Tips and Tricks

Here are just a few tips and tricks to owning and operating a stove or fireplace!

Wood
Responsible Wood Burning - What is responsible wood burning? Responsible wood burning is about reducing the emissions from a wood fire. It entails practicing responsible wood burning habits (such as building small hot fires, using seasoned wood or manufactured fire logs) and using low emissions wood burning hearth products (such as wood burning stoves and fireplace inserts certified by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and new state-of-the-art clean burning fireplaces) to help reduce wood smoke by more than 85 percent. Essentially, burning wood responsibly is about doing the right thing for you, your family, and your neighbors while protecting your ability to burn wood well into the future.

Use Seasoned Firewood - Seasoned Firewood has around 20 percent moisture content and should be stacked and dried for one year before burning. Seasoned wood is easier to light and will burn more readily and efficiently. The type of seasoned firewood also impacts the fire. Hardwoods such as oak, hickory and elm tend to produce a longer-lasting fire.

Build Small Hot Fires - Use smaller pieces of seasoned firewood and build small hot fires.

Start a Fire With a Fire Starter - The best way to start a wood burning fire is to use a fire starter.

How to Start Your Fire Safely - First off, use kindling (small strips or pieces of seasoned wood) for the basic fuel for your fire. This will ensure that you get a good bed of coals for the base of your fire. Stack the kindling in a "log house" pattern in the bottom of your stove or fireplace. This is called the crib. Make sure you use enough kindling to create a good bed of coals when making your crib, too little will simply not burn hot enough to create the bed you need. Place a fire starter or two in the middle of the crib and stack some more kindling around and on top of the crib. Light the fire starter with a long match or a BBQ grill lighter. When the fire starter ignites the kindling and burns down just a bit, its time to start putting small pieces of seasoned firewood on and around the crib. Use insulated fire gloves of some type when doing this, the risk of getting burned at this point is high. Keep the fire hot and be conservative at first about placing large logs on your fire, you don t want to smother it. Gradually increase the size of the log that you put on the fire until it gets going. If you follow these steps every time, starting your fire (at home or anywhere else) will be quick and easy.

Gas

Gas Hearth Appliances - Heating with gas hearth appliances is becoming more popular day to day. Weather it be Natural gas or propane, there are many ways to heat your home while at the same time creating an atmosphere in the room that welcomes you in on the coldest of days. A central furnace cycles on and off several times an hour and heats your entire home – even unoccupied areas – wasting money. Using supplemental gas hearth appliances to heat only the areas your family occupies most allows you to turn down the thermostat for the central furnace, decreasing your fuel bill.

Vent-Free - Vent-Free gas products are products that vent directly in the room they are occupying. Meaning that every bit of heat they produce is sent out into the room, making them 99.9% efficient. A gas log set consists of a gas burner covered in "firewood" made from fire-proof molded refractory cement, extruded bisque ceramic clay or molded ceramic fibers, depending on the manufacturer and model. There are, however, some things one might want to consider when looking at a vent-less product. Vent-less gas products, because they burn room air, tend to put off smells if they pick up chemicals or pet dander or even dust, when they pull in air to burn. Now, that's not to say that they smell all the time, only if there is a contaminate in the air that will smell funny if burned. A lot of the time, customers might think they smell gas in the house shortly after starting their vent-less gas product, when in fact its only something in the air that the appliance picked up and sent through the burner. One more thing one might consider is that vent-less gas products, when burned continuously, will emit about 4 gallons of water per day. The bi product of burning natural gas or propane is water. We do not recommend going with a vent-less product if you have had a history of asthma or any respiratory occurrences. Other than that, vent-less is a safe and easy way to enjoy a nice relaxing fire while at the same time getting the most out of what you pay for. If you have any more questions on vent-less products please feel free to contact us using our "Request Info" page.

Vented - Vented gas products are products that, instead of depositing the heated air in the room, deposit air out a vent to the outside of the house. Now because of this, vented products are not as efficient as vent-less products and are heater-rated in the 80% to 83% efficiency range. The heat that they produce, without the blower option, is strictly radiant, meaning that the heat from the fire radiates through the glass and warms objects in the room objectively raising the temperature in the room. While finding a place in which to put your vented product (to insure you can vent it outside) is a little more tricky than a vent-less unit, the payoff is hot clean heat with a completely sealed fire box, with no worry of smell or soot. If you have any further question on vented gas products please feel free to contact us using our "Request Info" page.

PILOT LIGHTING INSTRUCTIONS

1. Open the lower grill and locate the gas valve - your valve may be located behind a
"dashboard plate" and that will not interfere with the lighting of your pilot light.
2. Locate the black knob on the left side (marked on/off/pilot). Push this button in
and rotate counter-clockwise until the word "pilot" is in the 6 o'clock position.
3. While pressing and holding in the black knob, press the RED igniter button
repeatedly; the pilot will generally light with two or three pushes on the igniter.
4. Once the pilot is lit, continue to hold the valve knob in for 30 seconds, then release
the knob and it will pop back out. The pilot should remain lit. If it goes out, repeat
steps 2-4. If the pilot light does not stay lit, contact your nearest dealer for service.
5. Nest, press the same knob in slightly and turn the control counter clockwise until
"ON" is in the 6 o'clock position.
6. To light your burner: Flip the black on/off toggle switch to the "on" position. If you are using a Remote Control or Thermostat you will need to leave the on/off toggle switch in the "off" position in order for either of these components to operate.