Testing Your Wood; The First Fires; Ignition - Drolet NG1800 Austral Owner's Manual

TESTING YOUR WOOD

When the stove 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 stove, 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 stove. 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 stove needs to be cured to preserve its quality. Once the fuel charge is
properly ignited, burn only small fires in your stove 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 stove. The odours could be
smelled during the 3 or 4 first fires. Never start your stove outside. You will not be able to see if
you are overheating. The smoke resulting from the paint curing process is not toxic.

IGNITION

After making sure that the stove air intake controls are fully open (completely pull-out towards
you), 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 stove 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 stove 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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