The smoke from your chimney is just wood that hasn’t fully combusted (or burnt). Perfecting your technique reduces smoke levels and creates a great, warm fire.
Wood smoke also contains fine particles that can get deep into your lungs and cause health problems.
Learn how to build a smoke-free fire with fire-master Dave Pullen.
Step-by-step instructions on how to build a smoke-free fire
Step 1 | Fold newspaper into long strips and tie them into single knots. |
Step 2 | Place knots and several pieces of scrunched up newspaper into your wood burner. |
Step 3 | Loosely arrange 8-10 pieces of kindling on top of the paper in a teepee shape. |
Step 4 | Add a couple of small logs, making sure not to crush your teepee. |
Step 5 | Set the airflow to high and light your fire. Tip: Keeping the door open a little helps the fire to get going. |
Step 6 | Once the kindling is burning well (five minutes), add some more small logs. Tip: Now you can close the door properly. |
Step 7 | Once the small logs are burning well (10-15 minutes), add some big logs. Tip: Make sure there’s space between the logs to allow air to circulate. |
Step 8 | Once the fire is going well, you can turn the airflow down. |
Step 9 | When reloading, turn the airflow back to high for 15 minutes or so. |
Step 10 | Sit back and enjoy! |
Want to check that you are burning smoke-free?
It’s normal for some smoke to come out of your chimney while you’re getting your fire going, but it should be burning well and smoke-free after about 30 minutes.
Once you’ve got it going, brave the cold and go outside to take a look at what’s coming out of your chimney. Does it look similar to the picture with a tick? Congratulations – you’re a master fire-builder!
If it looks like one of the pictures with a cross, your wood burner is producing too much smoke.
Consider the following:
- Are you using a good technique?
- Are you using dry wood?
- Has your chimney been cleaned in the last 12 months?
Get in touch
- Phone:
- 0800 496 734
- Email:
- info@gw.govt.nz