Bellfires BM 21, Installation Manual, Page: 35 / 38

Top Down Burn
35
Build the World’s Best Fire
Handy Items to Have
A Fireplace Screen
A Kindling Ax (Be careful)
Stove Gloves
An Ash Rake
Think of your fuel load as three component parts:
The Base Course (can be unsplit if proper diameter)
The Middle Course (split)
The Top Courses (split finer)
THIS TYPE OF FIRE IS NOT RECOMMENDED FOR
THE FIRST EIGHT TO TEN FIRES. BELLFIRES® MUST
BE GRADUALLY BROKEN IN AND CURED WITH
SMALL FIRES FOR THE FIRST EIGHT TO TEN FIRES.
DO NOT OVERFIRE YOUR BCC!!
A fireplace grate is not necessary with the BCC 28. A
grate increases your critical burn rate allowing logs to
burn faster than normal. Logs burn best in contact
with hot firebrick in a bed of wood ashes.
Helpful Hints & Precautions before you start:
Make sure your fireplace and flue have been inspected
for fire worthiness and are cleaned if found dirty (full
of flammable cresosote), by a reputable Chimney
Sweep. Make sure the damper is open. The damper is
controlled from the keyed stainless cable and ring
installed to either side of the firebox sidewall. Pull
down and unhook to release the tension of the stain-
less steel cable. Pull down and rehook the cable to
close the damper. There are no other settings than
completely open or completely closed. If your fire-
place and flue are located on an outside wall or, when
the damper is open, you feel a flow of frigid air rush-
ing down into the room, pre-heat the flue with a sheet
of lit newspaper. Hold the lit newspaper high into the
damper area, wearing a pair of stove gloves for protec-
tion. This will reverse the cold air plug present in the
flue, creating a strong updraft with no smoke into your
room. As soon as the newspaper is burned up, light
your newspaper on top of your fuel load.
Approximately 3-4 hours later when you have a nice
bed of hardwood coals, use a fireplace rake to push the
coals against the rear wall of the firebox. Next, lay your
new logs, minimum of four, on top of the hot coals, lay
the bottom two horizontally. The top two, a little short-
er in length, place front to back approximately 3 inch-
es apart creating a throat.
The greatest volume of smoke and particulate pollu-
tion from a wood fire occurs during a cold start up.
Wood fires lit from the bottom, in a conventional man-
ner, promote a dirty burn and waste a large amount of
potential heat in the form of unburned gases.
A clean and efficient method for kindling a fire is a
top burn. This almost forgotten ancient European tech-
nique places the largest wood at the bottom in a criss
cross crib fashion. As each tier is laid, the criss cross-
ing becomes smaller. Kindling and a small amount of
paper are placed on top and lit.
When the top burn fire is lit, the flames are always
above the fuel load. The smoke and flammable gas
from each tier of wood will always travel up through
the flame and burn, thereby reducing particulate pol-
lution and unburned fuel.
A top kindling fire also produces large and less com-
pacted glowing coals, providing excellent long-lasting
radiant heat.
A top burn fire laid with seasoned hardwood to a
height of eighteen to twenty-four inches will burn
approximately four hours without adding additional
wood. The fire will be mesmerizing as each tier slowly
ignites and burns its way down.
TOP BURN RECIPE
Always start with dry, well-seasoned, split firewood and
kindling. (Ideally seasoned firewood will have a 20%
moisture content. The wood will show radial cracks at
the ends and sound like bowling pins when beaten
together.)
Bottom layer:
Three good sized pieces of split hardwood five to six
inches thick, laid front to back.
Second layer:
Three slightly smaller pieces of split firewood three to
five inches thick, laid side to side.
Third layer:
Four to five smaller pieces of split firewood two to
three inches thick, laid front to back. Keep afternating
and decreasing in size with split hardwood until they
are about one inch thick.
Now alternate two rows with split softwood
(pine, spruce, etc.) until pencil thick. Place a small
piece of newspaper on top and light.