If you are the proud owner of a new wood stove these 10 tips will help you get the most efficiency and enjoyment out of it. I’ve been heating with wood for 6 years now and my experience has run the gamut, from filling the house with smoke, buying green wood, running out of wood, and finally cutting my heating bills by 60%. It has been a wild ride but I wouldn’t have it any other way (okay maybe I could have done without filling the house with smoke).
10 Wood Stove Tips
- Use Seasoned Wood- If you want to get the most efficiency out of your wood stove, using well seasoned wood is a must. Nothing is more frustrating than staring at a low smokey fire that isn’t putting out nearly enough heat. The smudged glass and smokey smell in the house is a tell tale sign that your wood is sub par.
- Learn how to use your stove properly- There is more to heating with a wood stove than just buying a stove and lighting a fire. Figuring out the proper amount of air and wood will help you wring the most out of your stove.
- Get a Thermometer for the stove- A thermometer
will help you know where your fire is at. It isn’t good to have too hot of a fire or too low of a fire. Too hot and you run the risk of starting a chimney fire, too low and you’ll build up potentially dangerous creosote.
- A Shop Vac is your friend- Shoveling out cold ash can be a dirty job. Get a HEPA Filter
for your shop vac and keep that stove nice and clean.
- Learn to do your own Spring Cleaning- Don’t be afraid to clean your own stove out. It isn’t that hard, a properly sized chimney brush will clean out your chimney in a just a few strokes and you’ll save yourself a some dough. Pay special attention to the mesh on the chimney cap, this is what got clogged on me, and ended up filling the house with smoke.
- Find a reputable wood supplier- I’m a big fan of harvesting my own wood, but there are sometimes you might need to buy. Wood suppliers are notorious for delivering green wood or cord shorting. Find someone you can trust for those times you might be running low.
- Don’t be afraid to ask- It might be embarrassing the first time, but there is nothing wrong with asking a tree guy just what they are doing with the wood. Some tree services will actually drop off wood at your house for free since they will have to pay to dump it.
- A quality chainsaw is a sound investment- If you are going to commit to heating with a wood stove, a good saw will be worth it’s cost. Quality saws cut faster and with less strain on the user. They will last for many years if properly taken care of.
- Welding Gloves are awesome- Welding Gloves
are a nice cheap item to have around. They let you reach into the stove without fear of getting burnt. In a pinch you can handle a burning log, but not for long!
- Safety isn’t for wusses- There is no shame in having a Smoke Detector and a Carbon Monoxide detector. When you have a wood stove you are accepting that you will have 400 pounds of blazing hot steel sitting in your living room. Exercise some caution and respect, for it and your family.
Those are my 10 Tips for wood stoves. Can you think of anymore? Leave a comment below and let me know!
If you liked this you might also like: I’m not crazy! I heat with wood!!!
And check out Hearth.com for all you might ever want to know about heating with wood.
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If you are going to cut your own wood (a huge savings) invest in chaps, my dad nearly hacked off his leg (maybe a slight exageration) even after cutting his own firewood for 40 yrs
Good idea! Personal safety is important.
Chaps, “Cheaper Than A Co-Pay”.
Definitely an oversight on my part!
Most wood stoves come with an ash pan. Its a good idea to empty the ash pan at least every other day. I have a metal barrel with a lid outside the house to dump the ashes in. When the weather gets warm enough that you dont need to use the stove, thats a good time to clean it throughly. If the cap does not have the mesh then make sure you check the flu pipe before using again. Birds like to build nest in the flu pipe. Also, its worth the extra money to buy the insulated pipe if you run your flu pipe straight up and through the roof. You cant beat wood heat. Its the best.
Good advice! We love our wood stove, nothing warms you to the bones like wood heat.
Also consider types of wood, hard woods for long slow burn,and softer woods for getting your fire up to temp. Stay away from pines.
I’m in the Northeast and luckily we have a mostly oak and maple to burn. What kinds are you burning?
Hi. I moved up north a little over two yes ago. The cost of gas has been shocking, especially this yr when there was a shortage and the price doubled. I’ve been told to get a dual pellet/wood stove. Any thoughts on using one of these. Thank you for your post. Very helpful tips.
Do NOT let anyone tell you that you are “increasing your carbon footprint” by heating with wood. A tree that decomposes on the floor of the forest releases the same amount of carbon that it does when burned. The smoke of burned wood contains fewer corrosive chemicals, like sulfer (which causes acid rain), than the coal that produces 90% of our electricity. If you don’t burn green wood or treated or painted wood, and your stove is efficient, you are more green than elec heat.
Decomposing wood does not release carbon into the air, it goes back into the soil to nourish the forest. Not the same as burning it. That being said, burning wood is by far more eco friendly than burning petroleum products or coal.
Here is a list of BTU by wood type. The higher the BTU value of the wood, the less wood that you need to burn to heat your home.
http://www.outdoor-wood-furnace-boiler.com/wood_species_BTUs.htm
Excellent resource! Thanks for sharing.
I too love wood heat. And you give some great advice here. But, what about the particulate content, and its various deleterious health effects on oneself and one’s community, of wood smoke?
Dear Jefffrey, decomposing wood does release carbon into the air in the form of CO2. Micro-organisms break down the carbon-carbon bonds and the by product is CO2.
I have been burning wood all my life, am 68 now, and have never had a chimney fire or cleaned my chimneys. Most all my wood is Doug Fir, but would like more Maple but it is hard to come by. I still cut my wood and keep at least 3 years worth at all times. Wood is dry when time to fire up. I burn hot for a couple hours then dampen down. I do this for several fillings then get it hot again then fill for the night on a hot bed of coals, usually 2-3 inches deep. My fires are smokeless by and large because of hot fire and dry wood. I do check my chimney for build up but has never happened. Keep a good draft and hot fire in stove when you are around. I do burn 5-7 cord a year, depending on weather conditions. I also never completely clean my fire box of ash and I have never had to replace fire brick on the bottom of box. Leave at least an inch or two so the fire will stay warmer when it starts to cool down before refilling and protect the fire brick on the bottom of fire box. First thing in the morning if there is some coals left get a good hot fire going by burning smaller wood and that hot first fire will clean the chimney out, has always worked for me. Another thing is to never burn anything but clean wood. Plastic in any form will cause clogged chimneys. I have helped replace other peoples chimneys and they do burn garbage stuff and so have had chimney fires. So keep it simple, burn dry wood, burn hot fires, and no garbage and you will have a warm no worry warmth.
Best advice given; burn hot fires. Why let it smolder and build up creosote in the chimney?
I have two neighbors who suffocate their fires “to make it last all night” and they have both had chimney fires. Not me. Nothing to clean out of my chimney each year. It’s either HOT or NOT fire for me.
My stove is a iron boxwood stove I keep rounds that are the size of the fat end of a baseball bat to just a bit larger than a coffee can. I like to burn un-split rounds about the size of a coffee can. Many of them will check with a large crack when they are ready. Burn the rounds when you already have a nice bed of coals put a small split or round in first then a large round on top I can get 6+ hours out of round oak. Dogwood round burns the longest but the smoke smells the worse. When you cut your own firewood and you get a large trunk keep the heart woods in a separate stack and season it the longest it keeps much better than sap wood that has bark on it. Well seasoned heartwood produces the least amount of smoke.
I burned wood for over 30 years to offset my electric heating bills. Saved every month about 70% . Last year I said enough no more fire wood for me,too dirty, buggy and getting to old for the physical work involved. So I researched coal stoves good and bad qualitys. No brainier bought a stove for the size of my home. I have the coal delivered at a reasonable
price. Still learning the stove but love the ease of heating my home, 1/2 the work and
cleaner. No chimney fires to worry about.. Wood is good but coal is better..
It’s good idea to check the seals on your glass front and door every couple of months. The door seals if leaking might release CO into your room, and if the glass seals are leaking, it upsets the air flow of the fire and reduces the efficiency of the fire.
Just changed the seals on mine and made a huge improvement.
Also fitted a heat driven fan on top of my fire which helps circulate the hot air in the room, which made another improvement!