I’m especially eager for the arrival of fall and the following winter weather, not just for the colorful turning of the leaves and the ensuing snowfalls, the harvest festivals and the joyous holiday celebrations. I’m also excited about the colder months because its perfect fireplace weather, and I’ll usually settle in every night with a cozy fire dancing happily in the fireplace.
Because I live in a co-op, room for storing firewood is at a minimum, and I don’t relish having to go to the store to purchase firewood every few days, so I usually stock up on a few cases of firelogs, frequently choosing Duraflame firelogs over other brands. Firelogs are a great alternative to firewood, because you dont have to worry about first setting the fire and then continually feeding it to keep it lit, or waiting for the flames to die out if you wish to leave your home, as they have a standard burning time to you know how long you can expect them to stay lit before being fully consumed.
Duraflame firelogs are easy to light and leave a minimum of mess behind. Simply place the firelog in the hearth and use a starter to light the corners of the firelog wrapper where indicated. As the wrapper burns around the firelog, the firelog lights and within 5-10 minutes, you have a nice fire to relax by. Duraflame firelogs are recommended for all types of open hearth fireplaces.
Promising consistent performance and quality materials to ensure safe burning and high-performance, Duraflame firelogs come in a variety of styles to suit your needs. The standard duraflame firelog can be purchased in 4-hour, 3-hour, and 2-hour burning times. In using both the 3-hour and 4-hour firelogs, I have found that the burning time is pretty accurate, and did not have to worry about continued burning should I need to leave the house for any reason. At the initial onset of burning, the Duraflame Xtratime and Easytime firelogs burn high and bright, but as they near the last remaining hour of their burning time, the flames tend to die out, leaving only a small flickering during the remainder of the burning period, or a slow smoldering.
This was a bit disappointing, but I found that using a poker to softly break apart a small portion of the Xtratime and Easytime firelogs can sometimes help to produce and rekindle a stronger flame again. Unfortunately, this also causes the remainder of the firelog to burn faster. Still, I would rather have a flickering fire than a smoking black clump. I have also found this problem with other brands of firelogs, so I have chosen to stick with Duraflame as a reliable firelog.
Part of the soothing satisfaction of relaxing before a fire is the crackling sound of the wood as the flames consume it. The crackling is absent from the standard Duraflame firelogs, but Duraflame has produced Crackleflame firelogs. These firelogs burn for approximately three hours and contain a natural additive that produces a crackling sound just like a real wood fire. For comfort and enjoyment, I found the Crackleflame logs to be excellent, but I do wish they were available in a four-hour selection as well as the three-hour option. However, you don’t have to worry about crackling embers jumping at your fireplace screen as you sometimes find with a real wood fire, an added bonus.
During the holiday season, you may also wish to purchase the EasyTime Colorlog, which burns for about 3 hours and produces, festive, colorful flames while burning, adding to the holiday delight. It may take a short while to see the colorful flames being produced, and again, my only complaint is that Duraflame does not produce a longer-burning Colorlog.
For outdoor fireplaces and campfires, Duraflame also produces the Duraflame Open Air firelog that burns with the appearance of a real wood fire. It’s convenient and easy to use, but when I’m building a campfire outdoors, I prefer to use real wood, though I imagine the Open Air firelog would be ideal for outdoor fireplaces.
