Fireplace advice

Grouter said:
Creosote is a by-product of combustion at too low a temperature. Changing fuel won't help.
Try keeping your fire toward the back of the firebox, away from the glass. I have the luxury of a rather larger stove than you seem to have so it's easy.
Going for a "long burn" at bed time (putting lots of fuel on the stove, then cutting air supply to the minimum so it burns for a long time) will also cause creosote build-up.
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OK great will give that a shot thanks!

Yeah as I said this fireplace is more for the living area not the bedrooms so no need stock up too much before off to bed.

But does it also mean I might be running it to low? Like maybe have the vent between min and 1 not on minimum for example?
 
My rule of thumb is that there must always be a flame on the fuel (log), however small.
If it's just smoking and smouldering, it doesn't have enough air.
If it looks like there's a nuclear reaction going on in there, the flue pipe is glowing cherry red and the dogs have run for cover, it has too much air.

One finds a happy medium with use over time... :)


20210519_201404.jpg
 
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Cleaning the glass is easy BTW.
Damp / wet paper towel, dab it in last night's cold ash, rub on glass.
Repeat till clean.
It doesn't scratch the glass.
Forget windex and crap like that - it will leave a residue which will burn on and set like ceramic - you'll never get it off.
 
Grouter said:
Cleaning the glass is easy BTW.
Damp / wet paper towel, dab it in last night's cold ash, rub on glass.
Repeat till clean.
It doesn't scratch the glass.
Forget windex and crap like that - it will leave a residue which will burn on and set like ceramic - you'll never get it off.
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Cool. Definitely going to give this a try on mines. The glass is just white now over years of use. I don't think we ever attempted to clean it. We have never had creosote as far as I can tell.
 
In 2012 we had a Morso fitted into our existing (pretty useless in terms of heat output) fireplace. It's smallish because of the space available but packs a great punch. And there's no sooty smell in the house the next morning. Using well-seasoned wood (ours is 2-3 years) is important - we had our flue swept in 2020 and the Morso guy commented on the lack of build-up. One regret is that because it's fitted into the cavity means we can't cook supper on the top when there's loadshedding.
 
My previous stove, a 90-year-old Morso, originally had mica windows. I replaced them with glass.
That thing got so hot it cooked the glass white so it went cloudy.
It effectively got 'sandblasted'.
Nothing would return it back to clear glass again.
IMG-20200406-WA0016.jpeg
 
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I think we have a morso too. I saw some spares that the previous owners left that had that name. I think our glass is sandblasted too. But still gonna try to clear glass using that trick when I turn it on this year and get some ash.
 
Grouter said:
My rule of thumb is that there must always be a flame on the fuel (log), however small.
If it's just smoking and smouldering, it doesn't have enough air.
If it looks like there's a nuclear reaction going on in there, the flue pipe is glowing cherry red and the dogs have run for cover, it has too much air.

One finds a happy medium with use over time... :)


View attachment 1300798
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Thank you kindly might have found the potential culprit place confirmed wood is only seasoned a month >_< looks very dry for a month but that might explain it off to find another place
 
Grouter said:
Cleaning the glass is easy BTW.
Damp / wet paper towel, dab it in last night's cold ash, rub on glass.
Repeat till clean.
It doesn't scratch the glass.
Forget windex and crap like that - it will leave a residue which will burn on and set like ceramic - you'll never get it off.
Click to expand...
Thanks I found this tip last week and tried it works like a bomb!
 
TedLasso said:
I think we have a morso too. I saw some spares that the previous owners left that had that name. I think our glass is sandblasted too. But still gonna try to clear glass using that trick when I turn it on this year and get some ash.
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Don't lose them. Morso parts prices are eye-watering...
 
Snyper564 said:
Thank you kindly might have found the potential culprit place confirmed wood is only seasoned a month >_< looks very dry for a month but that might explain it off to find another place
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You should also try to buy the wood a year in advance. I do this for my braai wood and it is so much better.
 
Grouter said:
Cleaning the glass is easy BTW.
Damp / wet paper towel, dab it in last night's cold ash, rub on glass.
Repeat till clean.
It doesn't scratch the glass.
Forget windex and crap like that - it will leave a residue which will burn on and set like ceramic - you'll never get it off.
Click to expand...

I wish I knew this in the beginning and the glass was so bad by the end of winter you could not see through it from crap products.

Then I did the above and got it spotless.
 
Snyper564 said:
I also believe this creosote. Am a correct in saying that I should rather not buy from this place or could this have been a bad batch kinda situation as they sell firewood by the ton and have been doing so for years? Or am I not running it hot enough? I run on minimum it has min 1 2 3 and max.
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Snyper564 said:
Thank you kindly might have found the potential culprit place confirmed wood is only seasoned a month >_< looks very dry for a month but that might explain it off to find another place
Click to expand...

Some European suppliers actually supply kiln dried wood. Doubt anyone in ZA does that for firewood - most fell trees, cut lengths, split, bag and then sell.

Can become a semantics game but dry!=seasoned. Wood that feels dry will often still have plenty sap in the internal fibres - when heating up in the flames this boils out and forms steam. Proper seasoned wood generally has a grey colour and not the light tan (google seasoned vs unseasoned wood for some pics) - also there will be radial cracks etc., the wood appears less dense and weighs less than less seasoned wood.

Probably do not have to write off current supplier (when stocking up now for next year AND the year following) but shopping around you might find someone with more seasoned stock (unlikely but possible).

You could try some of the pocket wood moisture meters (takealot, adendorff etc. should carry some) to check before you buy a bag. No idea if they work well.

The stoves are generally specced on a "nominal" value where the air settings are usually everything in the middle, so you could up the air intake from the lower settings (these stoves tend to be happier hotter - within reason).

If really desperate you can try to split your logs if they are still fairly chunky to help get the moisture out quicker when in the fire (when splitting unseasoned vs seasoned logs you will quickly realise the difference). Also, especially with fairly fresh wood remove the bark if you can.

You might also find that having the log cut ends facing the glass vs the sides of the stove will give you different results in terms of things like soot on glass.
 
My current firewood guy delivers and stacks a level bakkie load for R600. For the last few years that I've been using him (four deliveries per season) he's been supplying me with very nice dried gum and wattle, most of which he's been harvesting from dead trees killed off by the Knysna fires of 2017. So apart from a bit of blackened bark it's now five years since it was living.
Lovely wood. Bone dry and burns really well. Starting a fire with it is a breeze too - no kindling required, just a tiny 20mm firestarter and in 1 minute it's up and burning.

Contrast that to my last supplier a few years ago who just went out and cut down a tree, split it and delivered it. Horrible wet and green spitty stuff that smoked and spat and took an age to get going and burnt very poorly.
I spent ten minutes every single day making kindling, using 2 or 3 firestarters, putting up with the smoke for nearly an hour after lighting, etc, etc.

Good dry wood makes a HUGE difference.
 
Grouter said:
My current firewood guy delivers and stacks a level bakkie load for R600. For the last few years that I've been using him (four deliveries per season) he's been supplying me with very nice dried gum and wattle, most of which he's been harvesting from dead trees killed off by the Knysna fires of 2017. So apart from a bit of blackened bark it's now five years since it was living.
Lovely wood. Bone dry and burns really well. Starting a fire with it is a breeze too - no kindling required, just a tiny 20mm firestarter and in 1 minute it's up and burning.

Contrast that to my last supplier a few years ago who just went out and cut down a tree, split it and delivered it. Horrible wet and green spitty stuff that smoked and spat and took an age to get going and burnt very poorly.
I spent ten minutes every single day making kindling, using 2 or 3 firestarters, putting up with the smoke for nearly an hour after lighting, etc, etc.

Good dry wood makes a HUGE difference.
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Mmm the place says dried a month But I grew up on a plot I know what a month looks like it's Def been dead a while then cut and maybe cut and left a month cause I can ignite half a log with just Firestarter no kindling needed. But I do believe I should buy from them stack and use that next year and see what I can use for here and now. After all it's Gauteng won't be heating like the cape.
 
W@P said:
FYI Vetsak has a 10% off with the code "mothersday". Just ordered 2.
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Absolutely love ours and the dogs love their pupsaks, the one uses the vatsak too tho.

The dog beds are industrial strength corduroy they scratch it everyday and looks like new after too years.
 
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The other trick to get the glass clean is to dip the damp toilet paper into the grey, fine ash and rub that on the glass. It is a very mild abrasive.

That said, with dry wood you shouldn't really get any build up.
 
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