How to Use Wood Burning Pellets in a Fireplace

If your fireplace and chimney are properly constructed and well-insulated, logs provide efficient and low-cost heat for the entire home. However, dealing with a large log pile is often a hassle. It's difficult to find a large enough dry space in your home for large bundles of spare wood, and many people also don't have the time or physical ability to load heavy logs into the fireplace each day. Wood burning pellets are a convenient alternative to large, cumbersome timbers.

Shovel
Screwdriver
Tape measure
Pellet fuel basket
Gel fuel accelerator

Instructions

- 1
  Scoop ashes out of the bottom of your fireplace. You don't need to fully clean out every last bit of log residue, as any remaining lumber ashes will eventually burn off as you continue to use the fireplace. However, if you haven't had a chimney sweeping in a while, use this opportunity to schedule your yearly professional fireplace cleaning.
- 2
  Unscrew any metal racks from inside the fireplace. These racks are designed to hold your logs, but they get in the way of pellet burning.
- 3
  Measure the fireplace's base.
- 4
  Place a pellet fuel basket into the stove. The basket you use should fit into the base of the fireplace with about 2 or 3 inches of extra space around all sides. If you place pellets directly into the fireplace, they will burn up too fast, but these metal baskets are designed to let pellets burn more evenly. Pellet fuel baskets are available at home improvement and construction retailers.
- 5
  Fill the basket with wood burning pellets.
- 6
  Place some small pieces of kindling wood or crumpled newspaper underneath the basket. A liquid or gel accelerator can also be applied to the pellets if you don't have any kindling. The pellets themselves do not ignite easily, so you must get the fire started with smaller pieces of wood or a flammable gel.
- 7
  Light the kindling. Within a few minutes, the pellets should begin to glow. Pellets do not burn vigorously or release much smoke, but a glowing pellet still releases large quantities of heat.
- 8
  Add pellets as needed when you notice the pellets completely burning up. Wood burning pellets last for several hours. A single 40-pound bag of pellets can burn continuously for more than 24 hours. Clean ashes from the fireplace as needed -- you will find that pellets burn cleaner and do not produce as much residue as traditional fireplace logs.

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