How to Properly Start a Wood Burning Stove

Wood stoves are a comfortable way to heat a room and save energy. However, they require a certain amount of maintenance.

Many modern wood stoves comply with EPA emission guidelines. Look for an EPA sticker under or beside the grate to make sure your stove doesn’t generate lots of harmful pollutants.

How to Start a Wood Fire

The scent and sound of a fire made from wood can be a wonderful feature in any house. But it’s important to learn how to properly create a fire on your stove. Unintentional methods can lead to the fire not to burn well, and may produce creosote or smoke. The following tips can help you create an efficient fire that can heat your home quickly and effectively.

Before you start a fire, check the condition of your logs and coals. If they’re wet it will dampen your fire and prevent the proper burning. You might want to open the chimney to get rid of any ash that’s fallen into the stove.

Begin by putting a handful of small wood burning stove dry newspaper pieces in your stove. This will help to ignite the sparks. When they begin to ignite, add a layer of larger pieces of tinder to the top of the pile. This should be done in a crosshatch fashion so that there will be air between each piece of wood.

If your wood stove is equipped with an automatic combustion control it will automatically pump air into the fire as it grows. This will allow the fire to burn at a steady pace without having to constantly open the stove door to maintain it.

It is essential to avoid using excessive tinder as this could result in a fire that burns at an extremely high rate and fails to use the fuel as efficiently as it can. If you have a nice fire and a bed of tinder in your stove, you can start the main fire by laying two large logs of the base across the grill. Then, on the top of these base woods lay a layer parallel to them. This method of constructing a fire called a “top-down” fire will result in a powerful and long-lasting fire that will not overtake the larger base logs.

When your fire is established, close the damper and ensure it stays closed. If you open the damper too early, it could cause the fire to smother and will not allow for proper air flow, which will decrease the efficiency of the fire.

Adding Wood

Stoves are not just beautiful home decor pieces – they can help you save money by providing efficient wood heat. They can be used in conjunction with central heating systems or furnace to provide supplemental heat in large homes. Many of the new clean burning stoves that are available today utilize advanced combustion principles that separates the burning volatile compounds from combustible gasses as well as tar. This is accomplished by supplying air in two distinct stages. The first stage is to aid in the vaporization, while the second is to provide fresh air that has been pre-heated. This improves combustion and reduces smells.

The amount of heat you get from a stove will depend on the type and amount of moisture of the wood as well as the size of the logs. To allow the wood to dry, logs should be kept in a ventilated area for a few months prior to burning. If the logs have excessive moisture, they will create steam that is in essence wasted energy.

While you’re burning the fire, it is recommended to add more wood coal stove for Sale to the pile at intervals, but not all at one time. The addition of too much wood all at once could cause the temperature to rise within the firebox, causing an air vortex that draws smoke and unburned volatile compounds back into flames. This could reduce the efficiency of your stove.

You should avoid the use of other combustibles like cardboard or paper in your stove, as they are not wood burning stove near me and possess different physical properties and cannot be burned safely without creating dangerously high temperatures and a lot of emissions. You should not burn compressed combustibles like wood briquettes because they differ in chemical and physical composition from firewood. They are also not approved by the type to be burned in wood-burning stoves.

It is important that you have a professional install and test your wood stove. A certified WETT technician can test your installation to ensure that it is safe and efficient. They will also ensure whether your chimney is working properly. They also provide maintenance services to keep your stove and chimney in tip-top shape. They can check for leaks in the areas accessible to your chimney, and fix any issues they discover. They will also make sure that the occupants of the house are aware of and follow the evacuation procedure in the event of an accident.

Adjusting the Damper

A damper regulates the amount of heat that is lost to the chimney when you aren’t cooking on your stove. In addition, it can also help to control the flame. If the flue opens but the damper is too closed the fire won’t burn properly and smoke will erupt into your home. To ensure you have the most efficient fire, with your damper adjusted properly you have to test different settings and observe how each one affects the flames.

It is important to keep your damper open to let air flow into and out of the flue when a fire is burning. This allows the fire to get going and keeps it burning so that you can enjoy it for long periods of time. The right opening will also keep the fire from being starved of air, and also prevent it from blowing out smoke.

To adjust your damper correctly it is important to first make sure that the fireplace is preheated and the wood stove is hot. This will ensure that the chimney is warm and has an adequate draft. Once this is done, the wood stove damper can be adjusted.

After the fire has burned for an extended period, close the damper about three quarters of the way. This will stop warm air in the room from escaping into the chimney, but still permitting smoke to escape.

This is the most effective way to keep your fire burning and prevent it from getting too hot. The draft may be stopped if you shut the damper too tightly however a cold breeze could enter your home when the damper is left open.

You can check to see how much the damper is opened by placing your hands near the top of the of the flue pipe. If you feel a small draft pushing on your hand it’s likely to be in the open position.

The damper settings can vary from one stove to the next and even among different types of wood. The process of experimenting with the various settings will give you an idea of what to look for, but you may need to tweak it until you find the ideal setting for your stove.

Clean Up

It is crucial to clean your chimney and stove after the start of a fire. This will lower the risk of a chimney fire, which is the most common cause of wood stove related fires in homes. Creosote is a sticky material that forms on the inside of the stovepipe and can be extremely hazardous. Unburned and moist particles of wood that cannot escape the fire are the cause for this chemical. It could also be caused by improperly lit fires.

Regular cleaning helps to stop the buildup of creosote. The most effective method for doing this is by sweeping the chimney every year. It is also recommended to get your stove and fireplace professionally cleaned and inspected at least once a yearly.

It is also a good idea for you to clean the ash tray and the grates regularly. It is a good idea to only use seasoned wood to burn, since it will create less creosote and less ash. It is also recommended to avoid burning cardboard, paper or plastic items. They can release chemicals that are dangerous for the respiratory tract and the atmosphere, which may be released into your home.

The glass on the wood burning stove has to be cleaned frequently too. The majority of newer wood stoves are made with self-cleaning glass, meaning that they do not require any scrubs. If you are not able to make the glass on your wood stove as clean as you would like There are stove glass cleaners can be used on the window.

Some other helpful tips to maintain your wood stove are to turn the vent off when you are not using it, and opening the door or window to increase the flow of air. This will help keep the fire burning longer and more efficiently, since it won’t have to be as active to circulate air. It is a good idea not to stack logs, or place them on the fire for a long duration. This can cause splitting and warping. It is advised to avoid using combustible wood that has been compressed in your wood stove as the paraffin in the logs can melt and leak into the flue which could cause damage.