Wood Stove Use
How to Use a Wood Stove
Proper maintenance, balanced air flow, and the use of quality wood will ensure the cottage wood stove works efficiently and safely.
Wood Stove Operation
Efficiency is the main objective when using a wood stove to heat the cabin. You want to keep as much heat as possible in the cabin while allowing the stove to operate correctly and safely.
For the wood stove to work properly, the fire has to have a constant supply of oxygen, and the resultant exhaust gases must escape through the chimney efficiently.
The chimney is fully responsible for drawing out the smoke. In order for it to do this properly, the chimney must be high enough and hot enough to create an adequate draft.
The amount of air or draft that feeds the fire affects how fast the fire burns. This is why a fire flares up when you fan it.
Excess air will cause the fire to burn too quickly, and not enough air will cause the fire to starve and not burn hot enough.
The intake air is controlled by draft registers located near the bottom of the wood stove. Opening them allows more air to be drawn in. Closing them reduces the amount of air that is pulled by the chimney to feed the fire.
The pipe that comes directly out of the wood stove is the flue pipe. Every flue pipe has a damper installed in it which is a simple metal plate used to control the rate of the draft. By twisting the handle you can open or close the damper to increase or restrict the draw of the chimney.
Finding the most efficient operation of the wood stove requires adjusting both the flue damper and the draft registers.
How to Start the Wood Stove Fire on a Cold Morning
Open the draft screws and the flue damper fully. Start the fire and let it build up and burn for about fifteen minutes. Once the wood stove is good and hot, adjust the draft screws and the flue damper to regulate air flow and consequently the fire’s size and burning rate to provide the desired amount of heat.
Quality Of The Firewood
You want to get the most heat possible from the least amount of wood.
Hardwood trees have a greater density than softwood trees, and given an equivalent moisture content, will produce more heat and burn more slowly.
Moisture content also has an effect on the efficiency of the firewood. As wood burns, a portion of the energy that is produced is used to boil off the water in the wood. This reduces the heat that can be used to heat the cottage.
Wood that is properly seasoned but not rotten provides the most heat.
Wood that is “green” has a higher water content. Trees that have been recently cut down are considered green wood.
Wood that is rotten or “punky” has very low density, burns quickly and produces little heat.
See the Firewood Tips page for more information on selecting the best wood for the wood stove.
Wood Stove Maintenance
Don’t let the ashes build up too high. They will eventually block the air intake from the draft registers.
Leave about an inch of ashes in the bottom of the wood stove during the burning season. This provides an extra layer of insulation between the fire and the bottom of the stove.
Inspect the chimney for damage every year.
Wood Stove Safety
Always install a new wood stove according to the manufacturer’s specifications.
Keep all combustibles away from the wood stove.
Chimney Fires
Burning pine or burning wood at low temperatures in weak fires results in a build-up of creosote or tar along the inner walls of the flue pipe and chimney. In the event of a very large or hot fire, these tar build-ups can ignite and cause a potentially disastrous chimney fire.
Take care to keep the fires in the wood stove at a medium level.
In the event of a chimney fire, even a minor one, do not use the wood stove again until the flue and chimney have been inspected for damage.
Special Tips
Keep a living room window opened just a crack to provide a source of intake air. This allows a positive air pressure situation to be maintained and will help avoid a negative pressure “stack effect” where outside air is pulled down the chimney because another suitable source of air isn’t available.
Open the wood stove door slowly when adding more wood. If the door is opened too quickly the large rush of oxygen into the stove may cause the fire to create a small burst or flare up by igniting existing gases in the stove that have not burned off or vented out the chimney. To avoid this, open the draft registers slowly to allow the fire to stabilize before adding more wood.
If the fire usually burns well but sometimes gets really smoky or has trouble burning properly, especially on windy days, it may be caused by the wind conditions. If the chimney is lower than a nearby tree, building or another part of the cottage roof, the wind effectively falls down onto the chimney after passing over the other obstacle. In this case it causes a small down draft which inhibits the operation of the chimney stack. You may have to extend the height of the chimney if the situation is persistent.
Firewood Log Rack
Keep the firewood neat and tidy while adding some charm to the room.
Recommended Reading:
Loading ...