How to Properly Start a Wood Burning Stove Wood stoves can be an excellent method to reduce energy consumption and heat a room. However, they require an amount of care. Many modern wood stoves meet EPA emissions guidelines. You can look for an EPA sticker on the grate or under it to make sure your stove doesn't emit harmful pollutants. How to Start a Wood Fire The smell and sound of a wood fire could be a wonderful addition to any house. It is essential to know how to create a fire on your stove. Incorrect methods can result in the fire not burning effectively and produces creosote or smoke. The tips below can help you start an efficient fire that will heat up your home quickly and effectively. Make sure to check the condition of your logs and coals before you begin the fire. If they're wet, it will smother your fire and hinder proper burning. You may want to open the chimney to remove any ash that's fallen into the stove. Begin by putting a few small, dry pieces of newspaper in the stove. This will help ignite the tinder and kindling. When the tinder and the kindling have started to burn, you can add an additional layer of larger pieces on top. This should be done in a crosshatch pattern so there is air between each piece of wood. If your wood stove is equipped with an automatic combustion control it will automatically feed air to the fire as it expands. This allows the fire to burn steadily without having to open the door of your stove constantly to tend to it. Avoid using too much tinder as it can cause the fire to burn at a rapid rate and not use the fuel efficiently. Once you've made a solid bed in your stove of igniters, tinder, and embers to start the main flame, you can do this by laying down two large base logs on the grate. On the top of these base logs, place a layer perpendicularly to them. This top-down method of building a fireplace will result in an effective and long-lasting fire that doesn't consume larger base logs. When your fire is established shut off the damper and keep it shut. The fire could be smothered by opening the damper before it is fully established. This can also affect the efficiency of the fire. Add Wood Stoves can be used to heat your home efficiently and help you save money. They can be utilized together with a central heating system or furnace to provide additional heating for large homes. A lot of the stoves that are clean-burning employ a superior combustion process that differentiates the burning process of volatile compounds from combustible gasses and tar by supplying air in two different stages. The first stage is for the vaporization process, and the second stage is to provide fresh air that is pre-heated. This improves the process of combustion and helps to reduce the odors. The amount of heat you get from a stove will depend on the species and the moisture content of the wood used as well as the size of logs. The logs should be stacked in a well-ventilated area for several months before you try to burn them, to give the wood a chance to dry. If the logs are wet they will release a lot of steam that is essentially wasted energy. You should add wood to the pile in intervals and not all at once. In addition, adding too much wood all at once could cause the temperature to rise in the firebox, creating an air vortex that pulls smoke and volatile compounds that are not burned back into the flames. This could decrease the effectiveness of your stove. It is recommended to stay clear of any other combustibles, such as paper or cardboard in your stove, since they are not wood and have different physical properties and cannot be burned safely without creating dangerously high temperatures and exorbitant emissions. It is not recommended to burn combustibles that are compressed, such as wood briquettes since 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 essential that a professional install and test your wood stove. A certified WETT technician can test your stove to ensure that it is safe and efficient. They will also ensure that your chimney works correctly. These experts can also provide maintenance services to keep your chimney and stove in top condition. They can look for leaks in the areas that are accessible to your chimney and repair any issues they spot. They will also make sure that the residents of the house understand and comply with the fire evacuation guidelines in case in the event of an emergency. Adjusting the Damper When you're not making use of your stove, a damper controls the amount of heat that is lost through the chimney. In addition, it can also help you to control the flame. If the flue opens, but the damper is closed the fire will not burn properly and smoke will billow into your home. To ensure you have the best fire with the damper properly adjusted, you should test different settings and observe how each affects the flames. You should keep your damper open to allow air to flow into and out of the flue while a fire is burning. This will let the fire start and remain lit for a number of hours. The right opening will prevent the fire from being starved of air and keep it from blowing smoke. To adjust your damper properly, you must first ensure that the fireplace has been heated and that the wood stove is hot. This will ensure that the chimney stays warm and has an adequate draft. After that, the damper on the wood stove can be adjusted. Once the fire has smolder for a while, you can close the damper to about three-quarters of its original position. This will prevent the warm air in the room from venting into the chimney, while allowing smoke to escape from the wood stove. This is the most effective way to keep your fire burning and to prevent it from becoming too hot. The draft might be stopped if one closes the damper too far, but a cold wind can enter your home when the damper is left open. Placing your hand on the top of the flue pipe will tell you how much the damper has sunk. If you feel a slight breeze rubbing against your hand The damper is most likely in an open position. The damper settings can differ from one stove to the next and even between different kinds of wood. You can experiment with different settings to get an idea of the best setting for your stove. Clean up It is crucial 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 material which can build up within the stovepipe, can be extremely dangerous. The moisture and the unburned parts of wood that cannot escape the fire are the cause for this chemical. This can also be caused when fires aren't lit properly. A regular cleaning routine helps keep the buildup of creosote at bay. This can be accomplished by sweeping your chimney once every year. It is recommended to have your stove and fireplace professionally cleaned and inspected at least once a year, too. It is also recommended to clean out the ash tray and grate it regularly. It is a good idea to use only wood that is seasoned for burning, as it will create less creosote and less ash. Avoid burning paper, cardboard and plastic. These items could release dangerous chemicals for the flue and air, which could be released in your home. The glass on the wood burning stove has to be cleaned regularly as well. A lot of modern wood stove s have self-cleaning glass, which means they don't require a lot of cleaning. You can make use of stove glass cleaners on the glass if you aren't getting the glass as clean as you want on your wood stove. Some other helpful suggestions for maintaining your wood stove include turning the vent off when you are not using it, and opening windows or doors to increase the flow of air. This will keep the fire burning more hot and more efficiently, since it won't need to work as hard to circulate air. It is recommended not to stack logs, or let them sit on the fire for a long period of time. This can cause warping and splits. It is advised to avoid using combustible compressed wood in your wood stove since the paraffin that is contained in them can melt and flow into the flue, which could cause damage.
