If you’re new to wood burning stoves or are planning to make the switch from another heater type to wood stoves, you’ve come to the right place. It might seem simple and straightforward but you may have trouble operating one if you have no prior experience.
Below is a detailed guide on how to use a wood-burning stove, how to effectively circulate heat from your wood stove, and some additional tips to make the most out of your wood stove!
With these tips, you’ll be a pro at using wood stoves in no time.
Why Choose a Wood Burning Stove?
A wood burning stove will provide effective and efficient heat. They don’t require electricity and power to operate and heat up your home. Unlike other heating systems, you won’t have to worry about keeping in the midst of a power outage.
While starting your own fire may be daunting and time-consuming, especially for beginners, it offers a fulfilling feeling once you get it done.
Also, nothing beats heating your home after much effort on your end. Wood-burning stoves not only provide warmth and heat, it feels relaxing, cozy, and quite home-y. Having one right at home feels like you’re out camping all day, everyday for the rest of the winter season.
Wood-burning stoves for your health
While smoke and inhaling fumes from burning wood can cause coughing and difficulty in breathing, well-maintained and well-functioning wood stoves don’t pose such risks to people’s health.
New wood burning stoves are now much more efficient and prevent health risks, making them safer for family homes, even for those who do not do well with inhaling smoke.
Wood-burning stoves for the environment
Releasing smoke into the environment seems like the wrong thing to do. It is, of course, when done the wrong way.
Wood-burning stoves are definitely a green and low carbon alternative to other fossil fuel heating systems available today. When we burn wood from trees, we produce carbon dioxide (CO2) as a byproduct. When this gets released into the air, trees absorb and use them to grow. This allows for no increase in CO2 gasses in the environment because something eventually drinks them up.
Ensuring you only get and use local, sustainably-sourced wood makes for even a more greener choice. Using dry wood instead of green wood is with a wood burning stove. Burning green wood offers more dangers to the environment due to its high moisture content.
How to Use a Wood Burning Stove
Using a wood stove to heat up your home is not an easy task. Just from starting the fire, it would require patience and plenty of trial and error.
For the best how-to on using wood-burning stoves, we’ve got all that outlined right below!
- Prepare the stove
Before you start anything, you need to prepare your wood stove first.
Do this by removing and clearing out ash from the previous fire you started. But for a better fire and better heat performance, leave about an inch of ash from that previous fire. This will further insulate the fire and offer better heat.
Lightly crunch and ball up a few pieces of newspaper (or any kind of paper) and place them on the stove’s fire bed. Add some bits of small dry kindling on the fire bed as well.
As part of the preparation, make sure all air vents are fully opened so air can move freely and will help start the fire better.
- Start the fire
Now that you’ve got the stove ready, it’s time to light and start a fire.
Start a fire in the fire bed with firelighters or with a paper lit on fire. Wait for the crumpled papers and dry kindling to catch fire.
Close the stove door and wait as it ignites.
- Give it good air circulation
Keep all controllable air vents completely open to allow for good air circulation. You need the circulation when starting a fire.
If you have the stove’s glass door closed but you find that the fire struggles to keep going, crack it open for at least a few minutes, just enough time to give the fire more air.
- Gradually add larger pieces of wood
As soon as you see the fire burning well, you can now add larger pieces of wood to sustain it.
Do this gradually and slowly. First start with smaller logs and add them into the stove. Move on to larger pieces once the fire is stable. If you add too much wood too fast, the logs might smother the fire you worked hard on building.
As you keep adding wood logs and keeping the fire at a steady pace, you can also start reducing air flow by slowly closing the air vents.
- Keep the fire going
To keep the fire going throughout, monitor your wood stove.
Check to see if there is still wood fuel to burn. Add a log or two to keep the stove burning but never overfeed.
Remember, reduce air flow only when you see that the fire is doing well. In the same way, if you notice the fire is struggling to keep burning, increase its air supply.
How to Circulate Heat from Wood Stove
Though wood stoves are an effective heating system, you might find it having trouble distributing heat to the rest of the house. To circulate heat from your wood stove, keep on reading below:
Stove placement
Where you place your wood stove contributes to how it can circulate heat around. It’s best to place the wood stove down below like in your basement. Warm air rises so if placed in lower levels, it will rise and circulate heat to rooms above it.
Use fans
Fans are also reliable to distribute and circulate heat to the rest of the house. Simply install a fan near the stove and let it push the warm air to the rest of the house.
Air duct system
If possible, you can connect your stove to your home’s central air duct system. This will ensure the heat from the stove is distributed throughout the house. This is especially useful if you have a multi-story house.
Make the Most Out of Your Wood Stove
Get the most out of your wood-burning stove with these quick tips to keep in mind:
- Use dry, seasoned wood only and stay away from soft, freshly-cut wood.
- Though it’s important to insulate your home, keep windows slightly cracked. This will help with ventilation and help circulate heat.
- Keep interior doors open to warm rooms up.
- Periodically add one or two logs into the stove but never overfeed it.
- Properly circulate air inside the stove.
- Starting the fire takes time so – be patient!
Conclusion
Wood-burning stoves are a popular heating system across many households. They provide efficient heat, they’re a classic, and they don’t require electricity to power up!
If you’re new to wood-burning stoves, you might be at a loss on how to use one. We’ve got all that covered:
- Prepare the stove: Leave about an inch of ash from the previous fire. Place crumpled pieces of paper and dry kindling on the fire bed.
- Start the fire: With firelighters, start and ignite the fire.
- Give it good air circulation: Keep air vents open and crack the door open if fire is struggling.
- Gradually add larger pieces of wood: If fire is stable, gradually add wood logs. Start from smaller pieces and gradually and slowly add bigger pieces in.
- Keep the fire going: Monitor air flow and adjust accordingly. Add a log or two to keep the stove burning.
And that has been our guide on how to use a wood burning stove, how to circulate heat from it, and burning tips!
