How to Properly Start a Wood Burning Stove
Wood stoves are an excellent option to conserve energy and also heat the room. However, they need an amount of care.
Many modern wood stoves are compliant with EPA emission guidelines. You can check for an EPA sticker on the grate or beneath 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 feature in any house. However, woodburning stoves is important to know the correct method to create a fire on your stove. Improper techniques can result in a fire which does not burn efficiently, and produces creosote or smoke. These tips can help you start an efficient fire that can heat your home quickly and effectively.
Before you begin a fire, check the condition of your logs and coals. If they are too wet they will choke the flame and stop it from burning properly. You may want to open the chimney to eliminate any ash that has fallen into the stove.
Begin by putting a handful of small dry newspaper pieces in the stove. This will help ignite the sparks. When the tinder and the kindling have started to burn, you can add a layer of larger kindling pieces on the top. This should be done using the crosshatch pattern to ensure that there is air between each piece.
If your wood stove is equipped with an automatic control for combustion, it will automatically supply air to the flame as it grows. This will allow the fire to burn at a consistent pace without having to constantly open the stove door to keep it in check.
It is important to not use too much tinder, as this could result in a fire that burns at an extremely high rate and fails to utilize the fuel as efficiently as possible. If you have a solid pile of tinder and some kindling in your stove, you can start the main fire by placing two large base logs on the grill. Then, on the top of these base logs lay a layer parallel to them. This method of creating an ember known as a "top-down" fire will result in a powerful and long-lasting fire that does not completely consume the larger base logs.
Close the damper once the fire is established and keep it closed. Doing this too soon can cause the fire smother and will not allow for the proper air flow, which will reduce its efficiency.
Add Wood
Stoves can be used to efficiently heat your home and also save you money. They can be used on their own or in conjunction with central heating or furnace system to provide the extra heat needed in large homes or houses with a lot of rooms. Many of the new clean-burning stoves on the market employ a superior combustion process that differentiates the burning process of volatile compounds from combustible gases and tar by supplying air in two different stages. The first stage is to aid in the vaporization and the second is to provide fresh air that is pre-heated. This improves combustion and reduces smells.
The amount of heat you can get from your stove will depend on both the species of wood and the amount of moisture in it and the size of the logs. To allow the wood to dry, the logs should be stored in a well ventilated space for a couple of months prior to burning. If the logs are soaked with too much moisture, they will create steam that is in essence wasted power.
It is best to add wood to the pile at intervals and not all at once. In addition, adding too much wood at once could cause the temperature to rise within the firebox, causing a vortex which pulls smoke and volatile compounds that have not been burned back into flames. This could decrease the effectiveness of your stove.
It is recommended to stay clear of other combustibles, like cardboard or paper in your stove, as they are not wood and have very different physical properties that can't be burned safely without creating dangerously high temperatures and excessive emissions. It is not recommended to burn combustibles that are compressed, such as wood briquettes as they are different in chemical and physical composition from firewood. They are also not type-approved to be burned in wood burning stoves.
If you're installing wood-burning stoves into your home, it is crucial to have it installed and tested by a professional. A certified WETT technician will test the installation to ensure proper operation and safety, and also ensure that your chimney is functioning correctly. These professionals offer maintenance services for your stove and chimney to ensure they are in good condition. They can check the accessible areas of your chimney for leaks, and fix any issues that are discovered. They will also ensure that the occupants of your home understand and comply with the fire evacuation guidelines in case in the event of an emergency.
Adjusting the Damper
If you're not using your stove, a damper controls the amount of heat that is lost through the chimney. In addition to this it can also help you control the fire. If the flue opens, but the damper is not closed the fire won't ignite properly and smoke will pour into your home. You can adjust the damper to get the best flames by playing around with different positions.
Typically, you 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 start a fire and keeps it burning so that you can enjoy it for a long time. woodburning stoves will prevent the fire from becoming depleted of air and keep it from blowing smoke.
In order to properly adjust your damper, you have to first make sure the fireplace is heated and the wood stove is hot. This will ensure the chimney is warm, and it also has a strong draft. After this the damper for the wood stove may be adjusted.
Once the fire has burned for a while, you can reduce the damper to around three-quarters of its full position. This will stop the warm air in the room from getting into the chimney, but still allowing smoke to escape.
This is the most effective way to stop the fire from becoming too hot while keeping it lit. If you close the damper too far it could stop the draft from working, but should it be too wide, a cold breeze could enter your home.
You can check to see how much the damper is open by placing your hand on the top of the inside of the flue pipe. If you feel a small draft pushing on your hand it is probably in the open position.
The damper settings can differ a little from one stove to another and even between different types of wood. Playing around with different settings will give you an idea of what you should look for, but you might have to keep adjusting until you get the perfect setting for your stove.
Clean Up
It is crucial to clean your flue and stove after an incident. This can reduce the chance of an explosion in the chimney which is the most common cause of fires caused by wood stoves. Creosote, a sticky material that can build up inside the stovepipe, is extremely dangerous. It is caused by the moisture and wood particles that are not burned that are unable to escape the fire. here are the findings could also be caused by poorly lit fires.
A regular cleaning routine helps keep the buildup of creosote at bay. This can be done by sweeping your chimney once every year. It is recommended that you have your fireplace and stove professionally cleaned and inspected at least once a year.
It is also recommended to clean out the ash tray and grate it regularly. It is best to burn only seasoned wood because it produces less creosote. Avoid burning cardboard, paper and plastic. These items can release dangerous chemicals into the flue and air, which could be released in your home.
It is also necessary to clean the glass of the wood stove on a regular basis. A lot of modern wood stoves have self-cleaning glass, which means they do not require much scrubbing. If you're unable to clean the glass of your wood stove as clean as you would like, there are stove glass cleaners that you can use on the window.
Some other helpful suggestions for maintaining your wood stove are to turn the vent off when you're not using it and slamming windows or doors to allow more air flow. This will help keep the fire burning longer and more efficiently since it will not need to exert as much effort to circulate the air. It is also a good idea not stack logs or leave them in the fire for prolonged durations of time, since this could cause warping and splitting. It is best to avoid using compressed combustible wood in your wood stove since the paraffin that is contained in the wood can melt and then flow into the flue, which could cause damage.