Operating Your Furnace; Your First Fires; Lighting Fires; Conventional Fire Starting - Drolet HeatPack DF00500 Installation And Operating Instructions Manual

HeatPack Furnace Installation and Operation Manual

10 Operating your furnace

10.1

Your first fires

Two things will happen as you burn your first few fires; the paint cures and the internal
components of the furnace are conditioned.
As the paint cures, some of the chemicals vaporize. The vapours are not poisonous, but
they do smell bad. Fresh paint fumes can also cause false alarms in smoke detectors. So,
when you first light your furnace, be prepared by opening doors and/or windows to
ventilate the house. As you burn hotter and hotter fires, more of the painted surfaces reach
the curing temperature of the paint. The smell of curing paint does not disappear until you
have burned one or two very hot fires.
It is recommended to burn it at high rate and ventilate the building until the odours
disappear. Once the paint smell disappears, your furnace is ready for serious heating.
10.2

Lighting fires

Each person who heats with wood develops their own favourite method to light fires.
Whatever method you choose, your goal should be to get a hot fire burning quickly. A fire
that starts fast produces less smoke and deposits less creosote in the chimney. Here are
three popular and effective ways to start wood fires.
10.2.1

Conventional fire starting

The conventional way to build a wood fire is to
bunch up 5 to 10 sheets of plain newspaper and
place them in the firebox. Next, place 10 or so
pieces of fine kindling on the newspaper. This
kindling should be very thin; less than 1" (25 mm).
Next, place some larger kindling pieces on the fine
kindling. Open the air control and light the
newspaper. If you have a tall, straight venting
system you should be able to close the door
immediately and the fire will ignite. If your venting
system has elbows or an outside chimney, you
may need to leave the door closed but unlatched
for a few minutes as the newspaper ignites and
heat in the chimney produces some draft. Once
the fire has ignited, close the door and leave the
air control open.
DO NOT LEAVE THE FURNACE UNATTENDED WHEN THE DOOR IS SLIGHTLY
OPENED DURING IGNITION. ALWAYS CLOSE THE DOOR AFTER IGNITION.
After the kindling fire has mostly burned, you can add firewood pieces until you have a fire
of the right size for the conditions.
44
A conventional kindling fire with
paper under finely split wood.