I love duraflame logs because you only need one log to make a great fire and they’re easy to transport when camping. On my last camping trip, I didn’t have enough duraflame logs so I had to take special precautions when I added regular firewood.
Whether you’re in the great outdoors or using Duraflame logs at home to heat your house you might be wondering whether or not you can pair them with regular wood for extra heat and how to safely do so.
According to Duraflame, you shouldn’t put wood on a duraflame log because it’s designed to burn slowly and consistently, it’s very energy dense and adding wood on top can ruin the structural integrity of the firelog and can lead to large heat increases and shorter burn times.
Adding wood to your Duraflame logs can create a sharp heat increase and an uncontrollable fire if you’re not careful, and the duraflame log will disintegrate faster and could damage your fireplace.
However, you can safely add wood to a duraflame log if you need a lot of quick short-term heat and you monitor the fire.
Also, if your Duraflame log is nearly burned out and you don’t have any more Duraflame logs then you can use the fire from the remainders of your Duraflame log to start your regular wood fire. Just always be careful and monitor your fire closely.
I only add wood to a duraflame log in certain circumstances and when I do, I’m extra careful.
Why You Shouldn’t Put Wood on a Duraflame Log
According to Duraflame’s official website, you should avoid adding wood to a duraflame log.
Here’s why:
Adding Wood Can Alter How The Duraflame Log Burns
If you use duraflame logs often, you’ll know that a single log can create decent and long lasting flames within 5 minutes:
- The 2.5lb logs provide flames for 1.5 hours
- 4.5 lb logs can burn for 3 hours
- The 6lb logs can last for 4 hours
Unlike regular firewood, duraflame logs aren’t designed to break up as they burn. Instead the outer wrapper burns off first, then the dense waxy coating burns slowly and finally the tightly packed sawdust and wood fiber center.
They are designed to have a consistent burn and are designed to burn by themselves or side-by-side.
Adding wood on top of a Duraflame log will alter the heat profile and change the way it burns – likely leading to decreased burn times.
Duraflame Logs Are More Energy Dense Than Regular Firewood
Duraflame logs are designed to give off more heat than regular logs and a single log should provide more than enough heat to heat your room or a small household without the addition of regular wood.
Duraflame logs have a dense, energy-rich waxy covering with double the BTU rating as normal firewood. That’s why a single duraflame log is enough for your campfire or fireplace.
The exception to this is the Duraflame Outdoor log. Duraflame outdoor logs are made differently and are designed to be stacked on top of each other, so adding wood to these logs would likely yield a better result than adding wood to an indoor log.
It Can Break the Duraflame Log
Duraflame logs are made from sawdust, fibers and wax to hold it altogether. They don’t have the same strength as a regular piece of hardwood that you might throw on the fire.
Adding normal wood can break the duraflame log, causing it to burn faster.
This Can Cause A Quick Release Of Heat
Because Duraflame logs are more energy dense than regular wood, but also lacking the structural integrity of regular wood if you add extra wood to a burning Duraflame log it could cause a quick release of heat.
This could be due to the Duraflame log breaking up and burning more quickly or the excess heat from the larger fire burning the Duraflame log’s fuel faster.
If you do add wood to a Duraflame log fire you must be careful and monitor it.
What Happens If You Do Put Wood on a Duraflame Log?
If you do put wood on a duraflame log, there will likely be a sudden increase in heat and flames with the slow-burning duraflame log and the quick-burning wood.
Depending on how much wood you add, your duraflame log would disintegrate much faster and you’d need to add more wood before long, resulting in potential wastage.
The extra heat and flames could also get out of control, which is why I always closely monitor my fire if I add wood to a duraflame log or if I add a Duraflame log to an already burning fire. Having a fire extinguisher or sand nearby is always a good idea whenever you have a fire.
Duraflame logs are UL-classified for zero-clearance fireplaces and using it with wood would increase the heat output and could potentially damage your fireplace.
The only instances in which I wouldn’t add wood to a duraflame log would be if:
- I’m just starting the fire (I would wait until the log is burning nicely before adding wood because it’s great at getting the fire started).
- I’m happy with the fire’s heat output (1 indoor duraflame log is perfect for a decent fire).
- I have limited wood/duraflame logs and I want my fire to last the whole evening. For this I would burn a single Duraflame log and then only add wood at the end when the Duraflame log is nearly done.
How To Safely Add Wood To A Duraflame Log
If you want to add wood to a duraflame log, here’s how to do it safely:
- Rearrange the fire so that the duraflame log is on top or to the side of the regular firewood so the duraflame log doesn’t disintegrate as fast. Unlike regular firewood the Duraflame log should still burn well when left on its own to the side of your regular wood fire.
- Add one piece of firewood at a time until you’re happy with the fire’s heat output and to ensure there is less chance of a large outburst of heat that could be dangerous or potentially damage your fireplace.
- Have a fire extinguisher or sand close by in case the fire gets out of control.
