How to Properly Start a Wood Burning Stove
Wood stoves are a warm way to heat a room and conserve energy. However, they require an amount of care.
Many modern wood stoves are compliant with EPA emission guidelines. Look for an EPA sticker either under or on the grate to ensure your stove won't produce many harmful pollutants.
How to Start a Wood Fire
The smell and sound of a woodfire can be a welcome addition in any house. It's important to know how to build a fire in your stove. Incorrect techniques may lead to a fire which does not burn efficiently, and produces creosote or smoke. The following tips can help you create a safe fire that will heat up your home quickly and effectively.
Before you start a fire, you should check the condition of your coals and logs. If they are wet it will dampen your fire and prevent the proper burning. You might want to open the chimney to eliminate any ash that has fallen into the stove.
Begin by placing several
small wood burning stove Wood Burning Fireplace -
Aragaon.Net - newspaper pieces that are dry into your stove. This will help ignite the fire. When the tinder and the kindling have started to burn, you can put the larger kindling pieces on top. This should be done in a crosshatch pattern so there will be air between each piece of wood.
If you own wood stoves that have an automatic control for combustion that will automatically deliver an air stream that is controlled to your flame as it heats. This will allow the fire to burn continuously without having to open the stove door frequently to check on it.
Do not use too much tinder, as this will cause the fire to burn at a fast rate and not use the fuel effectively. When you have a good fire and a bed of tinder in your stove, begin the main fire by placing two large base logs across the grate. Next, place a layer of smaller logs perpendicular to these and on the top of the base logs. This method of building a fire called a "top-down" fire can result in a successful and long-lasting fire that will not engulf the larger base logs.
Close the damper when your fire has been established, and keep it shut. The fire can be smothered by opening the damper prior to it being fully established. This can also affect the effectiveness of the fire.
Add Wood
Stoves are not only beautiful pieces of home decor They can also help you save money by providing efficient wood heat. They can be used on their own or in conjunction with a furnace or central heating system to provide the supplemental heat needed in large homes or houses with a lot of rooms. Many of the new 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 is to aid in the vaporization process, and 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 get from your stove will depend on the kind of wood and the amount of moisture in it, as well as the size of the logs. To let the
wood burning stoves for sale dry, logs should be kept in a ventilated location for a few months prior to burning. If the logs contain too much moisture, they'll produce steam which is essentially wasted energy.
While you're burning the fire, you should add more wood to the stack in intervals, but not all at one time. Adding too much wood at one time can cause the temperature of the firebox to rise and produces a vortex that sucks smoke and volatile compounds that have not been burned back into the flame which can decrease your stove's efficiency.
Avoid using other combustibles inside your stove, such as paper or cardboard because they are not wood. They have different physical properties and cannot be burned without causing dangerously high temperatures. You should also not use compressed combustibles like wood briquettes, as they have a completely different chemical and physical composition to real firewood, and are not 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 reliable. They will also ensure that your chimney works correctly. They provide maintenance services for your chimney and stove to keep them in top shape. They will 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 occupants of the home understand and follow the evacuation procedure in the event of an accident.
Adjusting the Damper
When you're not using your stove, a damper regulates the amount of heat that is lost through the chimney. It can also be used to control the fire. If the flue opens but the damper is closed, the fire will not burn properly and smoke will billow into your home. You can adjust your damper to achieve the most effective flames by experimenting with different positions.
Typically, you should keep the damper open enough to let air enter and out of the flue when the fire is burning. This allows the fire to get going and also helps keep it lit so you can enjoy it for a long time. The proper opening will prevent the fire from starving of air and will keep it from blowing smoke.
To adjust your damper correctly, you must first ensure that the fireplace has been heated and that the wood stove is hot. This will ensure the chimney is warm, and also that it has an adequate draft. After these steps are completed, the damper for
cheap wood burning stoves stoves can be adjusted.
After the fire has smolder a bit you should shut the damper down to about three-quarters of its full position. This will stop warm air in the room from venting through the chimney, while allowing the smoke to escape from the wood stove.
This is the best way to keep the fire from becoming too hot, while also keeping it burning. The draft might be stopped if one closes the damper to far but a cold wind could enter your home in the event that the damper is not closed.
You can determine how much the damper is open by placing your hand on the top of the inside of the flue pipe. If you can feel a
small modern wood stove draft pushing on your hand it's 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 ideal setting for your stove.
Clean up
It is crucial to clean your flue and stove after the start of a fire. This can reduce the chance of an ensuing fire in the chimney which is the main reason for fires caused by wood stoves. Creosote is a sticky material that builds up on the inside of the stovepipe and can be extremely hazardous. The moisture and the unburned parts of wood that are unable to escape the fire are the cause for this substance. It could also be caused by improperly lit fires.
A regular cleaning routine helps prevent the buildup of creosote. This can be accomplished by sweeping your chimney at least once every year. It is also recommended that you have your fireplace and stove professionally cleaned and examined at least year.
It is also an excellent idea to clean the ash tray and grate it regularly. It is recommended to use only wood that is seasoned for burning, as it will create less creosote and less ash. Avoid burning cardboard, paper and plastic. These items could release dangerous chemicals into the air and flue which can be released into your home.
It is also important to clean the glass of the wood-burning stove regularly. A lot of modern wood stoves are designed with self-cleaning glass, which means that they do not require any cleaning.