Multi-Fuel Stoves – After your Purchase

Make sure you follow the HETAS safety checklist:
‍

• Always use the fuel recommended by the manufacturer for your type of appliance
• Keep all combustibles, including logs, at a safe distance from a hot stove and hearth
• Keep permanent air ventilation grills clear at all times
• Do not “turn down the stove for the night” / slumber burn an appliance unless it is specifically designed to operate this way – refer to the manufacturer’s instructions
• Never leave an open  re unattended without a spark guard
• Always use a securely fitted fireguard if the young, elderly or infirm are in the house
• Have your appliance serviced regularly by a HETAS Registered Installer or HETAS Approved Servicing technician in accordance with Manufacturer’s instructions (if instructions do not cover this, service at least once a year)
• We recommend contacting your insurer about your new stove as it may affect your insurance policy e.g. for thatched properties.

Lighting a stove effectively takes practice – these steps provide good guidelines

1. Fully open the primary air vent/ control and airwash controls
2. Light your fire. See an illustrated step-by-step guide to start a fire at: https://www.hetas.co.uk/consumer/advice-hub/advice-articles/how-to-light-a-fire/
3. Leave the door ajar while the fire establishes and glass warms up. This helps avoid condensation build up.
4. Once the  fire is going, add larger wood pieces (do not fill the chamber)
5. When the fire is established, close the door completely
6. Reduce primary air control to desired heat setting
7. If required, set the secondary air wash system to the desired setting
8. Maintain the fire frequently with small amounts of additional fuel

How to light a mineral fuel stove

1. Start with a firelighter and a small amount of coal
2. Set main air control to maximum and any secondary controls to minimum unless manufacturer’s instructions state otherwise
3. Once the original fuel is fully alight, start building up the fuel in the grate without over filling the chamber
4. Reduce the air intake once the whole bed of fuel is burning well
5. Add more fuel at a frequency that keeps a good bed of red hot coals

In the first instance always refer to your stove instruction manual – the following only gives general guidance:

An efficient burn of fuel providing heat to the room requires three things:

1. Time – the combustion process needs time to occur. Incomplete combustion results in more smoke and carbon monoxide in flue gases – this both wastes energy and increases emissions
2. Turbulence – arrange fuel in a way that allows air and combustion gases to mix, without over filling the appliance
3. Temperature – solid fuel burns efficiently at high temperatures with negligible smoke. If the temperature is too low your fuel will produce more smoke and less heat to warm the room

Keep your fire healthy – watch for:

• Vigorous  flames – reaching the appliance exit – do not maintain a vigorous flame once the appliance is up to temperature
• Lazy flames – moving across the space within the stove
• Red hot embers – very efficient, but may need to add more fuel before the embers die down

Select a fuel type that matches your appliance’s instructions and warranty for a long, reliable and safe service.

• Wood burners have flat beds on which to load fuel
• Multi-fuel stoves have grates.

You can put wood on a multi-fuel stove, but you can’t put coal on a wood-burning stove.

Other appliances can run on wood pellets, often with automatic feed mechanisms

Using Wood Fuel for a sustainable future

Wood is a major source of renewable heat energy – if burned efficiently it produces virtually no smoke. Replacing fossil fuels with sustainably sourced wood offsets CO2  emissions.

Log burners can use hardwood or softwood logs that are dry and fully seasoned or kiln dried.

Typically made from sawdust, briquettes should conform to European standards. Usually, they can be used as an alternative to firewood, but different fuels may need you to use different settings on your stove. Start with a smaller amount of briquette fuel than you would firewood

Usually made from sawdust, pellets are much smaller and should conform to European standards. They are commonly used for biomass boilers but pellet stoves are becoming more popular. Poor quality pellets often crumble, whilst over-long pellets clog the feed. Pellets are sensitive to water damage so must be stored in a dry place.