How to Get Your Wood-burning Fireplace to Burn Longer

A fireplace can be a romantic part of your home.

A wood-burning fireplace can add beauty to your home, allowing you to simultaneously heat the house and enjoy the sight of a roaring open fire. A downside of wood heating, however, is the continual need for more fuel. The mundane hassle of carrying logs can quench any fireside romance. You can take certain steps to make a fire burn more slowly, but be careful --- a slower-burning fire also tends to release more smoke and other pollutants into the air.

Instructions

1. Place a lower grate or set of andirons in the fireplace to decrease the airflow to the flames. Don't take it to such an extreme that the fire goes out or produces an uncomfortable amount of smoke.

2. Burn hardwoods instead of softwoods as fuel. Not only do the denser hardwoods burn longer, but they actually produce less smoke, counteracting any other measures you may have taken to make the fire burn slower.

3. Burn the largest pieces of wood you have available, and push them tightly together to slow the fire even further. This way the inner pieces won't burn until the outer ones have been consumed, rather than all burning at once.

4. Restrict the fire's airflow by closing or narrowing the damper. This will also cause the fire to burn slower. Experiment to be sure you don't restrict so much air that the fire goes out prematurely, by slowly closing the damper a little at a time. Allow the fire to burn unimpeded for 15 to 30 minutes before restricting the air for best results.

References

• California Air Resources Board: Wood Burning Handbook
• Woodheat.org: How to Build and Maintain a Wood Fire