We bought a box of duraflame logs from Costco and they just don’t burn right. They smolder for hours and hours, but never flame up.
Before you send me a boilerplate response, please understand that I followed the instructions meticulously, especially after the first one in the batch just sat there smoking for 16 hours or more.
This last time I tried to blow on the log and I could get one area to glow brightly, but I never coaxed a flame out of it.
The chimney is clear and drawing fine; other things burn well, and the copious smoke from the Duraflame logs does go up and out.
Right now it’s approaching 14 hours for the most recent log, and it’s still in there, making smoke but accomplishing nothing else.
I looked to see if there was any sort of expiration date printed on the log wrappers and didn’t find anything, but one possibility I considered was that these are old, out-of-date logs that Costco dug up.
What can I do? This isn’t so much about the money spent on logs as needing to consider a better alternative for our fireplace.
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Note: this is almost exactly what I sent, but I fixed one awful spelling corrector substitution.
If you want the rest of the “old” logs to burn fully, go to a camping or surplus store and pick up some “fire starter”, which is essentially napalm in a tube. You could apply this stuff like toothpaste to rocks, and they’d probably burn. Compressed air in a can can also get a spot of smolder hot enough to chain-react (as can many home aerosols, if you aren’t worried about the ozone or your DNA).
I remember that stuff; we used it to prime camp stoves when it was butt-cold. It was easier to use when fingers weren’t fully functional.
Duraflame has replied, reminding me of the proper log-lighting procedures, and asking how many new logs I would like to have them buy me.
Good job, guys.
Having the same problem here.
The fire starts, but when the paper is gone the log just makes smoke.
This is in an open air firepit so it is getting lots of air. Cedar, oak and pine do just fine.
Six logs all did the same thing, eventually turning to ash except one that simply went out.
What’s up here?
If you have had other Duraflame logs that worked all right, you may just have a bad batch like I did. It may be, however, that duraflames are built to burn in home fireplace inserts, and that your open fire pit has too much air, and the logs can’t reach some critical temperature.
I found Duraflame’s customer service to be very good, so it wouldn’t hurt to ask them.