How to Properly Start a Wood Burning Stove
Wood stoves are a comfortable way to heat a space and conserve energy. However, they require some level of maintenance.
A majority of modern wood stoves comply with EPA emission guidelines. You can check for an EPA sticker on the grate or beneath it to ensure your stove doesn't release harmful pollutants.
How to start a Wood Fire
The smell and sound of a woodfire is an excellent addition to any home. But it's important to learn how to properly make a fire on your stove. Improper techniques can result in the fire not to burn effectively, and can produce smoke or creosote. These tips will assist you in starting the fire that will warm your home with minimal effort and maximum safety.
Before you begin an fire, make sure you check the condition of your logs and coals. If they're too damp, they will smother the fire and prevent it from burning properly. You might want to open the chimney to eliminate any ash that falls into the stove.
Begin by placing a handful of small, dry pieces of newspaper in your stove. This will help ignite the tinder. Once the tinder and kindling have begun to burn, you can add a layer of larger kindling pieces on the top. This should be done in a crosshatch fashion so that there will be air between each piece of wood.
If your wood stove comes with an automatic combustion control it will automatically feed air to the flame as it grows. This will allow the fire to burn continuously without the need to open the door of your stove constantly to tend to it.
Avoid using too much tinder, as this will cause the fire to burn at a fast rate and will not be able to use the fuel efficiently. Once you've made a solid foundation in your stove that is made of tinder, kindling and embers to start the main flame, you can do this by laying down two large base logs on the grill. Next, place a layer of smaller logs that are perpendicular to them and on the top of the base logs. This "top-down" method of building the fireplace will create a long-lasting and effective fire that doesn't completely engulf larger logs from the base.
Once the fire is established Close the damper and ensure it stays closed. Opening the damper too soon can cause the fire to smother and will not allow for proper airflow, which will reduce its efficiency.
Add Wood
Stoves are not only beautiful pieces of home decor They can also help you save money by supplying efficient wood heat. They can be used alone or together with central heating or a furnace system to provide the supplemental heat required in large houses or houses with a lot of rooms. Many of the new clean-burning stoves on the market utilize a superior combustion method that separates the burning of volatile compounds from combustible gases and tar by supplying air in two distinct stages. The first stage is for the vaporization, while the second step is to supply fresh air that is pre-heated. This improves the combustion process and helps to reduce odors.
The amount of heat you will get from your stove will depend on both the species of wood and the amount of moisture as well as the size of the logs. The logs should be stacked in a well-ventilated area for several months before you attempt to burn them to give the wood time to dry out. If the logs are not dry enough they will release plenty of steam that is basically wasted energy.
While you're burning the fire, you should add more wood to the stack at intervals, and not all at all at. In addition, adding too much wood at once causes the temperature inside the firebox to rise, and creates a vortex that draws smoke and volatile compounds that have not been burned back into the flame which can reduce the efficiency of your stove.
You should avoid the use of any other combustibles, like cardboard or paper in your stove, since they are not wood and possess different physical properties and cannot be burned without causing dangerously high temperatures and a lot of emissions. You should also not use compressed combustibles such as wood briquettes because they have a completely different chemical and physical composition to real firewood, and are not approved for burning in wood-burning stoves.
If you are installing wood-burning stoves into your home, it is crucial to have it installed and tested by a qualified. A certified WETT technician will test your stove to ensure it is safe and reliable. They will also check that your chimney works correctly. These professionals can also offer maintenance services to keep your stove and chimney in top condition. They will inspect the areas accessible to your chimney to determine if there is leakage and repair any problems found. They will also make sure that the occupants of your home are aware of and adhere to the fire evacuation guidelines in the event in the event of an emergency.
Adjusting the Damper
A damper regulates how much heat escapes to the chimney when you're not cooking on your stove. It can also be used to regulate the flame. If the flue is open but the damper is closed too much the fire won't be able to burn properly and it will release smoke into your living space. To ensure you have the most efficient fire, with the damper properly adjusted, you should play around with different settings and observe how each one affects the flames.
Typically, you'll want to keep the damper open enough to let air in and out of the flue when a fire is burning. This allows the fire to get going and also helps keep it in good shape so that you can enjoy it for a long time. The proper opening will stop the fire from becoming starved of air and will keep it from blowing smoke.
To adjust your damper properly it is important to first make sure that the fireplace has been preheated and that the wood stove is hot. This will ensure that the chimney is warm, and also that it has an adequate draft. Once this is accomplished, the wood stove damper may be adjusted.
Once the fire has smolder slightly, you need to shut the damper down to about three-quarters of its original position. This will prevent the warm room air from escaping up the chimney while still allowing the smoke to escape from the wood stove.
This is the best method to prevent the fire from becoming too hot, while also keeping it burning. The draft may be stopped if one closes the damper too tightly however a cold breeze could enter your home if the damper is not closed.
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 pressing against your hand, it is probably in the open position.
The damper settings can vary between stoves and even among different types of wood. Experimenting with the various settings will give you an idea of what you should look for, but you will have to keep adjusting it until you have found the perfect setting for your stove.
Clean Up
After the fire, it's important to clean the stove and flue. This will reduce the risk of an ensuing fire in the chimney which is the most common reason for fires caused by wood stoves. Creosote, a sticky substance which can build up in the stovepipe, is extremely hazardous. It is caused by the moisture and wood particles that are not burned that cannot escape the fire. It can also be caused by improperly lit fires.
fireplacesandstove.com helps keep away the buildup of creosote. This can be done by sweeping your chimney at least once every year. It is recommended to have your fireplace and stove professionally inspected and cleaned at least once a year, too.
It is also a good idea to clean out the ash tray and grate regularly. It is best to burn only seasoned wood because it produces less creosote. Avoid burning cardboard, paper and plastic. They can release harmful chemicals for the flue and air, and could be released into your home.
It is also important to clean the glass of the wood stove regularly. Many newer wood stoves have self-cleaning glass, which means that they do not require much cleaning. You can make use of stove glass cleaners on the glass if you aren't able get the glass as clean as you would like on your wood stove.
Other tips to maintain your wood stove are to turn the vent down when you are not using it and slamming windows or doors to increase the flow of air. This will help keep the fire burning hotter and more efficiently since it will not need to work as hard to circulate the air. It is also a good idea to not stack logs or place them in the fire for long periods of time as this can lead to warping and splitting. Finally, it is a good idea to avoid using compressed combustible wood logs in your wood stove as the paraffin they contain could melt and spill down the flue which could cause damage to the stove.