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headoverheels
s'il vous plaît
Member since 6/07 42079 total posts
Name:
LB
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Need fireplace help
DH and I just started using ours. If we use the Duraflame logs (although we only used one last time) we get good fire but no heat. If we use a Duraflame log with two regular wood logs (I know, NOT recommended but DH did it before I could stop him, he didn't know) we get a lot of heat but also a lot of smoke.
How do you get a nice, hot, non-smoky fire in your fireplace? And if you just use real wood, what do you use as kindling? Is just newspaper okay?
Message edited 1/5/2010 10:03:11 AM.
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Posted 1/5/10 10:02 AM  |
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Nifheim
allo
Member since 1/09 5476 total posts
Name:
Jennifer
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Re: Need fireplace help
duraflames are great for being able to walk away from with out worrying (steady flame/not so much smoke, etc)
As far as heat we use wood logs, with kindling that is like wood shingles and we also use paper to start. If your getting lots of smoke then the wood is not seasoned and is most likely wet (wet logs smoke.) Wood needs to be seasoned typically a year from what we heard.
We buy wood from home depot in a large bundle since we didn't have any cut in time for this year. We lay one large log and two smaller (depends on the size of your grate) and then roll black and white newspaper into balls and put underneath the grate. Then some kindling wedged into the logs. I roll a piece of paper up like your hitting a dog light it and then warm up the chimney by shoving it up there and then lighting the paper under the logs and throw it on top.
Usually works for us!
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| Posted 1/5/10 10:26 AM |
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headoverheels
s'il vous plaît
Member since 6/07 42079 total posts
Name:
LB
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Re: Need fireplace help
Posted by Nifheim
I roll a piece of paper up like your hitting a dog
 Good advice. We did get our (real) wood from HD so we'll try that again tonight. Thanks!
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| Posted 1/5/10 11:05 AM |
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Nifheim
allo
Member since 1/09 5476 total posts
Name:
Jennifer
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Re: Need fireplace help
yea that should help getting it to suck up the smoke. So just swirl around the chimney area and then use it to light the fire that seems to make things flow better.
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| Posted 1/5/10 11:13 AM |
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rkoenke
my little piggys
Member since 3/08 4315 total posts
Name:
rachel
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Re: Need fireplace help
i am glad you asked this b/c our fires have been smoky too. it's annoying.
so.. you think the duraflame has something to do with that, huh?
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| Posted 1/5/10 12:20 PM |
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headoverheels
s'il vous plaît
Member since 6/07 42079 total posts
Name:
LB
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Re: Need fireplace help
Posted by rkoenke
i am glad you asked this b/c our fires have been smoky too. it's annoying.
so.. you think the duraflame has something to do with that, huh?
It wasn't smoky at all when we just used the Duraflame log, but there was no heat. It only got smoky (VERY smoky) when we added two regular logs to a duraflame log the next night. Once the fire had burned down a bit there was no more smoke and we had good heat too.
I am going to try the method suggested above, hopefully it works!
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| Posted 1/5/10 12:47 PM |
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Nifheim
allo
Member since 1/09 5476 total posts
Name:
Jennifer
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Re: Need fireplace help
unless you need a sweep because you have a build up. We had ours done for $50 but we just got the house and we knew we needed it since there was a nest in the chimney.
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| Posted 1/5/10 1:04 PM |
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headoverheels
s'il vous plaît
Member since 6/07 42079 total posts
Name:
LB
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Re: Need fireplace help
Posted by Nifheim
unless you need a sweep because you have a build up. We had ours done for $50 but we just got the house and we knew we needed it since there was a nest in the chimney.
We just had it checked so it's not that - thanks!
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| Posted 1/5/10 2:49 PM |
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nraboni
Uggh...
Member since 10/09 6905 total posts
Name:
Nicole
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Re: Need fireplace help
Posted by headoverheels
DH and I just started using ours. If we use the Duraflame logs (although we only used one last time) we get good fire but no heat. If we use a Duraflame log with two regular wood logs (I know, NOT recommended but DH did it before I could stop him, he didn't know) we get a lot of heat but also a lot of smoke.
How do you get a nice, hot, non-smoky fire in your fireplace? And if you just use real wood, what do you use as kindling? Is just newspaper okay?
Why aren't you supposed to use a duraflame log and real wood together? I have never heard of this and have always used them both to build a fire.
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| Posted 1/5/10 2:58 PM |
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csorisi
My 2 LOVES
Member since 11/05 1984 total posts
Name:
Corinne
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Re: Need fireplace help
Yankee Candle sells these fire starters that we really like. We also buy small pieces of wood from True Value in town which help. Sometimes my DH using paper but I find it is a little smokey. Also it might be smokey because the wood isn't completely dry--we get that sometimes.
Message edited 1/5/2010 9:34:32 PM.
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| Posted 1/5/10 9:33 PM |
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headoverheels
s'il vous plaît
Member since 6/07 42079 total posts
Name:
LB
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Re: Need fireplace help
Posted by nraboni
Posted by headoverheels
DH and I just started using ours. If we use the Duraflame logs (although we only used one last time) we get good fire but no heat. If we use a Duraflame log with two regular wood logs (I know, NOT recommended but DH did it before I could stop him, he didn't know) we get a lot of heat but also a lot of smoke.
How do you get a nice, hot, non-smoky fire in your fireplace? And if you just use real wood, what do you use as kindling? Is just newspaper okay?
Why aren't you supposed to use a duraflame log and real wood together? I have never heard of this and have always used them both to build a fire.
I read that the real wood makes the duraflame log burn hotter and faster, which causes the smoke and can also cause the fireplace to get too hot (if that even makes sense )
It didn't work well for us, that's all I know! The fire went out too quickly.
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| Posted 1/5/10 9:45 PM |
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MrsH2009
Thank you St. Gerard!
Member since 8/09 6631 total posts
Name:
M
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Re: Need fireplace help
I was told to watch using duraflames. They are easy, but they can build up a coating in the chimney that can be dangerous.
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| Posted 1/5/10 10:54 PM |
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