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6 OPERATING THE ME300 WOOD FIREPLACE
CAUTION:
WHEN USING THE DECORATIVE APPLIANCE, THE FIREPLACE DAMPER MUST BE SET IN THE
FULLY OPEN POSITION.
6.1 First Fires
Two things will happen as you burn your first few fires; the paint cures and the internal components of the
fireplace are conditioned.
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 you first light your fireplace, 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.
Burn one or two small fires to begin the curing and conditioning process. Then build bigger and hotter fires
until there is no longer any paint smell from the fireplace. Once the paint smell disappears, your fireplace is
ready for serious heating.
6.2 Building a Fire
To start a fire, place several crumpled up balls of newspaper in the firebox behind the andiron. Place small
dry pieces of kindling on top of the paper, criss‐crossing the kindling so that there are air spaces in between.
Open the exhaust damper fully and light the newspaper. Once the newspaper and the kindling are well
ignited, you may close the glass door for a few minutes so that the firebox and chimney of your fireplace
can heat up enough for optimal operation. When this heating period is done and the kindling fire is well
established, you can operate the fireplace with the firescreen or the glass door depending on your
preference and add cordwood as needed.
The unit will burn best with 2‐3 pieces of cordwood spaced 1 to 2 inches apart and allowing air to get under
the fuel. Criss‐crossing or arranging the fuel so that air can get underneath, will help the fire to get started
easily.
CAUTION:
THE EXHAUST DAMPER AND THE AIR INTAKE CONTROL MUST BE KEPT FULLY OPEN UNTIL
THE FIREPLACE HAS COOLED DOWN FOR A FEW HOURS.
WARNING:
NEVER PUT CORDWOOD IN FRONT OF THE ANDIRONS.
6.3 Maintaining the Fire
Once the wood has been consumed (or partially consumed) and you have obtained a good bed of embers,
you should reload the unit. In order to do so, proceed by opening the glass door or the screen door for you
to have enough free space to reload safely.
Your ME300 wood fireplace will work best if a thick bed of hot embers is maintained in the bottom of the
firebox and a minimum of two large pieces of seasoned fuel are added. Combustion efficiency is largely
related to establishing a hot ember bed, and hot firebox temperatures. The quicker the fireplace and
chimney (flue) get up to normal operating temperatures, the better. Use a poker to make an air channel in
the embers below the wood. This will allow air to flow under the wood for a more efficient burn.
ME300 ‐ Installation and Operation Manual
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