How to Properly Start a Wood Burning Stove

Wood stoves are a warm method to heat a room and conserve energy. However, they require a certain amount 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 a lot of harmful pollutants.

How to start a Wood Fire

The smell and the sound of a fire can be a welcome addition in any home. But it's important to learn the proper way to build a fire in your stove. Incorrect techniques may lead to the fire not to burn efficiently, and produces smoke or creosote. The following tips can help you start a fire that is safe and will warm your home quickly and efficiently.

Make sure to check the condition of your coals and logs before you begin the fire. If they're damp they will choke your fire and hinder proper burning. It is also possible to open the flue to let out any ash that has been deposited into the stove.

Begin by putting several small wall mounted wood burning stove wood burning stove indoor (Learn Even more Here) newspaper pieces that are dry and clean into your stove. This will help to ignite the tinder and kindling. Once they start to burn, add a layer of larger pieces cost of wood burning stove tinder to the top of the pile. This should be done in a crosshatch fashion so that there is 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 for a long time without the need to open the door of your stove frequently to check on it.

It is essential to avoid using too much tinder, since this could result in an unburned fire that burns at an excessive rate and doesn't utilize the multi fuel wood burner as efficiently as it could. After you've built a solid base in your stove with igniters, tinder, and embers to start the main flame, you can do this by laying two large logs of the base on the grate. On the top of these base logs, place a layer perpendicularly to them. This "top-down" method of creating a fireplace will produce a long-lasting and effective fire that doesn't consume larger base logs.

Close the damper once your fire has been established and keep it closed. Opening the damper too soon could cause the fire to be smothered, and it will not allow for the proper airflow, which will decrease the efficiency of the fire.

Adding Wood

Stoves can be used to efficiently heat your home and save you money. They can be utilized in conjunction with a central heating system or furnace to provide supplemental heating in large houses. A lot of the clean burning stoves that are available use an advanced combustion principle which separates the burning volatile compounds from combustible gases and tar. This is accomplished by supplying air in two distinct stages. The first stage allows for the combustion of volatile compounds and the second stage offers fresh air that is pre-heated. This improves combustion and Wood stove Burners reduces the odors.

The amount of heat that you can get from a stove will depend on the species and the moisture content of the wood you use, and also the size of logs. To let the wood dry, logs should be stored in a well ventilated area for a few months before burning. If the logs have too much moisture, they'll produce steam which is essentially wasted power.

During the burning of the fire, you should add more wood to the stack at intervals, but not all at one time. The addition of too much wood at once could cause the temperature to rise within the firebox, causing a vortex which draws smoke and unburned volatile compounds back into the flames. This could reduce the effectiveness of your stove.

Avoid using other combustibles in your stove, like paper or cardboard because they are not wood. They have different physical properties and cannot be burned without creating dangerously high temperatures. You should also not use compressed combustibles, such as wood briquettes as they have a very different chemical and physical properties from real firewood, and are not type-approved for use in wood burning stoves.

If you are installing a wood burning stove in your home, it is important to have it properly installed and tested by a professional. A certified WETT technician will examine your stove to make sure it is safe and reliable. They will also check whether your chimney is working properly. They offer maintenance services for your chimney and stove to ensure they are in good condition. They can look for leaks in the areas that are accessible to your chimney, and fix any problems they find. They will also ensure that the occupants of the home understand and follow the fire evacuation procedure in the event of an accident.

Adjusting the Damper

When you're not cooking on your stove, a damper regulates how much heat is lost through the chimney. It can also be used to manage the fire. If the flue is open but the damper is closed too much the fire will not burn as efficiently and it will billow out smoke into your living area. To ensure you have the most efficient fire, with your damper set correctly, you must play around with different positions and observe how each one affects the flames.

Typically, you'll want to keep the damper open enough to let air enter and out of the flue when the fire is burning. This lets the fire get going and also helps keep it in good shape so that you can enjoy it for hours. The proper opening will prevent the fire from starving of air and prevent it from blowing out smoke.

To adjust your damper correctly, you must first ensure that the fireplace is preheated and that the wood stove is hot. This will ensure that the chimney is warm and has a good draft. Once these are done the wood stove damper can be adjusted.

After the fire has burned for a while, you should close the damper approximately three quarters of the way. This will stop warm air in the room from escaping into the chimney, while still allowing smoke to escape.

This is the most effective way to keep your fire burning and keep it from getting too hot. If you close the damper too far it could block the draft from working, but when it's too wide, a cold breeze could blow into your home.

Holding your hand at the top of the flue pipe will tell you how much the damper has opened. If you feel a slight breeze pushing on your hand it is probably in the open position.

The damper settings can vary from one stove to the next and even between different kinds of wood. Playing around with different settings will give you an idea of what you should look for, but you will have to keep adjusting it until you find the perfect setting for your stove.

Clean up

It is important to clean your stove and flue after the start of a fire. This will reduce the risk of a fire in the chimney which is the most common cause of fires that are caused by wood stoves. Creosote, a sticky material which can build up within the stovepipe, can be extremely hazardous. It is caused by the moisture and wood particles that are not burned that are unable to escape from the fire. It can also be caused by poorly lit fires.

A regular cleaning routine can help to prevent the buildup of creosote. The best method to do this is to sweep the chimney every year. It is also recommended that you get your stove and fireplace professionally cleaned and checked at least yearly.

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

It is also essential to wash the glass of the wood-burning stove regularly. Many modern wood stoves come with self-cleaning windows, so they don't require as much scrubs. You can use stove glass cleaners on the window if you're not capable of getting the glass as clean as you'd like on your wood stove.

Other tips to keep your wood stove in good condition include turning down the vent when you're not using it, and slamming doors or windows to improve airflow. This will help keep the fire burning longer and more efficiently, as it won't have to be as active to circulate the air. It is recommended not to stack logs or leave them on the fire for a long duration. This could cause splitting and warping. Finally, it is a good idea to avoid using compressed combustible logs in your wood stove, as the paraffin they contain can melt and flow into the flue which could cause damage.