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How to Properly Start a Wood Burning Stove Wood stoves can be an excellent method to reduce energy consumption and warm a room. However, they require a certain amount of maintenance. Many modern wood stoves conform to EPA emission guidelines. You can check for an EPA sticker on the grate or underneath it to ensure that your stove doesn't emit harmful pollutants. How to start a Wood Fire The scent and sound of a woodfire can be an excellent addition to any house. It is essential to know how to build a fire on your stove. Improper techniques can result in the fire not burning effectively and can cause smoke or creosote. The tips below can help you create a safe fire that will heat up your home quickly and efficiently. Before you start a fire, you should check the condition of your coals and logs. If they're too damp they could smother the flame and stop it from burning efficiently. It is possible to open the chimney to remove any ash that's fallen into the stove. Begin by putting a few small, dry newspaper pieces in the stove. This will help to ignite the sparks. Once these begin to burn, add another layer of larger pieces 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 comes with an automatic control for combustion, it will automatically feed air to the fire as it expands. This allows the fire to burn steadily without having to open the stove's door frequently to check on it. Be careful not to use too much tinder, as it will cause the fire to burn at a fast rate and not utilize the fuel effectively. When you have a good bed of tinder and kindling in your stove, begin the main fire by laying two large base logs on the grate. Then, on the top of these base logs put a layer of wood perpendicular to them. This “top-down” method of creating a fireplace will produce an effective and long-lasting fire that doesn't completely engulf larger base logs. Close the damper once your fire is established, and keep it shut. The fire may be smothered if you open the damper before it is fully established. It will also reduce the efficiency of the fire. Add Wood Stoves can be used to efficiently heat your home and help you save money. They can be used by themselves or together with central heating or a furnace system to provide the supplemental heat needed in large homes or homes with multiple rooms. The latest clean-burning stoves on the market use a superior combustion principle 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 allows the combustion of volatile compounds, while the second step supplies fresh air that has been pre-heated. This improves combustion and decreases the odors. The amount of heat you get from your stove is contingent on the type of wood used as well as the moisture content, as well as the size of the logs. The logs must be stored in a ventilated area for several months prior to when you try to burn them to give the wood time to dry out. If the logs are not dry enough they will create lots of steam, which is essentially wasted energy. You should add wood to the pile at intervals, not all at all at. Adding too much wood at once causes the temperature inside the firebox to increase and creates a vortex that draws smoke and volatile compounds that have not been burned back into the flame which can decrease your stove's efficiency. Avoid using other combustibles in your stove, like paper or cardboard, as they are not wood. They have different physical properties and cannot be burned without creating dangerously high temperatures. 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 type-approved for use in wood burning stoves. If you're installing wood-burning stoves into your home, it is important to have it properly installed and tested by a professional. A certified WETT technician will test the installation to ensure safe operation and safety, as well as make sure that your chimney is operating correctly. These professionals offer maintenance services for your stove and chimney to ensure they are in good condition. They can check the areas accessible to your chimney for leakage, and fix any issues that are discovered. They will also ensure that all residents of the house are aware of and follow the fire evacuation procedure in case of an accident. Adjusting the Damper If you're not using your stove, a damper controls the amount of heat that is lost through the chimney. It can also be used to control the fire. If the flue is open but the damper is not closed the fire will not be able to burn as it should and smoke will pour into your home. You can adjust your damper to get the best flames by playing around with different locations. You want to keep your damper open to allow air to flow into and out of the flue when a fire is burning. This will let the fire start and stay lit for many hours. A proper opening will stop the fire from becoming starved of air and will keep it from blowing smoke. To be able to adjust your damper you need to ensure that the fireplace is preheated and the wood stove is warm. This will ensure that the chimney is warm and has a good draft. After this the damper on the wood stove may be adjusted. After the fire has been burning for a while, you should shut the damper around three quarters of the way. This will prevent the warm air in the room from venting into the chimney, while allowing the smoke to escape from the wood stove. This is the best method to keep your fire burning and to prevent it from becoming too hot. If you close the damper too far it could stop the draft from working, but when it's too open, a cold wind could blow into your home. You can check to see how much the damper is opened by holding your hand near the top of the inside of the flue pipe. If you can feel a slight draft pushing on your hand it is probably in the open position. The damper setting can vary a little from one stove to the next, 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 After a fire, it is crucial to clean the flue and stove. This reduces the chance of an explosion in the chimney which is the main cause of fires that are caused by wood stoves. Creosote, a sticky material that can build up in the stovepipe, is very dangerous. It is caused by the moisture and wood particles that are not burned that cannot escape the fire. It can be caused by improperly lit fires. A regular cleaning routine helps keep the buildup of creosote at bay. This can be done by cleaning your chimney once every year. It is recommended that you have your fireplace and stove professionally inspected and cleaned at least once per year. Also, it is an excellent idea to clean the ash tray and the grates regularly. It is recommended to only burn wood that has been seasoned because it produces less creosote. It is also a good idea to avoid burning paper, cardboard plastic, and other waste items. These can release harmful chemicals for the respiratory tract and the air, which could be released into your home. The glass on the wood burning stove needs to be cleaned regularly too. Most newer wood stoves have self-cleaning windows so they do not require as much cleaning. You can use stove glass cleaners on the glass if you aren't getting the glass as clean as you'd like on your wood stove. Some other helpful tips to maintain your wood stove include turning the vent down when you're not using it and cracking windows or doors to allow more air flow. This will ensure that the fire is burning hotter, and more efficient. The wood stove will not need to perform as hard to circulate air. It is recommended to not stack logs or keep them in the flame for long durations of time, since this could lead to splitting and warping. Fireplaces And Stove is best to avoid using combustible compressed wood in your wood stove as the paraffin in the wood can melt and then flow into the flue, which could cause damage.