Complete Guide on How to Use a Wood Stove

Have you just bought a wood stove and have no idea how to use it? Well, this guide is going to help you out: here, you will learn everything you need to know about making and keeping the fire in the wood stove. Find more details and the best tips down below.

Step 1: Making a Fire

The first step is always to start the fire. It is not going to be hard to do, but still, there are a few important steps that should be considered whenever you are working on starting a fire. Here is a quick list of things you should do to make sure everything is done correctly:

1. Read the instructions carefully. Every wood stove will include the directions from the manufacturer. Before using your wood stove, you should first read the instructions and make sure that you understand how it works. If there is no manual coming with your stove, you should check the website of the company that manufactured your stove to make sure that you understand how to do it right.

   

2. Get some kindling. This will require a few pieces of wood and some newspapers that will be made into small balls. You should place the latter ones in the center of the fire and put on top of that a few pieces of kindling.
3. Open all controls. This will provide the stove with the resource of oxygen that’s needed to keep the fire going. Most stoves have a few levels that will help the owner allow more oxygen into the stove.
4. Choose fuel. The right kind of fuel for your wood stove will be seasoned wood. It shouldn’t be fresh since usually, fresh wood contains a lot of water. Softwood and hardwood are both good for this purpose. If you don’t have an opportunity to dry out the wood so it would serve as fuel for you, you can go to the garden center or even a grocery store to look for the proper wood there.
5. Start the fire. You can use matches or lighter to do that. Start lighting the fire with the paper in the back moving forward: this way, you won’t get burnt. Don’t forget to leave the door to the wood stove open for at least a few minutes: your fire should get enough fresh air.
6. Add a few logs. It can be done only after the kindling has already started burning. Add only one at a time, and remember to stack them.

Step 2: Keeping the Fire

Even if the fire is burning well, it doesn’t mean that it will go well for too long. You should also make sure that your fire keeps burning and doesn’t just disappear in a few minutes. Here is how you can do it:

1. Close the door. You should open the door only once. After that, the only time that it would be open is when you add more wood. The opened door will result in a loss of heat, so you have to make sure that the doors are not opened at all times. The only case when it’s allowed is when you open the door for adding more wood to the stove.
2. Reduce the amount of air. It is important to prevent too much air from getting into the stove since otherwise, the fire will burn out too quickly. But still, you should not close the second air valve.

   

3. Add bigger logs. This will keep the fire burning for a longer time. Still, it should not be more than 5 pieces. Adding too much wood causes the fire to smother and smoke to appear.
4. Take care of your safety. Keeping the fire is easy, but you should not forget about your safety whenever you use the stove. You should not put any materials and objects that are easily lit and will burn out quickly when it’s near the fire. You should also make sure that none of your pets or kids get too close to the fire. It would also be a good idea to get a fire extinguisher and put it near the wood stove or at least not far from it.

Use Your Wood Carefully and with Ease

As you can see, there is nothing complicated in using a wood stove. However, you should remember about cleaning it from time to time. You should also do an annual inspection of the stove to make sure that it’s completely clean and works flawlessly.

To do that, you should hire a professional chimney sweep, who will get it done with the clean-up in just a few hours. Also, last but not least: you should clean out the ashes after every time you’ve used your stove.

All these tips are straightforward, so don’t forget about them after getting a wood stove.