How to Properly Start a Wood Burning Stove

Wood stoves are a comfortable way to heat a room and conserve energy. However, they need some level of maintenance.

A majority of modern wood stoves comply with EPA emission guidelines. Look for an EPA sticker either under or on the grate to ensure your stove won't produce lots of harmful pollutants.

How to start a Wood Fire

The scent and sound of a wood fire can be a wonderful feature in any house. It's important to know how to build an effective fire on your stove. Incorrect methods can result in a fire that doesn't burn effectively and can cause smoke or creosote. The following tips will help you begin an efficient fire that can heat your home quickly and efficiently.

Before you start an fire, make sure you check the condition of your coals and logs. If they are wet it will dampen your fire and hinder proper burning. It is also possible to open the flue to let any ash that has fallen into the stove.

Begin by putting several small, dry newspaper pieces in your stove. This will help to ignite the tinder and kindling. Once they start to burn, add a layer of larger pieces 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 you have a wood stove with an automatic combustion control, it will automatically feed an air stream controlled to the fire as it builds. This allows the fire to burn for a long time without the need to open the stove door constantly to tend to it.

Avoid using too much tinder as it will cause the fire to burn at a rapid rate and not use the fuel effectively. When you have a good pile of tinder and some kindling in your stove, start the main fire by laying two large base logs on the grill. Then, you can lay small wood burning stove for shed logs parallel to these and on the top of the base logs. This "top-down" method of building a fireplace will result in a long-lasting, efficient fire that doesn't completely engulf larger base logs.

Once the fire is established shut off the damper and keep it shut. The fire could be smothered if you open the damper before it has fully established. This can also affect the efficiency of the fire.

Adding Wood

Stoves aren't just beautiful home decor pieces they can also help you save money by supplying efficient wood heat. They can be used alone or in conjunction with central heating or furnace system to provide the additional heating required in large homes or homes with many rooms. Many of the new stoves that burn clean employ a superior combustion process that differentiates the burning process of volatile compounds from the combustion of combustible gases and tar by supplying air in two distinct stages. The first stage is for the vaporization process, and the second step is to supply fresh air that has been pre-heated. This improves combustion and decreases smells.

The amount of heat you will get from a stove depends on the species and moisture content of the wood, and also the size of the logs. To allow the wood to dry, the logs should be stored in a ventilated space for a couple of months prior to burning. If the logs are not dry enough, they will produce lots of steam, which is in essence wasted energy.

While you're burning the fire, you should add more wood to the stack at intervals, but not all at one time. The addition of too much wood burning stoves on sale all at once can cause the temperature to rise in the firebox, causing the formation of a vortex that pulls smoke and volatile compounds that have not been burned back into the flames. This could reduce the effectiveness cost of wood burning stove your stove.

Avoid the use of other combustibles, such as paper or cardboard in your stove, as they are not wood and have very different physical properties and cannot be burned without causing dangerously high temperatures and a lot of emissions. Also, avoid using compressed combustibles such as wood briquettes as they have a completely different physical and chemical composition from real firewood and aren't approved for burning in wood burning stoves.

It is essential that you have a professional install and test your wood burning stove. A certified WETT technician can test your installation to ensure it is safe and functional. They will also check whether your chimney is working properly. They also provide maintenance services to keep your chimney and stove 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 ensure that the occupants of your home understand and comply with the evacuation procedures for fire in the event of an emergency.

Adjusting the Damper

A damper controls how much heat escapes to the chimney when you aren't cooking on your stove. Additionally, it can also help manage the fire. If the flue is not open but the damper is not closed enough, the fire won't be able to burn properly and will release smoke into your living area. To ensure that you get the most efficient fire, with your damper adjusted properly you have to test different settings and observe how each one affects the flames.

You should keep your damper open to let air be able to enter and exit the flue when a fire is burning. This will let the fire start and stay lit for many hours. The right opening will also prevent the fire from starving of air, and also prevent it from blowing out smoke.

To adjust your damper correctly first, make sure that the fireplace is heated and that the wood stove is hot. This will ensure that the chimney stays warm and has an adequate draft. Once this is accomplished the damper on the wood burner stoves uk stove may be adjusted.

After the fire has been burning for an extended period, close the damper about three quarters of the way. This will stop warm air in the room from venting up the chimney while still allowing the smoke to escape out of the wood stove.

This is the best method to ensure that your fire is lit and keep it from getting too hot. The draft could be stopped if you shut the damper too far, but a cold wind could be able to enter your home in the event that the damper is left open.

You can determine how much the damper is opened by placing your hand on the top of the inside of the flue pipe. If you feel a slight breeze rubbing against your hand, the damper is likely in the open position.

The damper setting can vary slightly from one stove to another and even between different kinds of wood. You can experiment with various settings to get a sense of the best setting for your stove.

Clean Up

It is essential to clean your flue and stove after an incident. This can to reduce the chance of a chimney fire, which is the primary cause of wood stove related fires in homes. Creosote, a sticky substance that accumulates on the inside of the stovepipe and can be very dangerous. It is caused by moisture and unburned wood particles that are unable to escape from the fire. It could also be caused by improperly lit fires.

Regular cleaning can help prevent creosote buildup. The most effective method for doing this is by sweeping the chimney every year. It is also recommended that you get your stove and fireplace professionally cleaned and examined at least every year.

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

It is also necessary to wash the glass of the wood burning stove on a regular basis. Many newer wood burning stoves uk stoves are made with self-cleaning glass, which means that they do not require much scrubs. If you're unable to get the glass on your wood stove wood burning as clean as you'd like, there are stove glass cleaners available that can be used on the window.

Other suggestions to maintain your wood stove include turning down the vent when you aren't using it, and cracking windows or doors to allow more airflow. This will help keep the fire burning more hot and more efficiently since it will not need to work as hard to circulate the air. It is also a good idea not stack logs or place them in the fire for long periods of time, as this could lead to splitting and warping. It is also recommended to not use compressed combustible logs in your wood stove as the paraffin they contain could melt and spill into the flue which could damage it.