Chiminea Lid On or Off? How to Use Your Chiminea Lid
Always remove the lid of your chiminea before lighting. The lid is designed for protective and aesthetic purposes when your chiminea is not in use.
Why Should I Take the Lid Off Before Lighting?
The chiminea lid is there for a few important reasons.
Firstly let’s deal with the practical functions of the chiminea lid.
Often referred to as a ‘rain lid’, the lid on your chiminea is designed to seal off the chimney when not in use. This cover will prevent rainwater from getting into your chiminea and ensure that everything is kept dry (or at least as dry as possible) on the inside.
Chiminea Lid Protects Against Garden debris
The chiminea lid also prevents stray, garden debris from finding its way into your chiminea. Cleaning out the leftover ash can be enough of a job without adding to it random leaves and goodness knows what else from your garden.
The other consideration is animal feces. If you’ve ever come across animal feces in your garden then there’s a chance it could end up in your chiminea if you leave the lid off. Most commonly this will be bird poo.
Avoid getting bird droppings into your lovely chiminea, and prevent nasty clean-up. Keep it nice and sealed off and there’s less chance of you having to clean up nasty surprises!
Take Off The Chiminea Lid to let it breathe
The last reason you should remove the lid before lighting your chiminea is to open up the ventilation system of these efficient wood stoves. With the lid off, you enable the ventilation system of the chiminea making it super easy to light. The fire bowl protects the fire and the chimney draws air up.
Once the fire is lit, the air is sucked in through the front opening or mouth of the chiminea, feeding the fire with oxygen. Fire loves air and that’s why chimineas make it really easy to get a great fire going.
Smoke and heat flow up through the chimney and escape. By keeping the lid on you prevent this from happening and the smoke will have nowhere to go but back out the mouth.
What is the Other Purpose of the Chiminea Lid?
It looks great!
The lid of the chiminea adds an aesthetic charm to the look of the chiminea. Whether you’ve gone for the traditional Mexican clay variety or the longer-lasting cast iron is your chiminea of choice, they look great with the lid on.
Why Should I Remove the Chiminea Lid Before Lighting?
With your chiminea lid on, you prevent the air from flowing through the mouth and up, out through the chimney.
The smoke has nowhere to go and will start to come out the mouth of your chiminea. With the heat and gases having nowhere to go you risk drastically overheating your chiminea and when things get too hot they break.
Can I Cook on Top of My Chiminea?
Yes! Cooking on top of the chiminea is possible with a chiminea cooking crown or similar accessory.
The cooking crown allows heat from the fire to rise through the funnel and cooks the food on the BBQ grill as the smoke escapes.
Whatever method you use to cook on top of your chiminea, just make sure that you never completely block off the chimney.
What if I Break or Lose My Chiminea Lid?
Unfortunately, replacement lids can be hard to come by. Often searching on google and even specific websites do not lead you to them.
However, they usually have some on Wayfair – you can buy a replacement chiminea lid here.
If the size style you are looking for is unavailable, simply contact your chiminea retailer and ask about obtaining a replacement lid.
If you break your chiminea lid, try and repair it. This will likely be much easier than trying to source a new one as they can be difficult to come by.
Do All Chimineas Come WIth Lids?
Yes, new chimineas should come with a lid. The exceptions are contemporary chimineas that have a different design.
In Summary
Here’s everything you need to know about the chiminea lid:
- Do not leave the chiminea lid on when lighting it
- Leaving the chiminea lid on inhibits air flow
- Leaving the chiminea lid on prevents smoke and heat from being released safely
- By keeping the himinea lid on while the fire is lit, you risk over-heating and damaging your chiminea.
- When not using the chiminea the lid looks good and stops debris getting in.
- Replacement lids are difficult to find – it is worth attempting to repair a broken lid.
I hope this answers all your questions about chimineas, but if you still have questions, don’t hesitate to get in touch – contact@chiminea.uk.
