Wood Burning Stoves Advice
Benjamin Franklin invented the first successful wood stove. Prior to this the only main building heating source was the highly inefficient fireplace. The double-doored, cast iron Franklin stove used a pipe to carry the smoke out of the dwelling, allowing it to be placed almost anywhere for comfort. All modern wood-burning stoves follow many of the same principals. Does this Spark an idea?
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Follow Instructions
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Every wood burning stove has its individual user's instructions which manufacturers include with the stove under the expectation that the consumer will read and follow them. The instructions detail the best settings for the flue and how to properly load the stove. Not understanding, or following, the instructions will lead to poor inefficiency and possibly a dangerous situation with a house fire.
Choosing Firewood
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Choose the proper wood for the stove. Shorter, smaller-diameter pieces are better than large chunks that have a hard time catching alight. The wood needs proper seasoning for at least a year and the stove takes mostly hotter burning hardwoods such as oak or fruit wood.
Softer woods such as willow and cotton tree will give less heat and burn faster but they are adequate if it is all you have. Save pine to split into small pieces to use as starting kindling. Do not over-stuff the stove as this cuts off the necessary air circulation and gives a poor fire.
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Maintanance
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A clean, well-working stove is a safe stove. A stove or exhaust pipe that you have not been cleaned in years of use is a fire waiting to happen. Hardware and fireplace stores sell special equipment to clean the insides of the flue and exhaust or you can hire a professional chimney sweep.
You should clean the whole system every year if you use it heavily. The stove and all attached equipment need thorough inspection for wear and tear and damage, at the beginning, middle and end of the heating season. Metal rusts eventually and allowing a small hole to continue unnoticed is very dangerous.
Cooking
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Experimenting with cooking on a wood stove gives a glimpse back to the days of the early years of the country. Simple recipes that can stand a wider range of temperatures are best to try. Precise temperature control over any period of time is very difficult with a wood stove. Rice, beans and soups are easy to make and can use the residual heat of the stove to stay warm for the next days leftovers. When using the stove for cooking it is better not to use any pine to avoid an "off taste" to the food.
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