How to Get the Most Heat From Your Log Burner

The biggest heat boost you can give any log burner is burning dry wood — logs at 20% moisture or less. After that, it's all about getting the air right, loading the burner properly, and keeping it clean. None of it costs much, and together it means more warmth from every log and less money up the chimney.

If your fire looks lively but the room never quite warms up, you're probably losing heat somewhere in this list. Let's fix that.

1. Start with dry wood

This is the one that matters most. Wet or unseasoned wood spends much of its energy just evaporating the water inside it — energy that should be heating your home. Dry logs light faster, burn hotter, and leave less soot behind.

Our kiln dried logs are dried well below 20% moisture, so you feel the difference straight away. If you season your own wood, give hardwood a year or two and check it with a moisture meter before you burn it.

2. Get the air right

A log burner needs oxygen to burn hot. A common mistake is "damping down" — closing the vents right down to make the fire last longer. It does slow the burn, but it also cools the fire, produces more smoke, and coats your glass and flue in tar.

Instead, give the fire plenty of air while it gets established, then ease the vents back only enough to keep a healthy, active flame. You want it burning briskly, not smouldering.

3. Load it the right way

• Don't overfill. A couple of well-placed logs burn hotter and cleaner than a firebox crammed to the roof.
• Leave gaps. Air needs to move between the logs, so give them room.
• Top up on a good bed of embers. Add the next logs while there's still a hot glowing base, rather than waiting for the fire to die right down.
• Use hardwood for a longer burn. Denser hardwoods hold their heat longer than lighter softwoods, which are better for getting things going.

4. Keep the glass and flue clean

A blackened glass door is a sign of an inefficient, too-cool burn — and it also blocks the radiant heat coming into the room. Burning dry wood hot enough keeps the glass clearer. Have your chimney or flue swept regularly too: a clean flue draws better, which helps the whole burner run hotter and safer.

5. Consider heat logs for a longer, hotter burn

If you want maximum, steady heat with minimal fuss, heat logs are hard to beat. These compressed wood briquettes have very low moisture and a high density, so they burn hot and last a long time — handy for keeping a room warm through the evening or topping up overnight.

Turn every log into more warmth

Efficiency starts with what you put in the burner. Load up on properly dry kiln dried logs or long-burning heat logs, light them cleanly with our firelighters and kindling, and you'll get noticeably more heat out of every fire.