How to Use a Small Wood Burning Stove
Using a small wood burning stove can provide comfortable warmth to your home, significantly lower utility heating bills and provide the security of heating and cooking backup systems in the case of an emergency. By practicing a few simple procedures, it is easy to learn how to light and maintain a fire in your stove. Does this Spark an idea?
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Things You'll Need
- Wood stove, in good repair
- Newspaper
- Matches or grill lighter
- Kindling or fatwood
- Small logs, up to 2 inches diameter
- Larger logs
- Metal container for ashes (optional)
Instructions
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Check to see that your chimney is clean and in good repair. Open the chimney damper, if there is one. Open the stove's damper all the way, if your stove has one, otherwise open any other flaps or adjustments to allow for maximum air flow when starting the stove. Also check that the tray for holding ashes is empty in order not to impede airflow from side openings. If your stove has a grate to hold the fire above the bottom of the stove, clean the grate to allow for the air to easily pass through.
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Crumple up several sheets of newspaper into loose balls. Do not use glossy paper for starting fires, because it does not catch fire as easily as the newsprint pages. Arrange the crumpled paper into a nest covering at least three quarters of the bottom of your stove. Add small sticks or pieces of kindling wood that will catch fire easily on top of the paper. Use fatwood or the compressed firestarter sticks if your kindling might be damp and need a boost to catch fire.
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Use a match or long handled grill lighter to ignite the paper, which will in turn ignite the kindling. Add three or four well seasoned, dry firewood logs of approximately 1 to 2 inches in diameter above the lit kindling. Wear long-cuffed fireproof gloves when working with your small wood stove. Make note of the length of firewood that your stove's firebox can hold and never exceed that length.
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Add logs of increasing diameter as the previously added firewood begins to burn and form red coals. Be sure to keep an ample bed of coals in order to keep your fire going. Observe the burn time and amount of heat created from the different types of wood you use. Select those that best meet your needs without exceeding them. Continue to add wood as needed.
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Control the heat produced and the duration of your fire by narrowing any air flaps, stove dampers or chimney dampers. Take care not to choke too much air from your fire or the flames will die down and your fire will begin to smolder and produce copious amounts of smoke. Slow the airflow carefully to the minimum amount needed to maintain your fire. Avoid maximum airflow unless you need the hottest fire possible.
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A bed of hot coals is essential for maintaining a steady temperature. Remove ash from your stove periodically to maintain airflow and space. Scrape ashes from a small stove with no removable ash tray after the fire has burned out or use gloves to remove the ash tray during operation. Discard ashes in a safe place where remaining embers cannot reignite and where the ashes cannot come into contact with water or rain, which could cause the formation of lye, a very caustic chemical.
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Tips & Warnings
Use only well seasoned (aged), dry hardwood firewood to get the most heat.
Mix long burning, low heat and quick burning, high heat producing logs to even out the temperatures over a period of time.
Wood heat removes much of the moisture in the air. Many people keep a pot of water simmering on top of their stove to add some moisture back into the room's air.
Have your wood stove and chimney inspected frequently by a certified professional. Your local fire department may be able to recommend someone.
Never permit children to play near a burning wood stove.
Always wear protective gloves when adding wood or removing the ash tray from a burning wood stove.
References
Resources
- Photo Credit Old Stove and Antique Chair image by bawinner from Fotolia.com burning woods in fireplace image by Alena Yakusheva from Fotolia.com
