How to burn wood and multifuel on a stove

This week we’re going to be talking about stoves, specifically on how to burn wood and multifuel in them. Open fires are still very much the norm when it comes to creating heat but in recent times, quite a few people are choosing the wood burning or multi-fuel stove.

Why are they doing this?

Well, it all comes down to efficiency. An open fire will approximately produce a heating efficiency of 32% which is pretty good but, modern wood and multifuel burning stoves will get all the way to between 60% and 80%. This means that less wood would need to be used to achieve the temperature that you want and in turn, save you money on wood.

Starting the fire in the stove

Most stoves have two air vents. A primary at the bottom and secondary at the top (also known as an air wash), these need to be fully open when lighting the stove. To start the fire, you need to create a base for it. This can be firelighters or, if you want to be more eco-friendly you can use paper or beeswax together with some dry kindling wood and scrunched up paper.

We recommend that you create a teepee shape with the paper and the kindling so that the heat will be directed upwards, as this will result in a quicker heat. Set the fire going and leave the door slightly ajar as this will help the heat flow up and reduce the amount of condensation on the glass.

Keeping the fire going

Now that the fire has been started, add in some bigger pieces of wood but don’t add too many as this could smother the fire and prevent it from catching. Once those logs are burning and the fire is in full swing, close the door and the bottom (primary) vent. You can increase the heat output of the fire by opening the secondary vent. This will help a fire that is low, relight more easily. Use a poker to spread out the embers of the dying fire that are still glowing red then place logs on top to restart the fire ensuring to leave space for air to circulate.

Multifuel

Using multifuel is very similar to wood so you can read above if you want to know how to operate the stove. The key differences are that you must remember to clear the grate of coal when adding more to the fire.

This has been a guide by Deco-Pak on operating a wood or multifuel stove. We hope it was educational and useful to you. If you need any more info feel free to talk to us on Twitter.

You can browse our range of fuels here