S04E037, Fires, Vents and Fuel, Andy B 2 Minute Video

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Log Burners are great for romantic nights, or just to warm the room.

However, it isn’t always quite as simple as just throwing some wood inside and chucking in a match!

You’ve got make sure the wood is dry – in the UK it is really frowned upon to use wet wood in a fire in a home. You’ve also got to think about using any vents on the fireplace to help build the fire and supply it with enough air. It even matters how you first stack the initial wood – not enough kindling and you won’t be able to get the bigger logs to start burning.

It’s rightly said that using a log burner is more of an art than a science

And so it is with life – we can’t just run at life and hope for the best. We do need to think about all sorts of things, just like with a fireplace.

Just a thought...

Andy B

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0:01
So, another Andy B, 2 Minute video and we've titled this one Fires, Vents and Fuel.

0:06
Now, in our house, we've got a log burner, and it's great. It's double sided. It's got glass on both sides. You can put the logs in from both sides. And it's got to heat, a lounge and a dining room,that have been knocked into one enormous room. So, we're very grateful for this log burner. But, it does take a bit of getting used to.

0:22
When it's working well, it's cranking out the heat, we have to open the doors 'cos it's too hot, and it heats the rest of the house. It's amazing! However, it's really important, what's the source of the wood?

0:33
Now, we've been buying logs from the same place. It comes in a big sack. We stack it in the garage, and then we bring it through, stick it in the fire and away you go. But we've noticed with this last batch of logs, it isn't burning quite so well. And our youngest son, Peter, said, "Well, I've noticed that where we stack the logs is the only part of the garage that actually has any kind of damp coming out when it's raining."

0:56
And this is the thing about the source of the logs. If they're damp, they're not gonna burn so well.

1:02
The other part of this is I've cleaned the window, I've talked about this before, I've cleaned the windows in the log burner. So it's great. You can see through into the stove. It's awesome! But, if the fire isn't burning very well, you get more smoke than flame. And although 'where there's smoke, there's fire' when there's lots of smoke, you get lots of dirt and soot, and it makes the windows messy. And it's a really great allegory for life.

1:22
Where is it that we haven't got the vents set right? There's not enough oxygen coming up, into the fire, to make it burn well.

1:27
Where have we left the vents open for too long, that we're burning ourselves out unnecessarily?

1:34
The goal of a fire in a house is to generate heat. But, it's easy to generate too much heat, that disappears at the chimney, and not out. So, it's a real balancing game of getting enough heat, enough air, the right fuel. All these things have to work well for it to function well.

1:50
And it's the same in our Christian walks. There's no point in just burning ourselves out because we're spending 30 hours every day in prayer. We need to be out with people, and reading the Word. And we need to be listening to God and there's all this stuff to balance, so, much like our fire. We've got 4 vents. We've got two sets of doors. We've got different logs. Everything has to work well for the fire to work well.

2:11
So, where in your life have you got this need to rebalance some of the stuff you do, just like our fire?

2:18
Just a thought