How to Build a Fire: Upside Down Fire, Cleaner Burn

In this video, I show you a great method of lighting a fire in the fireplace, the upside down fire method. Fires are usually lit with the tinder in the bottom layer, then kindling, then medium pieces of wood, then the largest pieces of wood above. In this method, the fire is upside down, with the largest pieces of wood on the bottom and the tinder and kindling at the top.

To create this fire, I use nine logs, with the three largest logs on the bottom. I pack them tight against each other, so that there are almost no gaps. Then the second layer would be perpendicular with three medium pieces of logs. Then the third layer on top would consist of three smaller pieces of log and would, again, be perpendicular to the layer below. I then use two pieces of newspaper for tinder and some small twigs for kindling on the top. I then light the fire from the top. The fire burns from top down. It starts small, and heats up the flew. The first layer then catches fire, and the fire grows. As embers begin to fall through the gaps of each layer, the next layer gets lit.

There are several benefits to this method. First, the fire is at the top and will not be smothered by any larger logs above it. The fire also directly heats the flue and primes it so that the draft is efficient and takes away any smoke. There is less smoke in this method, since the fire is at the top and will burn any fumes or smoke that are emitted by the logs below. And since the fire is at the top of the stack, the fire is able to heat the masonry of the fireplace, and by doing that, radiate heat into the room. Any embers that fall, fall to the next layer below and are used in the fire, rather than falling onto the ground and cooling down. There is very low need to tend to the fire as well, as you do not need to add any more logs or poke the fire, as it should collapse onto itself.

I film about two hours of the fire, showing you different stages of the fire. It was 36F outside, and my thermostats in the home were set for 70F. At the end of two hours, I used a thermometer and the area in front of the fire was approximately 76F.

Thanks for watching! Please click like, comment or subscribe. Also, please feel free to share this with anyone you know who may want to try this method.

Music:
Old Bossa by Twin Musicom is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/...)
Artist: http://www.twinmusicom.org/
Eine Kleine Nachtmusik, by Mozart