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How to Properly Start a Wood Burning Stove Wood stoves can be an excellent option to conserve energy and heat the room. However, they require a certain amount of maintenance. Many modern wood stoves comply with EPA emission guidelines. Look for an EPA sticker either under or on the grate, to ensure that your stove won't produce many harmful pollutants. How to Start a Wood Fire The smell and sound of a fire can be a welcome addition in any house. It's essential to understand how to build a fire on your stove. antique wood burning stove may lead to an unburned fire that doesn't burn well, and may produce smoke or creosote. The following tips will help you begin a fire that is safe and will heat up your home quickly and effectively. Make sure to check the condition of your coals and logs before you begin an fire. If they are too wet, they will smother the flame and stop it from burning properly. You might also want to open the flue to let out any ash that has been deposited into the stove. Begin by placing a few small, dry newspaper pieces in your stove. This will help to ignite the tinder and ignite the kindling. Once the tinder and kindling have started to burn, you can put the larger kindling pieces on top. This should be done using a crosshatch design so that there is air between each piece. If you have a wood stove with an automatic combustion control, it will automatically feed a controlled stream of air to your fire as it builds. This will allow the fire to burn for a long time without having to open the door of your stove often to keep it in check. It's important to avoid using excessive tinder as this could result in the fire burning at an excessive rate and doesn't utilize the fuel as efficiently as it can. If antique wood burning stove have a solid bed of tinder and kindling in your stove, start the main fire by laying two large base logs across the grill. 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 a long-lasting, efficient fire that doesn't consume larger logs from the base. When your fire is established Close the damper and keep it shut. Opening the damper too soon can cause the fire smother and will not allow for the correct air flow, which can decrease the efficiency of the fire. Add Wood Stoves aren't only beautiful pieces of home decor they can also help you save money by supplying efficient wood heat. They can be used in conjunction with a central heating system or furnace to provide supplemental heat in large homes. A lot of the clean burning stoves that are available use advanced combustion technology that is able to separate the burning volatile compounds from combustible gasses and tar. This is achieved by providing air at 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 the process of combustion and helps to reduce the smell. The amount of heat that you will get from your stove will depend on the kind of wood used and the amount of moisture as well as the size of the logs. To allow the wood to dry, logs should be stored in a ventilated space for a few months prior to burning. If the logs have excessive moisture, they will produce steam which is essentially wasted energy. During the burning of the fire, you should add more wood to the stack at intervals, not all at one time. In addition, adding too much wood all at once could cause the temperature to rise in the firebox, causing the formation of a vortex that pulls smoke and volatile compounds that have not been burned back into flames. This can reduce the effectiveness of your stove. Avoid using other combustibles inside your stove, like cardboard or paper, 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 because they have a very different physical and chemical composition from real firewood, and are not approved for use in wood burning stoves. It is essential that you have a professional install and test your wood stove. A certified WETT technician can test your stove to ensure it is safe and functional. They will also check that your chimney works correctly. They also provide maintenance services to keep your chimney and stove in top condition. They can look for leaks in the areas connected to your chimney, and fix any issues they discover. They will also ensure that the residents of the house understand and comply with the fire evacuation procedures in case of an emergency. Adjusting the Damper If you're not using your stove, a damper controls how much heat is lost through the chimney. In addition to this it can also help you control the fire. If the flue is not open but the damper is too closed, the fire will not burn as efficiently and it will billow out smoke into your living space. To ensure that you get the best fire with the damper properly adjusted, you have to play around with different locations and observe how each affects the flames. Typically, you should keep the damper open enough to let air in and out of the flue when a fire is burning. This will allow the fire to start and remain lit for a number of hours. The right opening will also keep the fire from being 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 is preheated and the wood stove is hot. This will ensure that the chimney is warm, and that it has a good draft. Once these are done the wood stove damper can be adjusted. After the fire has smolder slightly, you need to shut the damper down to about three-quarters of its original position. This will stop the warm air in the room from escaping into the chimney, but still allowing smoke to escape. This is the most effective way to ensure that your fire is lit and keep it from getting too hot. If you shut the damper too far it may stop the draft from working, but should it be too open a cold breeze could blow into your home. By placing your hands on the top of the flue pipe will show you how much the damper has opened. If you feel a small breeze pushing against your hand The damper is most likely to be open. The damper settings may differ between stoves and even between different kinds of wood. You can play around with different settings to get an idea of the best setting for your stove. Clean Up It is essential to clean your chimney and stove after an incident. This will reduce the risk of an ensuing fire in the chimney which is the main reason for fires caused by wood stoves. Creosote is a sticky material that accumulates on the inside of the stovepipe and can be very dangerous. It is caused by the moisture and wood particles that are not burned that are unable to escape the fire. It can be caused by improperly lit fires. Regular cleaning can help prevent creosote buildup. The most effective method for doing this is by sweeping the chimney at least once a year. It is also recommended that you have your stove and fireplace professionally cleaned and inspected at least once a year. It is also an excellent idea to clean out the ash tray and grate regularly. It is best to only burn wood that has been seasoned because it produces less creosote. Avoid burning cardboard, paper and plastic. These materials can release harmful chemicals to the flue and air, that could end up in your home. The glass that is used on the wood burning stove needs to be regularly cleaned too. The majority of modern wood stoves have self-cleaning windows so they don't require as 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. Some other helpful tips for maintaining your wood stove include turning the vent off when you're not using it and cracking the door or window to increase the flow of air. This will ensure that the fire is burning hotter, and more efficiently. The wood stove won't have to perform as hard to circulate air. It is also a good idea not stack logs or leave them in the fire for long periods of time as this can lead to warping and splitting. It is recommended to avoid using compressed combustible wood in your wood stove as the paraffin contained within them can melt and flow into the flue, which could cause damage.