FAQ's

Yes. All Metro’s are designed to enable cooking of soups, stews and casseroles etc, and your Metro will easily boil a flat bottom stainless steel kettle. The radiant style wood fires have a dedicated cooking top enabling large pots to be placed on top, while all other models have a perforated cooktop grill. Metro’s supplied with a cooktop grill have this feature to enable the grill to be removed for cleaning if you have a spill. This grill must be left on for cooking, because if removed the wall temperatures next to the appliance may become excessive and the top of the firebox is generally too hot to cook on directly. If your Metro has the silver satin finish, or high gloss black enamel finish it is not recommended for cooking on.

No. Only dry well seasoned wood should be used. In New Zealand, copper, chromium and arsenic (CCA) are used to treat timber. Burning treated timber is corrosive to the steel in your firebox and there are risks to your health with the vapour from treated timber (when burned) remaining in the air contributing to air pollution.

No. Metro’s range of wood fires are just that. Wood fires. Coal is not suitable as fuel for your Metro.

Metro radiant fires are paint finish wood fires and coated with ‘Pioneer Metallic Black’ high temperature paint. Over time these fires will require periodic repainting to keep them looking their best. Pioneer Metallic Black high temperature paint is the only product suitable for revitalising the paint finish on your Metro. DO NOT USE Stove Black, Cast Iron Stove Polish or similar based products to refurbish your paint finished fire.

All other Metro fires are coated with vitreous enamel. Vitreous enamel is extremely durable and designed to last the life of the appliance. As vitreous enamel is glass, a solid or heavy object dropped or banged against a panel could chip the enamel surface so care is required.

All model Metro fires can be easily cleaned with a soft dry cloth when the appliance is not in operation. Do not use any abrasive or solvent based cleaning agents.

Providing your fuel is properly seasoned, under normal operating conditions the air-wash design of the Metro’s firebox will keep the door glass clear.

If your door glass requires cleaning you can gently use a razor blade scraper or crumpled wetted newspaper dipped in wood ash rubbed over the glass. When your ashes are cold, simply dip a piece of crumpled wetted newspaper into them. Then use this ash-laden newspaper in circular motions on the door glass. This should loosen up the stubborn soot and allow you to wipe away any residual dirt with a soft damp cloth.

DO NOT USE any window cleaner, oven cleaner or similar type of cleaning product as it may have adverse effects on both the door glass and finish of your wood fire.

Whether you have a modern or older Metro wood fire, maintaining it regularly to the manufacturer’s instructions is important to maintain its safety, performance and longevity. An annual service call by a qualified technician is recommended as most wood burners and flue systems have parts that are designed to be replaced or cleaned periodically. It is not uncommon to find wood burners that have been damaged due to deferred maintenance or improper use. All replacement parts must be genuine authorised Metro parts only.

Over time ash will build up in the base of the Metro’s firebox and require removal (generally 3-5 times a season). The time this build-up takes depends on the density and cleanliness of your fuel. To remove the excess ash your Metro should not be operating. Ashes can be scooped up and removed easily through the door opening using a hearth shovel or similar and emptied into a steel or non-combustible container. If the ash is not disposed of immediately, be careful where you store it, as the ashes can retain heat for many days. We recommend leaving a bed of ash in the base of the firebox approximately 10-20mm deep as this helps to insulate the base of the firebox and improves combustion.

In the high temperature environment inside your firebox, cracks within the promet strips are not uncommon and will have no adverse effect on the operation and performance of your Metro wood fire. The promet strips are well supported beneath the baffle by large steel washers. If the promet starts to break up and pieces fall into the firebox it must be replaced.

Hair-line cracks are not uncommon and are a result of the intense heat within the Metro’s firebox, coupled with mechanical damage caused by accidental impact when fuel is being loaded. However if the fire bricks become cracked to the extent that they start to break up into pieces and fall into the fire, they must be replaced.

The smell is creosote that will be seeping through the flue pipe joins or out of the flue spigot onto an external surface, creating the smell in your room. The cause is from unseasoned fuel (wet wood), fuel mass too large, incorrect operation on low burn cycles or a combination of these. A telltale sign of this issue can be the blackening of the appliance door glass.

Using unseasoned fuel means energy is used on evaporation rather than burning. This causes an incomplete burn and results in excessive smoke being produced. This settles in the form of soot, tar and creosote inside the flue system and firebox. Continued burning of unseasoned fuel or incorrect operation on extended low burn cycles will cause excessive creosote to form. Creosote is very corrosive and excessive buildups will result in flue pipe blockages, reduce heat output and in worst cases will result in the flue pipe, flue spigot and upper burn chamber failing.

There may be several reasons why this is happening. If none of the below remedy the issue, please contact your local Metro stockist for assistance.

Fuel quality: Ensure the fuel you are burning is correctly seasoned and has moisture content of less than 25%

Operational error: Always open the air control fully before you reload any fuel and always open the door slowly.

Flue pipe: Check your flue pipe joints are sealed correctly. In particular the join where the flue pipe meets the wood fire. Any bend/offset within a flue system can restrict the updraught of flue gases. If a flue pipe is too short it may not create enough ‘draw’ for the fire. Cooler flue temperatures will reduce draw within the flue pipe – and in worst cases may even cause negative draught.

Modern wood fires need to be operated hard and fast, more so than low and lazy to ensure the firebox and flue pipe runs hot and efficiently. If the fire and flue pipe is up to temperature it will perform extremely well, flue gases will draw up the flue pipe with ease, and the fire will produce good amounts of heat. If the fire is operated on low a lot of the time, the door glass will turn black, the flue pipe will tend to block up more frequently, and the fire will end up smoking into the room when reloading fuel. It’s always better to have a small fire running hard and fast, rather than a big fire running low and lazy.

The appliance door may need re-adjusting and provision is available on both sides of the door to enable this. Over time, usually 3-4 years, the door rope and glass seals on your wood fire will harden and allow air to leak into the firebox, causing you to burn through more fuel and for the appliance to ‘over fire’. Your Metro stockist can supply door rope and glass seals to replace your worn seals.

The baffle should be resting on four support lugs (two on each side of the firebox). It must be pushed hard back against the rear wall of the firebox with the promet extension (white bricks) or return front steel edge of the baffle facing forward. The top baffle should be checked regularly and must always remain in place during operation. The top baffle must be removed during a flue sweep/service and ensuring it is relocated properly is key to the safe and correct operation of your fire.