This article goes over the essential steps you must follow to create hot, successful fires in your open fireplace. It also goes over what you can do to prolong the life of your fires and how to keep them from going out.
To use a fireplace:
- Open any doors or external air vents in the space and warm the air in the chimney to start the draft. If the fireplace has a damper, open it.
- Use newspaper or another fire starter to start a fire in your fireplace with logs, kindling, and other materials. The top-down fire method can be used to build the fire or the more conventional method.
- Long matches should be used to start the fire after lighting the fire starter in as many places as you can across the fireplace.
- Once the initial pieces of wood have burned through, add a few larger-sized logs to the fire to keep it going. For a longer-burning, hotter fire, use hardwood logs.
Below, we’ve provided a more thorough explanation of how to use a fireplace, walking you through each step of the process and providing pictures to demonstrate how we use our own open fireplace to create hot, successful fires.
How to Use a Fireplace?
Although using a fireplace isn’t as challenging as it first appears, you’ll discover that there are often situations that don’t turn out as you had hoped.
You might discover that it’s challenging to start a fire without it going out or smoking, or that it’s not producing as much heat as you’d hoped. There are a number of aspects that need to be considered when having a fire in your fireplace and in particular the two things that are required to keep a fire going, which are fuel and oxygen.
It will help you to have more successful and hotter fires in your home if you know what kind of firewood to use and how it can affect how well your fireplace burns, as well as how air flows into and out of the fire.
The steps that you’ll need to go through to operate a fireplace are:
- Starting the draft.
- Building the fire.
- Lighting the fire.
- A continuation of the fire.
There are several different options or routes you can take, particularly when it comes to building a fire, and each of these steps will have its own sub-steps. These topics have all been discussed in this article.
1. Starting the Draft
Because hot air rises and cold air sinks, fire-related products like smoke and waste gases are safely carried outside of your home by hot air rising up a chimney.
A (negative) pressure difference is produced as the hot air rises up the chimney, sucking in additional air to the fireplace to make up for the air lost up the chimney.
This puling effect of a chimney on a fireplace is known as the draft.
More air can be drawn into the fireplace with a stronger draft, which will help the fire get the oxygen it needs to burn. Because of this, the draft is a crucial component of having a fire in a fireplace, and being aware of it encourages you to consider how to enhance and maximize the draft before each fire.
The typical airflow through a fireplace and up a chimney is depicted in the diagram below.
We’ve provided a more thorough explanation of the operation of fireplaces and chimneys here if you’d like to learn more.
The two main things that affect how strong the draft is can be the:
- The temperature of the air within the chimney compared to the outside air. The draft will increase as the temperature difference does. Hotter fires can result in higher chimney temperatures and a greater draw on the fireplace.
- Height of the chimney. The draft is typically greater the higher the chimney.
A fire can start more quickly and maintain a hotter fire for its entire life with the aid of a stronger draft. Poor fireplace draw can cause a fire to continually burn out at the beginning due to insufficient oxygen.
As a result, there are a few things you can do to help maximize the draft and thus increase the likelihood that your fires will be more successful as well as have fewer issues such as going out or producing more smoke.
To help start the draft before building and lighting a fire in your fireplace:
- If your fireplace has a damper, open it as far as you can.
- In the room where the fireplace is located, open any exterior air vents.
- Warm the chimney’s interior air.
Fireplace dampers help to stop heat loss from your home when the fireplace isn’t in use. A metal or ceramic plate that rests at the bottom of the chimney and inside the top of your fireplace are called damper. They typically have a latch that allows them to be left partially open as well as the ability to be opened or closed using a handle.
A damper needs to be fully open prior to having a fire so that there is maximum draw on the fireplace to help get a fire going as quickly as possible. A fully open damper also aids in ensuring that any smoke produced at the beginning of a fire rises in the chimney rather than entering your house.
If there are any external air vents within the same room as your open fireplace then they should be opened prior to starting a fire. Opening a window in the same room will also help if you don’t have an air vent.
The fireplace and chimney must quickly create a strong draft to replenish the lost air. In order to give a fire as much air as possible to start without any major problems, open any windows or vents that may be present.
Before every fire, we open the external air vent in our living room.
Opening windows and air vents can also help stop warmer air from your home’s other rooms from being drawn up the chimney.
You should also have your chimney swept if you haven’t done so within the last year.
Creosote can be created when burning wood and line your chimney, reducing the draft’s efficiency. Burning wet wood or using only softwood logs can hasten the buildup process. Additionally, debris may fall down the chimney, and birds may build nests there.
At least once a year should be recommended for chimney sweeping. You might need to have it cleaned more frequently if you burn wood frequently at home. It will be easier to make sure that your chimney is operating as efficiently as possible if you have it swept right before the burning season.
Lastly, to help improve the draft you can warm up the air within the chimney prior to starting a fire, also known as priming the flue.
If there isn’t a draft, cold air that is trapped inside the chimney can make it difficult for a fire to start. You can use a heat source to warm the air inside your chimney to help start the draft and make it simpler for a fire to start as quickly as possible.
In order to start the draft in our open fireplace, we like to roll up a sheet of newspaper, light it at one end, and hold it under the chimney in the top area of the fireplace for a brief period of time.
2. Building the Fire
The next step in how to use a fireplace is building the fire.
It is best to build a fire in an open fireplace so that it can start burning as soon as possible. In order to accomplish this, a fire must be constructed with enough fuel to burn when it is nearby and with enough airflow to keep it burning.
In your fireplace, you can build one of two different types of fires. In order to achieve a few additional benefits, one method changes the order in which the materials are added to the fireplace while the other is more traditional for starting fires.
These two main types of fires are:
- The conventional way. The kindling and logs are placed in the fireplace after the fire starter, respectively.
- The top-down fire method. The kindling and fire starter are positioned on top of the first layer of logs in the fireplace.
Whichever method you choose, either method can work very well when having a fire in your fireplace.
However, the top-down method has a few benefits over the conventional method of building a fire. These main benefits include:
- Direct fire lighting, which may result in a cleaner burn and less smoke being produced.
- The initial pieces of wood can burn for longer before the first load of logs needs to be added to the fire because more logs and logs of larger size can be added.
Another thing to consider is whether you’ll be using a fireplace grate to build your fire in.
If you build your fires with or without a grate, you’ll still get very similar results from a fire. A grate can help to supply air to the base of a fire, but wood can burn more efficiently with a source of air from above the fire.
Building a fire on your hearth has the advantage of insulating the fire and redistributing heat to promote combustion.
Since a grate was already installed when we purchased the house, we prefer to use it with the open fireplace in our living room. The base of your fireplace can be protected from the heat of your fires over time by building fires with a grate, which also aids in keeping the fire off it.
If you’re building fires without a grate it’s recommended to leave about an inch of ash at the base of your fireplace between fires.
Before building any form of fires you’ll need to make sure you have the right materials and the right quality of materials. To be able to build a fire in a fireplace that will get going quickly and effectively you’ll need the following:
- A variety of small and big dried or seasoned logs.
- Kindling is made up of dry, little pieces of wood.
- A kind of fire starter, like newspaper or firelighters.
Additionally, you must ensure that the wood you use for a fire is of the proper quality.
Both the logs and the kindling should either be seasoned or kiln dried. Wet wood will burn very inefficiently in a fireplace, probably causing your fires to go out and more smoke to be produced.
Seasoned wood is wood that has been dried out by being left outside for a long time—up to two years, depending on the wood. Kiln dried wood is wood that has spent several days being dried in a kiln.
Before our burning season, we like to purchase a load of seasoned wood, but we also like to regularly replenish our stock with bags of kiln-dried wood from our neighborhood shop.
3. Lighting the Fire
The third step on how to use a fireplace is lighting the fire.
You’re putting yourself in the best position to start the fire as quickly as possible by using the fire-building techniques described in the previous section. It’s critical to have a fire that starts quickly to prevent it from dying from a lack of fresh air or inadequate wood.
Whichever type of fire you’ve built, whether it’s using the top-down method or the more traditional way, you’ll need to start the fire by lighting the fire starter.
You must light the fire starter at the fireplace’s bottom to start a conventional fire. The newspaper located beneath the fireplace grate would need to be lit in order to use the technique we demonstrated in the previous section.
Look to light several spots across the fireplace’s front and back when starting a fire as this can help the flames spread more evenly to the kindling and logs and result in a more successful fire.
We like to use long matches to start fires in our open fireplace. The main benefits of using long matches are that:
- You can access the front and back of the fire to assist in lighting additional spots on the fire starter.
- Before they start to burn too close to your hands, the matches last longer.
- By keeping your hands farther away from the areas that are already lit, you can light more of the fire while still maintaining a safe distance.
If you have a fireplace screen you’ll want to place it in front of the fire to help prevent anything from the fire from being thrown out into the room. The best time to keep an eye on a fire is right after it is lit, so doing so now is a good idea.
As the fire burns through the initial pieces of wood, you can now relax and enjoy it. When using the top-down approach, the fire will typically burn longer before the first load of logs is needed.
If the fire in your fireplace keeps going out when you light it, try to ensure that:
- Suitable draft is present.
- You are burning wood with a low enough moisture content.
- Newspaper and firelighters are used in sufficient amounts.
- The fire has the appropriate amount of kindling and is constructed properly.
- The fact that the logs aren’t too big and that they are also properly arranged..
4. Keeping a Fire Going
You will need to keep adding logs to the fire once the wood from the one you built has burned through in order to maintain it.
New logs can catch fire more readily as the fire burns longer and reaches higher internal temperatures. The fire can now be started with your larger-sized logs if you only used your smaller-sized logs for the initial lighting.
To help keep a fire going in your fireplace:
- Use hardwood logs whenever possible as they will typically burn the longest and produce the most heat.
- Aim to add a few logs at once. More than one log will assist in transferring heat and flames between them for more effective burning.
- Make sure that any additional wood you do burn is sufficiently dry and has a low moisture content for it to burn efficiently.
Fireplace Safety Check
There are a few things you can do to make sure your wood-burning fireplace is secure and effective before the temperatures begin to drop. In order to remove soot and debris, the National Fire Protection Association advises that chimneys be swept at least once a year, at the start of winter.
A certified chimney sweep can be found at the Chimney Safety Institute of America. Additionally, before attempting to start a fire, make sure you are knowledgeable about how to operate a fireplace.
Check the Chimney for Cracks
Check the chimney structure for flaws such as missing mortar, loose bricks, or cracks before lighting the first fire of the season. Additionally, look for deterioration in the chimney liner.
Check your chimney crown or have a professional look at it if there are cracks or spalling on the exterior of the chimney, which indicates chimney deterioration.
How Do I Know If My Chimney Is Bad?
A chimney inspection is the best way to respond to this additional query. You’ll be able to tell if something is wrong with your chimney when you have a professional inspect it because they’ll let you know.
Having said that, there are some warning signs you can look out for that could indicate your chimney needs to be repaired or has other problems.
Look for things like:
- Rust in your firebox or down the sides of your chimney
- Discoloration or vegetation growth on your chimney
- Pieces of flue tile or spalling brick in your firebox
- Brick deterioration or spalling on your chimney’s exterior
- Failing mortar on your chimney’s exterior or in your firebox
- Pooling water in your fireplace
- Missing chimney cap
- Water stains near your chimney and fireplace
- Cracks in your chimney crown or rust on your chase cover
- Smoke pouring into your home when you light a fire in your fireplace
- Changes in performance issues with your fireplace, insert, or stove
- Smelly odors coming from your fireplace
- Popping, cracking, or other loud sounds coming from your chimney when in use
- Difficulty getting and keeping a good fire burning in your hearth appliance
- Soot or creosote falling down into your fireplace
Check the Damper
Before the flue, above the fireplace, is a movable plate called the damper. Verify the fireplace damper’s functionality. There shouldn’t be any obstructions preventing it from opening and closing. Understanding how to start a fire in a fireplace requires understanding this crucial step.
Check for Creosote Buildup
When wood, tar, or fossil fuels are burned, creosote is created as a chemical mass of carbon. You wouldn’t know that creosote was there from the outside because it can linger in chimneys.
Creosote can accumulate as a thick layer of debris in the chimney and flue if it is not removed. It’s crucial to clean the smoke chamber and smoke shelf area because that’s where most chimney fires begin.
Creosote ignites at 451 degrees Fahrenheit, and once it begins to burn, it expands like foam sealant and can reach temperatures of over 2,000 degrees Fahrenheit in under a minute.
Trim Limbs
Verify that there are no overhanging tree limbs encroaching on the chimney; if there are, prune or trim them. Limbs can hinder proper draft airflow in your fireplace and pose a fire risk.
Clean Out the Ashes
Before you start stacking wood for that first fireplace fire, make sure all ashes are cleared out of the firebox. This is an essential part of understanding how to use a fireplace.
The cold ashes should simply be swept up or vacuumed outside. However, it’s a good idea to keep a few ashes close by in case you need to start a fire in your fireplace.
Be mindful that coals can retain their heat for up to three days, which can cause a fire hazard if they come into contact with flammable substances.
Fireplace Guard
Use a metal-mesh screen or glass fireplace doors to keep hot embers from escaping. Never use your fireplace without a guard. As the winter drags on, glass doors will also require routine cleaning because they tend to look a little dingy.
How Can I Tell If My Chimney Needs Cleaning?
By using a flashlight to look up inside the flue, you might be able to determine whether your chimney needs cleaning. Here at CSIA, we recommend that chimneys be cleaned when an 1/8″ of soot buildup is present or when any amount of glazed creosote is present.
What is the purpose of removing soot and creosote?
Soot can be hazardous because it irritates the lungs and can cause a mess if it enters your home, but creosote is the main issue. Creosote can easily start a chimney fire that damages your flue liner and spreads to other parts of your house because it is highly flammable (it is primarily made up of unburned wood particulates).
Creosote is also smelly, carcinogenic, corrosive, and harmful to the chimney system (especially when combined with the humidity associated with summer in some parts of the country).
FAQs
How to Use Fireplace Damper
Push the handle up until it is in your preferred opening position to open the chimney damper. To close it, pull the handle down until you hear a thud sound. Rotating a part on the side of the fireplace, resembling a key, allows this type to open. To open and close it, rotate the key left or right.
How to Use Electric Fireplace
In fact, all you have to do is plug yours into a wall outlet, just like you would any other appliance. Then, simply press a button to turn the fireplace on. A variety of heating elements, including infrared technology, will be used in the fireplace to transform electrical energy into heat.
Do I Need to Sweep My Chimney Every Year?
Not every chimney needs to be cleaned annually. Depending on the frequency of use, the type of wood burned, the appliance’s efficiency level, and other factors, some chimneys will build up soot and creosote faster than others.
How Do I Know If My Damper is Closed?
The metal door above the fireplace that closes off your chimney flue is called a damper. The damper’s main purpose is to prevent outdoor air from entering your home when your fireplace is not in use and to allow smoke to exit through the chimney when it is.
The first thing you should check if you light a fire in your fireplace and smoke starts pouring into your home is the damper because it’s one of the main causes of smoky fireplaces.
By shining a flashlight up into your fireplace, you can make sure it’s completely open. The damper is open if you can see all the way up the flue to the chimney’s top. If you are unable to, it is now closed.
Chimney dampers are typically easy to open and close, but because of where some of the handles are located, it’s always best to double-check that your damper is opened before you light a fire in the fireplace.
Can I Leave the Flue Open Overnight?
What happens if the flue is left open during the night? In other words, you’ll be allowing all of the heat you generated to escape through the chimney and all of the cool air from the outside to enter your house. When your fireplace is not in use, it is best to always close the damper.
When Should the Damper be Closed Following a Fire?
When your fire is completely out and there are no more embers or glowing logs, the damper should be left open. Also remember to wear a protective mitt to prevent burns if you have a throat damper that needs to be closed by reaching into the fireplace.
Do I Need to Open a Window When Using My Fireplace?
There may occasionally be insufficient air flow to allow the fireplace to function properly as older homes are being made tighter to improve energy efficiency and many newer homes are being built tighter for the same reason.
In these situations, opening a window a tiny bit might help with the smoke infiltration problem from the fireplace opening.