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Watch This: How Stove Wood Burning Is Taking Over And What We Can Do About It How to Properly Start a Wood Burning Stove Wood stoves are a comfortable way to heat a room and also save energy. However, they require some level of maintenance. Many modern wood stoves comply with EPA emission guidelines. You can check for an EPA sticker on the grate or beneath it to ensure your stove doesn't release harmful pollutants. How to Start a Wood Fire The scent and sound of a woodfire can be an excellent addition to any house. It's important to know how to build an effective fire on your stove. Improper techniques can result in an unburned fire that doesn't burn effectively and can cause creosote or smoke. These tips will help you begin a safe fire that can heat your home quickly and effectively. Before you begin a fire, you should check the condition of your coals and logs. If they are too wet they will choke the fire and prevent it from burning properly. You might want to open the chimney to get rid of any ash that falls into the stove. Begin by putting a handful of small, dry pieces of newspaper into your stove. This will help to ignite the tinder and ignite the kindling. Once the tinder and kindling are beginning to ignite, you can add an additional layer of larger pieces on the top. This should be done using the crosshatch pattern to ensure that there is air between each piece. If you own a wood stove that has an automatic combustion control that will automatically deliver an air stream that is controlled to the fire as it builds. This will allow the fire to burn at a consistent pace without the need to open the stove's doors to keep it in check. It's important to avoid using too much tinder, as this can lead to an unburned fire that burns at an extremely high rate and fails to make use of the fuel as efficiently as it could. 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 logs of the base on the grate. Then, on the top of these base logs, place a layer perpendicularly to them. This method of creating a fire called a "top-down" fire will result in an effective and long-lasting fire that will not engulf the larger base logs. Close the damper after the fire is established, and keep it closed. If you open the damper too early, it can cause the fire smother and will not allow for the proper airflow, which will lower the effectiveness of the fire. Adding Wood Stoves can be used to efficiently heat your home and also save you money. They can be utilized together with central heating systems or furnace to provide supplemental heating for large houses. A lot of the clean-burning stoves on the market employ a superior combustion process that differentiates the burning of volatile compounds from combustible gasses and tar by supplying air in two different stages. The first stage allows the vaporization of the volatile compounds and the second stage supplies fresh air that has been pre-heated. This improves combustion and decreases smells. The amount of heat that you can get from a stove is contingent upon the species and the moisture content of the wood you use as well as the size of the logs. To allow the wood to dry, logs must be kept in a ventilated area for a couple of months prior to burning. If the logs have too much moisture, they will create steam which is essentially wasted power. While you're burning the fire, add more wood to the stack at intervals, and not all at one time. In addition, adding too much wood at once can cause the temperature of the firebox to rise, and produces a vortex that sucks smoke and unburnt volatile compounds back into the flame which can reduce the efficiency of your stove. You should avoid the use of any other combustibles, like cardboard or paper in your stove, since they are not wood and have very different physical properties and cannot be burned without creating dangerously high temperatures and excessive emissions. 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 suitable for burning in wood burning stoves. If you are installing a wood burning stove in your home, it's crucial to have it installed and tested by a professional. A certified WETT technician will test the installation for proper operation and safety, as well as ensure that your chimney is operating correctly. They also provide maintenance services to keep your stove and chimney in tip-top shape. They can inspect the areas accessible to your chimney to determine if there is leakage and repair any problems found. They will also ensure that the occupants of the home understand and follow the evacuation procedure in case of an accident. Adjusting the Damper A damper controls how much heat escapes to the chimney when you're not using your stove. It can also be used to regulate the flame. If the flue is open but the damper is not closed, the fire will not burn properly and smoke will erupt into your home. You can adjust the damper to ensure the best flames by experimenting with different locations. It is important to keep your damper open to allow air to be able to enter and exit the flue when a flame is burning. This will let the fire start and stay lit for several hours. The right opening will also stop the fire from becoming starved of air and prevent it from blowing out smoke. To adjust your damper properly, you must first ensure that the fireplace is preheated and the wood stove is hot. This will ensure that the chimney stays warm and has good draft. After that, the damper for wood stoves can be adjusted. After the fire has been burning for some time, you need to close the damper approximately three quarters of the way. This will stop the warm air from the room from getting into the chimney, but still permitting smoke to escape. This is the most effective way to stop the fire from becoming too hot, while also keeping it burning. The draft may be stopped if one closes the damper too far, but a cold wind could enter your home in the event that the damper is left open. Holding your hand at the top of the flue pipe will tell you how much the damper has sunk. If wood burner stoves can feel a small draft pressing against your hand, it is probably in the open position. The damper settings can differ from one stove to another 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 essential to clean your chimney and stove after the start of a fire. This can reduce the chance of an explosion in the chimney, which is the primary cause of fires caused by wood stoves. Creosote, a sticky substance that can build up inside the stovepipe, is extremely hazardous. Unburned and moist particles of wood that cannot escape the fire are responsible for this chemical. It can be caused by improperly lit fires. Regular cleaning helps to stop the buildup of creosote. This can be done by cleaning your chimney once a year. It is also recommended to have your stove and fireplace professionally cleaned and examined at least every year. It is also an excellent idea to clean the ash tray and grate it regularly. It is best to only burn wood that has been seasoned, as it will produce less creosote. Avoid burning paper, cardboard and plastic. These materials can release harmful chemicals to the air and flue, which could be released in your home. It is also essential to wash the glass of the wood stove regularly. A lot of modern wood stoves are made with self-cleaning glass, which means they do not require much cleaning. You can use stove glass cleaners on the window if you're able get the glass as clean as you want on your wood stove. Other tips to maintain your wood stove include lowering the vent when you're not using it, and cracking windows or doors to increase airflow. This keeps the fire burning more hot and efficiently. The wood stove won't have to perform as hard to circulate air. It is a good idea not to stack logs or place them on the fire for an extended time. This could cause splitting and warping. Finally, it is best to avoid using compressed combustible logs in your wood stove, because the paraffin in them can melt and then flow down the flue which could cause damage.
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