Are there any pitfalls that I should know about before sticking wood into one of these and setting it on fire?
Any maintenance points?
You just have to believe that the wood is in there, man, burning, like don't bother with conventional things like matches and stuff. If you want to get all stodgy though, make sure the ashes are dumped and the flue is open before you spark it up. You can control the rate of burn with vents, don't know that model but you should have some adjustment there. Full open to get going, then reduce or the whole thing will be glowing orange.
Only one, death from carbon monoxide poisoning.
Please be careful.
source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carbon_monoxide_poisoning
I have a similar one and they do chuck out some serious heat. My one has a lever with 3 settings beneath the door to regulate the air flow, As was mentiones previously, open it when lighting and shut it some when the fire it going.
My one has a lever on the flu which I always leave open. Expect some smoke if you leave the door open and the smoke alarms to go off
It looks used so it will be ready to go. Some of these have inserts that can be used if you want to cook something inside. My one does not though. Not sure if I'd use it if it did...
Don't chuck any old wood in the as some may have combustable material on them and will give a nice bang...Not that I have done such a thing
There should be a flue damper which you use to control exhaust air, and an intake vent which you use to control, well, the intake. You start the fire with everything open, then close the door and wait for it to be going well. Then you can close the flue damper to slow the departure of hot air and make the fire last longer. You'll probably have to play with the flue and vents some to find what works the best for you.
Always open the flue completely before opening the door - it can be very smoky otherwise. If the fire is really going, you might also need to close the intake vents to open the door without setting off a smoke detector.
There should also be a place where ashes accumulate. Depending on the design of the grate which the wood rests on you may have to shake the grate occasionally to make the ashes fall down. Some stoves have a lever for this. Obviously, you remove the ashes before they get too close to the bottom of the grate.
I think the ashes just stay in the bottom, where the wood lays (on those brick things) and you have to scrape them out of the fireplace manually. I do think it has a grate.
One thing I've noticed when starting mine is, even using newspaper under the wood for a kick start, the heat produced at the beginning struggles to rise up the chimney - and smoke starts to seep into the room from around the edges of the door, which isn't an air tight fit.
This is because the air already occupying the chimney is much cooler and effectively in the initial stages keeps the heat from the fire pushed down.
To speed things up and try to reduce smoke in the room, I put several pieces of loosely screwed up newspaper on top of the wood (as well as under it) and then light these after I've lit the main fire. Then close the door. These flame up immediately and send up a fair amount of heat into the chimney, which should help draw up the smoke from the wood.
This is only effective if the damper on the chimney is fully open (normally handle in vertical position - and use oven gloves, it gets hot). Once the fire is established, you can close this back to reduce burn rate, if required. Inside the chimney there is a metal plate that turns with the handle, but only occupies half of the chimney diameter, so wont completely block it. Use in conjunction with the air vent at the bottom of the fire - again fully open to start.
Usual boy scout fire making techniques apply - a bit of paper with small/thin chopped kindling pieces on top to start. Once established put on your bigger pieces.
Even small ovens can produce a lot of heat, and paradoxically you often need to open a window to cool down (even in winter) - and also to clear any smoke.
I would wait until the next spell of hot weather, and give it a try .
EDIT: after the above 2 replies; if you don't have a removable drawer for the ashes, you can get one of these (around 40 chufs) for your vac - for cold ashes:
[](https://www.englishforum.ch/attachments/other-general/27748d1307171044-wood-burny-thing-ash-cleaner-vacuum-cleaner-801.jpg)
I use a bit of kindling with some of this blue goop I get from Landi... Burn baby burn
Don't store your wood leaning against the burny thing, it can heat up enough to ignite the wood on the outside as I found out the hard way .
Agreed with everything else before.
Wood burny thing i s called a Cheminee in Switzerland
You need to get the chimney cleaned every year.
Don't put coal briquets in it, unless the instructions state you can!
My family in Denmark has one of these in their summer home. There's a drawer at the bottom to hold newspaper used to start the fire. Don't start the fire in that drawer like I didn't or something....
Is it? I thought it was a poêle.
Phil, like Ittigen says, get the chimney cleaned. You should do it before you light it, unless you know for sure that it was cleaned regularly & recently. I'd guess is probably was. But you never know.
Agree with everything people have said, especially Ittigen's comment about making sure the chimney has been cleaned recently.
I'm not in Switzerland, but in Stuttgart it's brutally hot and humid at the moment... not really weather to light up your wood-burning stove. Perhaps you should consider waiting for fall? This type of stove really heats up a room...
thanks for all the suggestions. anyone know where the usual place is to order/get wood to burn in this. alternatively, if i had an ikea wardrobe i no longer wanted....
You can usually get in touch with the local forest service through your Gemeinde ('brennholz' is the magic word), or just do a Google search on brennholz + your village. You should come up with a site like this:
http://www.stocker-brennholz.ch/
It's typically at least two years old and dry, and they'll deliver it (although normally they only deliver to the roadside -- it's up to you to get it inside/onto your balcony/into your cellar/into your garden).
It's sold by the stere , which is one cubic metre of wood. Which is quite a bit.
My neighbour and I usually do a deal -- we split a stere between us. That's enough to keep both of us in (decorative) fires all winter long. If you're using the wood as a heat source and burning around the clock, obviously you'll need more.
For smaller quantities, my local Coop stocks boxes of wood during the winter months. They're about 25kg each, and sell for CHF9- a box. 25kg is two evening-long fires at our place.
out of interest, how much does it cost you for one stere?
i've always wanted to learn more about coppicing. maybe now is my chance to try...
What word or phrase should I be looking for in the phone book for a chimney sweep?
And what would be a normal sensible price for an annual clean?
Normally I ask my neighbours for a recommendation but the ones round here are like 'What?! We haven't had our chimney cleaned in 6 years. ha ha ha its fine' ... which worries me somewhat. And no, they don't use smokeless fuel either.
Did you clicky the linky? It's a pricelist.
You need to look for Kaminfeger. However I have never had to make an appointment with one, our local one sends me a card every year telling me when they will be coming to clean my chimney.
(D) Schornsteinfeger
(F) Ramoneur