Ventis ME300 Installation And Operation Manual Download

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ME300 - Installation and Operation Manual

OPERATING THE ME300 WOOD FIREPLACE

CAUTION:

WHEN USING THE DECORATIVE APPLIANCE, THE FIREPLACE DAMPER MUST BE SET IN THE
FULLY OPEN POSITION.

6.1

First Fires

Two things will happen as you burn your first few fires; the paint cures and the internal components of the
fireplace are conditioned.

As the paint cures, some of the chemicals vaporize. The vapors are not poisonous, but they do smell bad.
Fresh paint fumes can also cause false alarms in smoke detectors. So, when you first light your fireplace, be
prepared by opening doors and/or windows to ventilate the house. As you burn hotter and hotter fires,
more of the painted surfaces reach the curing temperature of the paint. The smell of curing paint does not
disappear until you have burned one or two very hot fires.

Burn one or two small fires to begin the curing and conditioning process. Then build bigger and hotter fires
until there is no longer any paint smell from the fireplace. Once the paint smell disappears, your fireplace is
ready for serious heating.

6.2

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.
Open  the  exhaust  damper  fully  and  light  the  newspaper.  Once  the  newspaper  and  the  kindling  are  well
ignited, you may close the glass door for a few minutes so that the firebox and chimney of your fireplace
can  heat up enough for  optimal  operation.  When  this  heating  period  is done  and the  kindling  fire  is  well
established,  you  can  operate  the  fireplace  with  the  firescreen  or  the  glass  door  depending  on  your
preference and add cordwood as needed.

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.

CAUTION:

THE EXHAUST DAMPER AND THE AIR INTAKE CONTROL MUST BE KEPT FULLY OPEN UNTIL
THE FIREPLACE HAS COOLED DOWN FOR A FEW HOURS.

WARNING:

NEVER PUT CORDWOOD IN FRONT OF THE ANDIRONS.

6.3

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, proceed by opening the glass door or the screen door for you
to have enough free space to reload safely.

Your ME300 wood 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.  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.