How to light a wood-burning stove

Date Published: November 11th, 2022

Winter is slowly rolling in, and you’re ready for your roaring fire. Finally, you can settle, watching the flames and relaxing as the world goes by. But wait: do you know how to light a wood-burning stove? 

To avoid wasting precious logs, you must know the steps vital to creating impressive flames. Simply piling wood on top of your fire won’t work: you need to care for your fire, tending it at every step. At Fires2U, we will tell you how to do all this and more. 

 If you are thinking, ‘slow down, I don’t even own a fire yet!’ then we’ve got that covered too. Check out Fires2U’s extensive range of wood-burning stoves and find something perfectly suited to your home. 

1. Open the air vent

The preliminary step to lighting a wood-burning stove is establishing an air supply. To do this, you must open the air vent on your fire. It could be located on the top, bottom, or side of your stove, depending on the model you have bought. 

 Giving your stove access to the vent allows it to fuel the fire, directs smoke up to the chimney and prevents it from re-entering the home.

2. Start ‘The Upside Down Method’ 

As the technology of wood-burning stoves evolves, so do our ways of lighting them! 

The Heating Equipment Testing and Approvals Scheme (also known as HETAS) has recommended that the ‘Upside Down’ or ‘Top Down’ method of lighting wood-burning stoves is the best way to reduce particulate matter and heat your kindling fast! 

Place two small logs across the fire bed to begin. Whether you place a firelighter between these two logs is up to you!

3. Place down kindling and firelighters

Now, you can begin stacking your kindling. Using five pieces, lay them across the two initial logs, then four pieces laid at a 90-degree angle across the bottom layer.  

Depending on the thickness and size of your kindling, you can adjust how many you use. Once you’ve determined the correct number for your wood-burning stove, add another five pieces of kindling in the same direction as the bottom layer. 

4. Set your fire in the lighting position and close the door! 

Now you are ready: steps 1 through 4 were just preparation, but you’re waiting for the real deal. After you have set the controls of your fire into the lighting position, ignite the firelighters and shut the door! 

The door must be immediately closed for many reasons. First is safety: although it may be enticing to leave the door open and watch as your kindling burns, the spread of flames, smoke and heat throughout your home cannot be prevented. 

Second, a wood-burning stove can create a 60% more efficient fire with the door shut than when it is open. So if you want to save money and resources, resist looking at the flames with the door open.

5. Set the air control to the manufacturer's settings and close the primary air control 

As the kindling falls between the logs, your fire will burn at a steady rate. Keep a watchful eye on your fire, checking how well it is igniting and add more logs when you see fit. 

How To Stop Smoke in a Wood-Burning Stove

So, you’ve learnt how to light a wood-burning stove, and after following our guide, you’ve gotten pretty good at it. However, there may still be some problems. 

For example, how do you stop smoke coming from a wood-burning stove? It could be because of several issues. Are you lighting your fire because of the moody weather? These can be the best times to settle down and enjoy the warm glow of a wood-burning stove. 

However, strong winds can battle against the smoke rising from your chimney, causing a downdraft. Your chimney may be icy because of the weather: this can cause smoke to exit in the opposite direction! 

Here are some things you can do to stop smoke in a wood-burning stove:

1. Rebalance Pressure

Pressure from strong winds and cold weather can cause smoke to enter your home. To counteract this, you need to increase the heat levels inside your stove. You can do this by adding extra kindling or newspapers. 

2. Use Seasoned Wood

Wood that is ‘seasoned’ has been dried to remove moisture and water vapour. Seasoned wood burns more quickly and more efficiently. If you are burning ‘unseasoned’ wood on your stove, this could be why your stove is smoking! 

Unseasoned wood has a lot of water vapour that, when combined with other gases, can produce condensation, tar and smoke.

3. Load Wood Towards the Back of the Stove

When loading resources into your wood-burning stove, putting them in the right place can be crucial to how well it burns. You don’t want to pile your newspapers, sticks and logs very close to the door.  

Instead, load your wood further towards the back of the stove. This way, you can avoid smoke seeping through the door.