How to get the most form a wood buring fire

[osie]

Hi All

We have a big wood burning fireplace... It has a door and is attached to the chimney.

It has 2 metal shutters(with 0-F and 1-3) and a fan.  If the shutters are open then the wood burns quickly.

I put some paper, small wood and a log on the fire, light it with the door open and wait a few minutes for the fire to catch.  I then close the door and leave the shutters open.

It all works fine but I do put about 4 logs on the fire a day and generally have to put some smaller wood/branches under each log so that it catches okay.

My question is :-

Does that sound about right or should I be closing the shutters at some point..

What is the purpose of the fan, to produce heat or to clean in some way.

Are there any ergonomic concepts I am missing: more heat for less wood

Thanks

osie

[Kitty]

Osie - I have a large wood burner as well.  What you do sounds about right. 

I always light the fire with the door 'too' (not closed) and leave it like this for quite a time until the fire is roaring. That way, the fire stays hot all the time.  Then I close the door with the levers out and about an hour later, push the levers in for the fire to simmer down.  I often have to pull them back out if the fire dies down too much.  I think that this is a matter of taste - I like the fire to roar, my husband doesn't.

You are lucky that you only use 4 logs per day.  I get through loads more than that but my logs are 0.5 metres long.  Maybe yours are one metre?

You are right about putting smaller logs underneath to give some air to the underside of the big logs.  I try to create a wigwam pattern whenever stacking up the fire.

 

[Eos]

[quote user="osie"]
What is the purpose of the fan
[/quote]

My parents used to have something similar to what you describe and in their case the fan was used to boost the draught, as an aide to lighting the fire quickly.

[osie]

Its good to know that I am doing it about right... The logs I use are about 70cm but the probably reason why I used only 4 is because I only check about 4 times a day by which time it is on its last legs again.

It is quite time consuming... I spend most of my winter months either moving wood from one pile to another or lighting/resuscitating  the fire.  At least I am not the only one.

Thanks for the answers
osie