Okay you installed your wood burning fireplace and you are set to have your first fire. Before you have your first fire we should probably go over a couple of things you need to know such as starting a fire, what to expect, how to properly maintain a fire and how to properly maintain your fireplace and liner. For a complete list you should refer to your owners manual. So let’s jump in.
*** One note you need to know is your first fire. As you can see by the stove, there is paint on the fire box. The paint needs to go through a curing process, so you might notice an odor. This will go away in time. You might need to open a window. Overall the smell wasn’t too bad for me.
*** Another side note to mention is that you should always operate your fan speed with the temperature. So if you have the thermostat set at high, put the fan speed at high. If the thermostat is set at low, put the fan speed at low.
Your First Fire
One thing to remember is never use a grate. The wood goes directly into the firebox. Speaking of wood, do not use wood that is not dry. I don’t mean wood that is wet from the rain last night. I mean wood that isn’t properly seasoned. You can tell your moisture content by getting a moisture meter. You don’t want to use anything with a moisture content over 20%.
Before you start a fire set the thermostat to high, open the bypass handle and have the door slightly open.
Okay let’s get a fire going. There are two ways to do this. First, Blaze King sells organic fire starters which is probably the easiest way to start a fire. Just place this in the firebox along with some wood and start a fire.
If you don’t have any of these fire starters, crumple up 3-5 sheets of newspaper and put some small sticks on top to get the fire started. Once that gets cooking, put some thicker wood in the firebox, the size of a baseball bat. You can now close the door all the way. When that starts burning well, now you can put your wood in place. As you can see, you should slowly increase the size of the wood to help produce a good fire. On top of the fireplace is the catalytic thermometer. When it starts to hit the active zone, go ahead and close the bypass handle. You are all set to go. Go ahead and sit back and enjoy. Don’t forget to adjust the fan speed to match the thermostat control. When you do need to add wood to the fire, place the bypass handle in the open position. This will help prevent smoke from coming back into the house.
Maintenance of your Blaze King
In order to make sure your fireplace is working at optimal capacity, you will have to perform routine maintenance. First, you will have to remove ash from the fireplace, just make sure the ash isn’t hot and you put it in a metal or noncombustible container.
You will also need to inspect your chimney on a regular basis. You want to make sure creosote doesn’t build up and cause a fire. This means you should also have your liner cleaned once a year. You also have to inspect your door gaskets, combustor and a couple other small items. Since the owners manual can cover this better than I can, please refer to the owners manual.
DuraVent Maintenance
The DuraVent liner is great as you really do not need to do much to it. However you do need to inspect the liner at least once a year. You will also need to clean the liner once a year. Cleaning your liner is extremely important because it ensures a great draft and reduces the chance of a chimney fire. Creosote builds up in the liner. Creosote is just unburnt energy. As this starts to get hot it hits what is called ignition temperature. When that happens, you get a chimney fire. So make sure you clean your liner out at least once a year.
If you follow these simple guides above and refer to your owners manual for the Blaze King and DuraVent, you will be able to enjoy a nice warm house all year round and for many years to come.
We had a lot of fun doing this fireplace project. If you have any questions or comments, please leave them below. Also feel free to contact us with questions using our contact form.
