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As the paint cures, some of the chemicals vaporize. The vapors are not poisonous, but they do
smell bad. Fresh paint fumes can also cause false alarms in smoke detectors.
So, when lighting the stove, be prepared by opening doors or windows to ventilate the house.
Burn one or two small fires to begin the curing and conditioning process. Then build bigger and
hotter fires until there is no longer paint smell from the stove.
As hotter and hotter fires are burnt, more of the painted surfaces reach the curing temperature
of the paint. The smell of curing paint does not disappear until one or two very hot fires have
been burnt.
4.4 Lighting Fires
Each person heating with wood develops its own favourite way to light fires. Whichever method
is chosen, the goal should be to get a hot fire burning, quickly. A fire that ignites fast produces
less smoke and deposits less creosote in the chimney. Here are three popular and effective ways
to ignite wood fires.
4.4.1 Conventional Method
The conventional method to build a wood fire is to bunch up 5 to 10
sheets of newspaper and place them in the firebox. Next, a dozen
pieces of fine kindling are placed on the newspaper. This kindling
should be very thin; less than 1 inch thick (25 mm). Then, larger
kindling pieces are placed on the fine kindling. The air control fully
open, the newspaper is lit. With a tall and straight venting system
the door can be closed immediately and the fire will ignite. Once
the fire has ignited, the door can be closed with the air control still
fully open. When the kindling is almost completely burned, standard
firewood pieces can be added until the fire is the right size for the
weather.
DO NOT LEAVE THE STOVE UNATTENDED WHEN THE DOOR IS SLIGHTLY OPENED.
ALWAYS CLOSE AND LATCH THE DOOR AFTER THE FIRE IGNITES.
4.4.2 The Top Down Method
The top down method solves two problems encountered when using the conventional method:
first, the fire does not collapse on itself and smother as it burns; and second, it is not necessary
to build up the fire gradually since the firebox is loaded before the fire is lit. A top down fire can
burn for two hours or more. The top down method works properly only if well-seasoned wood
is used.
Three or four full-sized split pieces of dry firewood are placed in the firebox. Then, 4 or 5 more
finely split pieces of firewood (2" to 3" [50 mm to 75 mm] in diameter) are placed on the top of
the logs at right angles (log cabin style). Next, a dozen finely split kindling are placed on the
second layer at right angles.
The fire is topped with 5 sheets of newspaper, stuffed in between the kindling, under the baffle.
Knots can be made in the newspaper by rolling up single sheets corner to corner and tying a
knot in them. The advantage of knots is that they don't roll off the fire as they burn. Newspaper
is lit and the fire burns from top to bottom.
Installation and Operation Manual - Harmony 2.3
Page 17
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