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Proper Wood Stove Technique

by Larry Williams

If by this time in the season when you open your stove’s door and smoke pours into the room, the chimney system needs sweeping! With long cold seasons, as this one is, sweeping the chimney 2 times a season is somewhat common.

Don’t ignore this: a clean chimney = good chimney draw (the pull of heat up the chimney) = good heat into the room.

Here are some Do’s & Don’t’s on stove operations, all of which increase heat output or reduce creosote buildup ( cool smoke condenses and forms creosote, which gunks up chimneys AND burns in chimney fires):

Do:

Don’t:

When heating with wood burning stoves, everything physical is heated: the walls, furniture, floors. Takes a bit of time to heat up, but once heated doesn’t take much to maintain the heat. Central heat ONLY heats the air, and your body/senses feel the differences.

**Green wood loses moisture cell layer by cell layer; can be 8 to 18 months to cure properly, depending on wood type (hard woods take longer than soft) and conditions. Cured wood gotten wet can be put around the stove 1 to 4 days and the water can wick out. If burning it you hear HISSING, the wood is way too wet!

Burning green or wet wood can lose up to 40% of the heat value of the wood AND generates damp/cool smoke i.e. a creosote producer.

Hope these tips help in your stove operation and enjoyment.

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