Testing Your Wood; The First Fires; Ignition - Osburn 1600 Owner's Manual

Smaller pieces of wood will dry faster. All logs exceeding 6" in diameter should be split.
The wood should not be stored directly on the ground. Air should circulate through the
cord. A 24" to 48" air space should be left between each row of logs, which should be
placed in the sunniest location possible. The upper layer of wood should be protected
from the element but not the sides.

TESTING YOUR WOOD

When the insert is thoroughly warmed, place one piece of split wood (about five inches in
diameter) parallel to the door on the bed of red embers. Keep the air control full open by
pulling on it and close the door. If ignition of the piece is accomplished within 90 seconds
from the time if was placed in the insert, your wood is correctly dried. If ignition takes
longer, your wood is damp. If your wood hisses and water or vapour escapes at the ends
of the piece, your wood is soaked or freshly cut. Do not use this wood in your insert.
Large amounts of creosote could be deposited in your chimney, creating potential
conditions for a chimney fire.

THE FIRST FIRES

The fresh paint on your insert needs to be cured to preserve its quality. Once the fuel
charge is properly ignited, only burn small fires in your insert for the first four hours of
operation. Never open the air control more than necessary to achieve a medium burn rate.
Make sure that there's enough air circulation while curing the insert. The odours could be
smelled during the 3 or 4 first fires. The light smoke created by the paint curing process is
not toxic. Never start your insert outside. You will not be able to see if you are over
heating.

IGNITION

After making sure that the insert air intake controls are fully open, place several rumpled
sheets of paper in the centre of the combustion chamber. Place 8 to 10 pieces of small
dry kindling wood over the paper in the form of a tent. You may also place a few pieces of
heating wood, but choose the smaller ones. No chemical product should be used to light
the fire. Before igniting the paper and kindling wood, it is recommended that you warm up
the chimney. This is done in order to avoid back draft problems often due to negative
pressure in the house. If such is the case, open a window slightly near the insert and twist
together a few sheets of newspaper into a torch. Light up this paper torch and hold it as
close as possible to the mouth of the pipe inside the combustion chamber to warm up the
chimney. Once the updraft movement is initiated, you are ready to ignite the insert by
lighting the paper and kindling wood inside the combustion chamber. We therefore advise
you to leave the door slightly opened (1/4") for a 10 to 30 minutes period, under
supervision, in order to allow for good combustion. After this time, you must close the
door and progressively adjust the air control to obtain the desired temperature.
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