Installation manual

6 
3.2.3 First Fires 
The fresh paint on your fireplace needs to be cured to preserve its quality. Once the fuel load 
is properly ignited, only burn small fires in your fireplace for the first four hours of operation. 
Never open the air control more than necessary to achieve a medium burn rate. Make sure 
that there is enough air circulation while curing the stove. Open one or more windows. The 
odours can be smelled during the 3 or 4 first fires. 
3.2.4  Building a Fire 
To start a fire, place several crumpled up balls of newspaper in the firebox behind the andiron. 
Place small dry pieces of kindling on top of the paper, criss-crossing the kindling so that there 
are air spaces in between. Keep the fuel far back enough so that air can get underneath. Open 
the air controls fully and light the newspaper. Once the newspaper and the kindling is well 
ignited, close the door. Once the kindling fire is well established, cordwood can be added. 
(See Primary Air Combustion Control section for proper operation of the air controls.). Make 
sure that cordwood is always behind the andiron. 
The unit will burn best with 2-3 pieces of cordwood spaced 1 to 2 inches apart and allowing 
air to get under the fuel. Criss-crossing or arranging the fuel so that air can get underneath, 
will help the fire to get started easily. The unit should be operated with the air control fully 
open long enough to get the cordwood well ignited 
3.2.5  Maintaining the Fire 
Once the wood has been consumed (or partially consumed) and you have obtained a good bed 
of embers, you should reload the unit. In order to do so, open the air control to its maximum 
for approximately 15 seconds prior to opening the fireplace door. Then, proceed by opening 
the door very slowly. Open it by 2" to 4" (52 to 104 mm) for 10 seconds before opening it 
completely. This procedure will increase the draft and thus eliminate the smoke which is 
stagnant in a state of slow combustion in the fireplace. Then, bring the red embers to the front 
of the stove and reload the unit.  
Your ENERZONE SOLUTION 2.5ZC fireplace will work best if a thick bed of hot embers is 
maintained in the bottom of the firebox, and a minimum of two large pieces of seasoned fuel 
are added. Combustion efficiency is largely related to establishing a hot ember bed, and hot 
firebox temperatures. The quicker the fireplace and chimney (flue) get up to normal operating 
temperatures, the better. A small intense fire is preferred to a large smouldering fire, both to 
improve combustion efficiency and to reduce the amount of creosote build-up. The best 
performance will be obtained by adding relatively small amounts of fuel to a well established 
ember bed, and then operating with the air inlet control open long enough to achieve a hot 
fire. Use a poker to make an air channel in the embers below the wood. This will allow air to 
flow under the wood for a more efficient burn. Once you have reached the desired 
temperature, the primary air can be set to a medium setting. You know you have reached the 
desired temperature when, closing the primary air control, you can see a flame at the top of 










