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FIREPLACE OPERATION
Hussong Mfg. Co., Inc. • Kozy Heat Fireplaces
#ABY R.2 October 2020
9.0 FIREPLACE OPERATION
9.1 Fireplace Safety Information
Young children should be carefully supervised when they are in the same
room as the appliance. Toddlers, young children, and other individuals
at-risk are susceptible to accidental contact burns. A physical barrier
is recommended if there are at-risk individuals in the home. To restrict
access to a fireplace or stove, install an adjustable safety gate to keep
toddlers, young children, and other at-risk individuals out of the room
and away from hot surfaces.
WARNING: DO NOT INSTALL A FIREPLACE INSERT OR ANY OTHER
PRODUCT NOT SPECIFIED FOR USE WITH THIS FIREPLACE.
WARNING: THIS FIREPLACE HAS NOT BEEN TESTED WITH ANY GAS
COMPONENT OR ACCESSORY. DO NOT INSTALL A GAS COMPONENT,
INCLUDING A GAS LOG SET, INTO THIS FIREPLACE.
9.2 Initial Fireplace Operation
There are a few items to note for the initial operation of your fireplace.
•
Do not store clothing, furniture or combustibles within 36”
(914mm) of the fireplace.
•
Except when loading and during start-up burn, the fireplace
must be operated with the door fully closed.
•
As the paint cures, you may notice some light smoke or vapor
coming off the fireplace. These vapors are not poisonous but
do have an odor. If possible, open doors/windows to promote
air flow through the house to get rid of these vapors and odor.
Depending on your location of a smoke detector, this can cause
a false alarm. As you burn a hotter fire, more of the painted
surfaces will continue to cure. The paint curing process may not
happen all at once.
9.3 Building a Fire
There are a number of ways to arrange your firewood and build a
fire. As you become more familiar with your wood fireplace, you will
develop your method to building a fire with the goal of creating a
hot, quick fire. The quicker you can produce a hot fire, the less smoke
and creosote will be produced. In the next three subsections, we will
outline three popular methods to start fires. We recommend the log
cabin method.
If you are building a fire after an existing burn, it is advised to keep
some of the existing coal bed to help build a fire quicker. See Section
9.4 Maintaining a Wood Fire on the following page.
9.3.1 Method 1 - Log Cabin (recommended)
You will be building a fire with a log cabin style of stacking wood.
1. Place (2) full sized split pieces of seasoned wood in the firebox,
running front to back, where one piece will occupy each side of
the firebox.
2. Place (2) to (4) medium sized split logs running side to side on
top of the larger pieces of split wood.
3. Place smaller kindling wood in the center of the firebox. Fully
open the air damper and ignite the kindling. You will close the
door as to leave approximately a 1” to 2” gap between the door
and the firebox.
Once the fire is burning well, where the kindling has burned through
and the stacked layer of medium split pieces of firewood are burning
well, you are able to close your door completely.
9.3.2 Method 2 - Traditional
You will be building a fire with a traditional style of burning kindling
first, then adding large pieces of wood.
1. Place several thin pieces of kindling wood in the center of the
firebox. These kindling pieces should be less than a 1” (25mm)
diameter thick. You can also use chunks of bark.
2. Place some larger pieces of kindling on top previous thin
kindling wood. Verify the air damper is fully open and then ignite
the kindling. You will close the door as to leave approximately a
1” to 2” gap between the door and the firebox.
Once the fire is burning well and your kindling is mostly burned, you
can continue to add larger pieces. When you have established a good
fire and coal bed, you can close the door completely.
Figure 9.1, Log Cabin Method
Figure 9.2, Traditional Method
