Wednesday, January 18, 2012

Reducing smoke by starting fires from the top

An article by Ron Meador in MinnPost suggests a method of starting fires that reduces the amount of smoke produced.  Larger pieces of wood are placed at the bottom with smaller pieces of wood placed at the top.  On top of the fire, a section of twisted newspaper is set on fire.  As the fire burns the small pieces of wood below the paper start on fire.  The flame at the top improves the efficiency of the burn.
Photos of the technique are provided by J.G. at the Woodheat.org website.

I have tried the traditional method of starting wood fires by putting the paper at the bottom and stacking wood up above it.  My success has been varied and there is a significant amount of smoke produced as the fire is started.  I have access to a particle counter and will check out the success this summer and report on it.

http://woodheat.org/top-down-steps.html

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