Smoke from a wood fire

Mike313

Nomad
Apr 6, 2014
276
31
South East
Have a look at the "Home Fire Logs" that are sold in the £ shops and B&M etc. Whilst not a real wood fire they burn quite well and smoke free. I think Wayland did a bit of a write up about them some months ago.

Thanks for the heads-up. I'll have a look out for those and I'll read Wayland's write up. :)
 
Feb 21, 2015
393
0
Durham
A word about these!
"Home Fire Logs" that are sold in the £ shops and B&M etc.

AWESOME! just freaking awesome. I carry a dozen in my van when i go fishing by lochs or lakes where 'generally' there is a fire ban. or they dont like fires, i use a metal tray as a base and a cut down metal shopping basket ( sorry Tescos!) and if you drop a log in there you can have a gorgeous fire that causes no harm and each 'log' though supposedly will burn 2 to 3 hours usually last from 65 to 90 minutes depending on wind, if a wind break is used then a nice little fire can be had that disturbs no one and throws out a fair bit of heat.
Im off fishing n camping/bushcrafting* march 7th so will post some pics up!

Please warn Scotland im coming! Loch Drunkie here i come!!!!!
 
Jul 30, 2012
3,570
225
westmidlands
Chimenea type stoves with a narrow top are designed to concentrate fire smoke and heat to minimise smoke, but there will be some, hopefully dispersing quickly. Think of the garden incinerator or the Kelly kettle.

On the other hand the viet Kong dug underground habitations, and the fires had multiple exaust paths that slowed the smoke and wide openings with caps on the surface of the land to help disperse the smoke. The park rangers won't be reporting anything from there on!
 

MegaWoodsWalker

Forager
Jul 10, 2014
230
3
Connecticut USA
Hi Folks,
In most (all) the places I go walking I am not allowed to light a wood fire so I tend to bring a Coleman's F1 gas burner with me, or even a thermos if the gas is frowned upon. However, at the bottom of my garden I have a spot that would be ideal for messing about practicing fire-lighting and maybe doing a bit of cooking. The only potential snag is that when I lit a fire before, I had one neighbour complain about the smoke. Admittedly, it was in the afternoon and there was a bit of pine in there which seemed to smoke a lot. (I think that legally you can't light a garden fire before 6pm?). I've read somewhere that oak and ash give off only a little smoke and I was wondering what you guys thought, is that true? I also assume that the drier the wood the less it will smoke? Any tips or hints on how to get a 'smokeless' wood fire ;)
Mike.

Spit wood fires often have less smoke, so do certain fire lays. Nice dry hardwoods seem best in this regard. White smoke contains more water vapor, blueish has fuel which isn't burned. One reasons why blueish smoke coming out of a wood stoves is an indication of poor combustion. Ultimately any fire can product smoke on starting and may smoke at any time during the burn. Any breakdown in the combustion triangle, oxygen, fuel and heat will increase smoke.
 

kawasemi

Full Member
May 27, 2009
1,687
66
Where the path takes me
Spit wood fires often have less smoke, so do certain fire lays. Nice dry hardwoods seem best in this regard. White smoke contains more water vapor, blueish has fuel which isn't burned. One reasons why blueish smoke coming out of a wood stoves is an indication of poor combustion. Ultimately any fire can product smoke on starting and may smoke at any time during the burn. Any breakdown in the combustion triangle, oxygen, fuel and heat will increase smoke.

...absolutely...and the hotter the fire burns, the more efficient it is using it's fuel (wood) and this results in less smoke.

K
 

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