Ramifications of not seasoning a new log burner

Hi there - we have recently moved into a new build with a new log burner. In short we used it for the first time tonight and did not read the instructions beforehand.

Apparently, you need to gradually burn the log burner in over a few nights with small fires each time. We just had a big fire the first night and noticed a strong odour emitting which we now understand as the paint to be curing. While we then opened all the windows to ventilate the room but were wondering if any damage has been done in terms of cracking perhaps?

Many thanks for any help.

Lester

Lester; Other than breathing the paint fumes, there should be no cracking problem with your stove. Metal wood stoves are very durable. Having said that I will now suggest that you read up on rocket mass heaters. They are the absolute best at heating your home with no ash, no creosote, no risk of chimney fires. They burn at 95% efficiency ! And will use substantially less wood than any other stove out there.

Lester : Some if not most of the off-gasing from your new wood heater was really a surface coating referred to in the industry as Shipping oil(s)

These are there to retard the presence of any visible Rust in your new product during shipment and periods of long storage in unheated ware-
houses while awaiting " Shipping'', hence the name !

A little of the smell and or smoke might have come from the volatile oils left in the protective paint.

So naturally they wanted you to burn a couple of small fires to slowly dissipate the fumes of their 'final curtain call'

Often some aromatics are added to make this more pleasant and less noticeable experience, the stuff they used up through the Korean war
era would need hand cleaning before you could put it in service,. This is Much better Big AL

Thank you both for these replies - very helpful and reassuring.

I will have a look into these rocket mass heaters but given that we inherited this brand new log burner then it might be worth keeping it for a while before forking out money for something else.

Lester

New stovepipe can do the same thing...

They put that oil on it, and it takes awhile to burn off...

If you have new stovepipe AND a new heater, that could be part of the stinking!

I'd try again, with a smaller fire!

Best, T

The point of a rocket mass heater is that you don't fork out a lot of money for it - they can be built very cheaply (maybe $50 - $100 if you are willing to scrounge, several hundred if you insist on all new pretty materials), and you build them in place to exactly fit your particular situation. Also, unless your firewood is nearly free, you can save 75-90 percent of your annual firewood costs with a RMH... every single year.