Wood full of moisture will have trouble burning, but logs that are too dry will ignite and burn out quickly.
To make wood burn slower in a fireplace, use dense hardwoods like oak or maple that burn longer and produce more heat. Arrange logs tightly on a grate to reduce airflow and control the burn rate. Add smaller pieces or use a damper to adjust airflow for slower combustion. Regular maintenance and dry wood also help.
To cool down an overfiring stove, you will need to reduce the airflow by partially closing the air vents, reducing the oxygen intake. This will slowly lower the temperature as your fire's oxygen supply depletes, calming the fire and bringing your stove down to a more appropriate temperature.
A fire will burn too quickly if there is an excessive air supply. If you find that this is the case please check that the door is closed properly, and that all vents and seals on the stove. Door seals on stoves do need to be replaced on stoves due to wear.
Wood always has a set percentage of moisture that it traps on the inside of its fibers. Wood full of moisture will have trouble burning, but logs that are too dry will ignite and burn out quickly.
Limit the air intake for the fire
When you go to bed you want to ensure your fire goes out consistently and over a period of time. Don't shut off the air vents completely but close them right down as this will limit the amount of air that gets into the chamber so the fire will slowly die out.
Splitting Firewood Produces More Heat
The greater surface area of split wood (when compared to that same log before it was split) also results in greater heat, this is because more oxygen can reach more of the wood and support combustion.
Maintain oxygen flow.
For a great fire, you must have good oxygen flow, so consider how to stack the firewood. If you stack wood too tight, it can snuff out the fire because the air and oxygen doesn't flow between tightly placed wood.
To create fires that produce more heat, open the damper as wide as possible when lighting a fire. A wide-open damper will increase the amount of air reaching the fire and improve combustion. As a result, the fire will burn hotter.
A standard-sized fireplace can typically burn about four 16-inch firewood logs at a time.
If you're leaving the home or retiring for the evening, always close the glass doors but leave the flue open.
Restrict air flow
However, if you're finding that your fire is burning fast and extinguishing quickly, you may need to restrict the air into the chamber. To do so, start closing the vents off once you add your logs (without completely shutting them down) and, as a result, your fire will burn slower and last longer.
Split wood dries faster, so remove the bark as you see fit. Fall and winter are the best times to split because the wood will be less moisture dense.
Stacking your wood up and letting the air flow around the wood is, of course, the oldest, and still very popular today, but if you want to accelerate the drying process you could use solar, dehumidification and high heat drying such as with a kiln. All of these are methods that work when drying wood.
No, you should never leave a fireplace burning overnight or unattended during the day. While fireplaces are made to contain fires, fires can and do spread from fireplaces, so it's crucial that you're there to monitor them and put them out if needed.
But can I close my damper just a little so I lose less heat on my chimney? No, never do this. The damper to your fireplace must be completely open when a fire is burning. If you close the damper even slightly, you risk allowing smoke and other dangerous contaminants from the combustion process into the house.
If you add lots of wood, especially when the stove is already heated up, the temperature in the chimney will rise and lots of heat will go to waste. High emissions of unburnt volatile compounds mean also a correspondingly high level of wasted energy – the same goes for having lots of unburnt charcoal in the ashes.
Air Vents
The air vents in a fireplace can help you regulate how fast or slow the logs burn. When starting your fire, you want all the air vents to be fully open so there is sufficient oxygen. Only once the fire is burning hot should these vents be adjusted.
Once the fire has settled in and isn't blazing anymore, carefully add fresh logs to the top of the fire and move them around until they have enough air to catch.
The secondary burn is supposed to look like slow rolling flames in the air above the wood.