This method below describes the recommended top-down method for lighting a fire or stove, including Ecodesign wood burners. If you want to browse our Ecodesign Ready stoves and fires, head to this link, or speak to your local retailer.

Step-by-step guide to lighting a fire

1. Firstly, ensure you use dry logs. You can find out more about identifying good firewood that is ready to burn on our website.
2. Now that you have your logs, place two small logs in your stove. This will form the bottom of the stack you are building.
3. Place two smaller logs on top.
4. Next, build a crisscross stack of kindling, and place a firelighter in the centre as you build upwards.
5. Once you have built a stack of kindling, place another firelighter on top.
6. Light the topmost firelighter and leave the door of your stove ajar.
7. Make sure all the air controls are fully open, and once the kindling is alight, close the door.
8. After the logs have caught fire, set the stove to normal running mode. It would be best to refer to your stove’s instructions for advice on using the air controls.
9. Refuel your stove once the logs have burnt down.
10. When refuelling, open the air controls fully to quickly ignite the newly added logs.
11. As soon as they are burning well, set the controls back to normal running mode.

For further help, watch the useful video below to guide you through each step.

The post How to light a wood burning stove first appeared on Limegreen.

WOOD BURNING AND MULTI-FUEL STOVES

If you’re looking for a powerful heat source and love the idea of getting in touch with simpler times – whether it’s chopping wood or making a fire, a modern solid fuel stove is a great choice.

Dovre offer a huge range of traditional and contemporary cast iron solid fuel stoves which burn wood or smokeless mineral fuels and offer a practical heating solution.

Dovre wood burning and multi-fuel stoves meet tough 2022 Ecodesign air quality standards, providing high efficiency heat and breathtaking flame visuals. Many of these advanced log burners feature triple airflow combustion systems, which minimise emissions and keep the stove glass clear.

Wood burning and multi-fuel stoves can either be installed into an existing chimney or if your home doesn’t have a chimney, with a prefabricated stainless steel flue system like the Stovax Professional XQ range.

GAS STOVES

Choosing a Dovre gas stove is a great option if you want instant, high efficiency heat with all the convenience of simply pushing a button. Dovre gas stoves feature a highly realistic log-effect with hand detailed ceramic logs that look just like the real thing. An innovative gas burner creates dancing flames with a glowing emberwool bed to complete the display.

Dovre gas stoves feature easy to use manual controls, but for ultimate ease, can be upgraded with a choice of remote controls allowing flame height and heat output to be adjusted and even programmable heating.

These advanced gas stoves are offered in a range of versions to ensure they are suitable for almost any home. Conventional and balanced flue models mean they can be installed with or without a chimney, and LPG options mean you don’t even need to be on a gas line to enjoy these superb stoves.

ELECTRIC STOVES

For stunning visuals with the option to enjoy the ambience with or without the heat, Dovre electric stoves provide ultimate versatility. The Veriflame LED flame effect can be independently operated from the heating function, making them the perfect choice for well-insulated homes. Unlike solid fuel and gas stoves, electric stoves do not need to be flued into your home since they do not create combustion gases. This makes them an ideal choice for locations such as conservatories and hallways – requiring just a typical household plug socket to run.

FURTHER INFORMATION AND ADVICE

Your local Limegreen can help you choose the right stove for your home and will be able to show you a range of options available, often burning. In addition to providing expert advice, they can also conduct a site survey to offer guidance on heat output and flueing requirements for wood burning, solid fuel and gas stoves.

The post Buying a stove? An essential guide to fuel types first appeared on Limegreen.

Similar to your car’s MOT, it’s necessary to pay your stove the attention it deserves, make repairs to ensure it is running at its most efficient. Autumn is the perfect time to do this, and it’s very important to rectify any problems before the cold weather sets in and the strains and pressures of regular and heavy use are put upon the stove.

If being a good cub scout taught us anything it was the importance of being prepared and being stuck in the throes of a horrifically icy winter only to find you stove has broken down is not good at all.

So in preparation for the winter and to avoid the unthinkable we have put together this handy list to help get you stove ready for the winter.

 Get your stove ready fore the cold weather:

• Clean out the ash-pan. We recommend you use a dedicated ash vacuum cleaner to save your domestic vacuum from becoming blocked from the fine ash particles, or use a secure ash caddie to stop spillages.
• Check all air-holes are clear and free from any debris build up. These help get vital oxygen to your fire and make it as efficient as possible.
• Give your glass a clean with a dedicated stove glass cleaner to get the best results. Not only does this remove the build-up of dangerous creosote, it lets you see the beautiful roaring fire you’ve created.
• Check your stove rope around the seals of your stove doors and replace at the first sign of damage. To do this, chalk the rope with the door open and then shut it. When you open it again, look to see the line made by the chalk on the stove, where the rope should be touching. If any gaps are spotted, then you need to replace the rope.
• Check your firebricks and look for any damage. These reflect the heat back at the fire, protecting the body of the stove and improving efficiency.
• Remove any flammable objects from the area around your stove. Sounds obvious but you’d be surprised what people put on top of (or even in) their stoves when they’re not in use. Similarly, with Halloween coming up, check any decorations hanging nearby aren’t too close to your stove.
• Test your smoke and carbon monoxide alarms. It is absolutely imperative that you make sure these work.
• Get your chimney cleaned by a reputable chimney sweep. Creosote builds up in chimneys over time and birds have a tendency to build nests or fall down them.
• Start to bring in some seasoned wood into your house to keep it dry and ready to go. This will create space in your covered wood pile and allow you to prepare even more wood.
• Gradually begin to warm your stove by lighting small fires in it. Similar to when you first got your stove, you need to slowly suggest heat to the metal parts of the stove so that it doesn’t expand too rapidly and crack.

While these points will help you successfully maintain your stove, we urge you to keep a look out for any wear and tear you may as you go. If you spot anything that doesn’t look or feel right call Limegreen‘s heating specialist who can swiftly help you get to the root of the problem.

The post Is it time to get your stove ready for winter? first appeared on Limegreen.

For many, stoking up the woodburner or switching on the gas fire was an optional extra – a way of adding an ambient focal point when the family came to visit or making the home cosy on those wintry and grey days. Not so now. Today, the function of a fire or stove in a typical British home is one vital to creating warmth and atmosphere; an essential component of a heating system from which we demand not only high performance and efficiency but cost effectiveness and quality design. Today’s home maker wants top results for their money.

Step forward modern wood burning, gas and electric fireplaces, equipped with the latest technology and stunning aesthetics to satisfy a range of tastes from the traditional to the contemporary; country inspired or urban chic.

If you are considering a fireplace or would like to upgrade your current appliance, this article will act as an introduction to the many options available to you.

First Steps… Wood, Gas or Electric?

One of the first things to deduce before you consider design is: ‘what type of fuel can I burn?’

If your property has a chimney breast, you will most likely be able to install a wood burning fire, a stove or a conventional flue gas fire but before you embark on either, ensure that the chimney is checked thoroughly by a qualified professional for safety and suitability. For those modern homes without a chimney – about one third of the UK’s housing stock does not have a built-in chimney, there are other options to suit your needs. Installing a balanced flue system in your property ensures you can burn gas fires efficiently. Otherwise, if you have a plentiful supply of wood, fitting a twin-wall pipe system can enable you to enjoy the flames of a real log fire in your home. Whatever flue outlet you have available, there are numerous models of fires and stoves to choose from.

The Benefits of Wood Burning

An increasing number of people want to make a difference to their carbon footprint and burning wood in a modern stove is a carbon lean way to create heat for the home especially if you have purchased your fuel from a local and well managed supply. With wood fuel competitively priced, or even cost-free to those who have their own coppice, this option is an extremely effective way to save money! But a very big draw to wood burning is the stunning focal point it naturally creates and the, possibly unparalleled homely ambience it produces in abundance. That distinctive, comforting smell is for many the scent that captures the imagination and conjures the very concept of cosiness and being at home.

For optimum results, we recommend logs should be seasoned for two years or more to achieve a moisture content below 20%. This will not only give twice the output of freshly felled timber but help avoid a build-up of tar in your flue. Furthermore, if you can obtain hardwood logs this is better still, as they will have a greatly increased value compared to softwoods for the same volume.

Multi-fuel

Many stoves, fires and fireplaces are designed to burn smokeless fuels, peat/turf briquettes and logs as multi-fuel appliances. Multi-fuel stoves have a riddling grate which allows ash to be riddled into a built-in ashpan to create the optimum conditions for efficient combustion as smokeless fuels burn better on a raised grate that allows air to be drawn in from underneath. Woodburners have a fixed grate and no ashpan, since wood burns best on a bed of ashes. Choosing a multi-fuel stove, fire or fireplace over a woodburning only one provides you with the option to select the cheapest and most local fuel source available as well as continue to take advantage of some very high efficiency rates.

Quick and Convenient Gas

The popularity of gas continues to rise and with the breadth of styles of both stoves and fires available in today’s market, it is easy to see why. While it is still possible to achieve that classic inset gas fire look with a coal fuel effect, a decorative front and a frame, there is now the option to insert a cassette into the wall to create a ‘hole in the wall’ look around which you can add a frame or leave to create a ‘frameless’ aesthetic – particularly effective when accompanied with fireplace surround tiles. Fuel effects have also become more varied and life-like – choose from chunky logs and highly realistic coals to contemporary white stones or even, coloured glass beads for an injection of colour. Gas is also a plentiful resource and reasonably priced with many British homes hooked up to natural gas that is piped directly into the house. Should you find however that you do not have access to natural gas, many appliances are able to work with LPG or bottled gas. Furthermore a very attractive feature of many gas fires and stoves is their ability to be remote controlled, providing the ultimate in convenience and relaxation. From standard controls to operate the basics such as turning the fire on and off and altering the flame height, to thermostatic remote handsets that allow you to set your preferred room temperature, you can even set the time that you wish your fire or stove to come on at, thus bringing your gas appliance into the sort of timetable that would normally be exclusive to your central heating.

Go Electric

It may not be the first thing that comes to mind when you are considering a stove, fire or fireplace but modern electric appliances have come on leaps and bounds recently. Enticing flame effects are becoming more and more lifelike and manufacturers have started to incorporate low energy or LED bulbs to decrease running costs. From stoves to ‘hang on the wall’ fires or fireplaces, electric appliances really are suitable for all so in the absence of a chimney or flue, they are ideal – simply plug in and away you go. Other benefits of electric fires and stoves include the option to use the flame effect independently of the heat output which means no matter the temperature outside, you can enjoy the charming and alluring visuals inside!

The post Essential Guide to Fireplaces – By Stovax /Gazco first appeared on Limegreen.

Whilst there was a reduction in nationwide chimney fires during the year April 2014-March 2015, there were still over 5,500 avoidable incidents.

Did you know that 82% of chimney fires are caused by blocked chimneys?

Here at Limegreen we want to make sure that you are safe in your homes, so we have compiled this guide of tips to avoid having a chimney fire.

Chimney safety check list

• Get your chimney cleaned by a reputable chimney sweep. Creosote builds up in chimneys over time and also birds have a tendency to build nests or fall down them.
• Test your smoke and carbon monoxide alarms. It is absolutely imperative that you make sure these work.
• Start to bring in some seasoned wood into your house to keep it dry and ready to go. This will create space in your covered wood pile and allow you to prepare even more wood.
• Use a stove thermometer. Installing  a stovepipe thermometer helps you to monitor flue temperatures and adjust burning practices as needed
• Never leave a fire unattended. ALWAYS extinguish  before leaving the house or going to bed.

There were 4221 chimney fires in #England (April 2016-March 2017). Don’t become a chimney fire statistic this winter!

Call Limegreen to get your flue inspected or chimney swept on 029 2066 6622

The post Get Sweeping for Chimney Fire Safety Week! first appeared on Limegreen.