The view of flickering fire and pleasant heat, it is the most beautiful delight brought by a prefabricated fireplace. Therefore, the fireplace needs to have clean glass all the time. What is most important is to prevent or at least minimize deposition of soot on the glass during heating. You can ensure this through the proper combustion temperature, dry wood (humidity 18-20%), sufficient supply of air and a suitable size of logs. The logs should be small, with the diameter of approx. 8-10 cm.

A frequent mistake is also “suffocation” of fire to extend the combustion time to avoid frequent adding of wood. However, this leads to deposition of soot not only on the glass, but also in the fireplace, flue and in the chimney.

You can remove soot from the glass by catching fine ashes on a wetted newspaper and using it to wipe soot off the glass. You can complete the cleaning by rubbing the glass with a wet paper napkin. Another option is using a soot remover.

If you use the fireplace for seasonal heating, you should have the chimney inspected by an expert at least twice a year in accordance with the ČSN 734201 standard.

You should also clean the fireplace thoroughly once a year to extend its service life. Remove all the fireclay elements from the combustion chamber according to simple instructions, vacuum-clean the fireplace and replace the elements.

If the fireplace gets excessively clogged (poor draught, wet wood, poor combustion), the fireplace needs cleaning more frequently.

On the bottom of the combustion chamber leave 2-3 cm high ash layer. Ashes act as insulation of the grate, similarly to the fireclay elements at the fireplace sides. This enables you to increase the combustion temperature, which supports good combustion. Besides, ashes protect the grate from growing cinders. The ash pan must be regularly emptied so that the grate should not lie in hot ashes and get damaged.

The fireclay lining of the combustion chamber protects the furnace jacket from high temperatures and at the same time supports complete burning of combustible gases. This fireclay lining gets damaged mechanically in most cases, which happens during adding of fuel. If the fireclay lining is only cracked, it need not be replaced immediately.

A crack itself does not have any impact on combustion or service life of the fireplace. The fireclay lining must not be crumbled away down to the sheet metal. If the fireclay lining is becoming disintegrated, replace the elements according to simple instructions included in the operation manual.

Caution:
Fireclay elements are brittle and therefore they must be protected from dropping and impacts! When adding logs, do not sharply hit the fireclay lining as you might damage it.

Do not open the door before wood turns into cinders!
If you need to open the fireplace earlier, proceed carefully. First, open the door a bit to equalize the pressures and approx. after 10 seconds open the door for the necessary period. Another reason may be poor chimney draught. In such a case contact a chimney sweeper.