Start the fire from the top! Correct wood burning is more environmentally friendly, reduces costs and increases fire safety.

Starting the fire from the top provides quicker heating of the burn chamber, which provides proper draft in the flue and pipe quickly, more oxygen to the flames and higher temperature. The flames on the top heats up the logs underneath so that they release the gasses that make the fire burn and keep on burning. Use firelighters to ensure rapid lighting of the kindling wood on top. In this way, you will avoid unnecessary smoke in the kindling phase. Slow kindling and low temperature lead to an increase an increase in airborne dust that is many times multiplied.

How to build a fire – Use logs of dry wood on the bottom and a mix of kindling wood and a couple of firelighters on the top. Finish it off with a large log.

Use dry wood – A rule of thumb is that dry wood is lighter and has deeper cracks. When hitting two logs against each other, it should sound like a bat hitting a ball. If you use wood with a higher moisture content (more than 20%), the emissions of soot and particles will be 10 to 30 times higher than if you use dry wood.

Make sure there is enough air

Make sure there is enough air in the house, so that the woodstove has enough air for the combustion process.

Kitchen fans and ventilation systems that pull air out of the house will reduce the draft in the chimney.

Open up all vents in the woodstove. Feel free to open the door slightly for up to 5 minutes until the fire is burning properly. When the fireplace is warm, after about 15 minutes, the vents can be adjusted again. It is important not to shut the damper (if used) too much, as this will suffocate the flames. The wood should always burn with a visible flame. Fires without flames emit twice as much soot and particles.