soil in much of NZ is acidic. Ask a local agricultural person for soil pH info.

[Moorf]

Someone mentioned throwing ash in the garden.

Just make sure that there are NO embers - after 2 days in the metal "ashes bucket" by the fire it was time to empty them - so Woz threw them under a tree in the garden.

Ten mins later, Veronica and I notice smoke rising.... yup, embers! And nearly a tree less in the garden