by William Remski

Created on: December 14, 2010   Last Updated: December 15, 2010

Wood stoves are designed to contain fires with limited air supply and good heat conduction to the surrounding room. Before starting a fire in a wood stove you should make sure it is in good operating condition. If it is the beginning of the heating season and the stove was used extensively the previous year, the stove and flue pipes should be cleaned. Buildup of creosote in the flue pipes can restrict draft and cause a chimney fire. Take the pipes apart and run a chimney brush of the right size through them. Once everything is clean, put the stove and pipes back together and you are ready for a fire.

Modern airtight wood stoves do not use a grate, the fire is set on the floor of the firebox, directly on the firebrick. In preparation for the heating season, save newspapers without color printing to start the fire. Crumple three sheets of newspaper and place this on the floor of the firebox. Lay on a handful of small twigs and three or four small branches of an inch or less in diameter. This will be the tinder to start the fire. Light the newspaper with a fireplace lighter or match and close the door of the stove, but not completely. Make sure the air control is wide open and let the fire start with an excess of air from the door being cracked open.

When the twigs and branches are going well, open the door and lay on some small splits of firewood. Put these right on top of the burning branches while there is a good flame so they catch quickly. It will take five or ten minutes for these small splits to catch. When the splits are burning and you can see the wood glowing with the beginnings of coals, lay on some larger splits. You want plenty of air when starting the fire so the wood will catch and burn cleanly. Smoldering wood causes creosote to deposit on the flue pipes and throws little heat. Once the larger splits of wood are flaming up nicely and you have coals forming on them you can close the stove door and let the fire burn with the limited air supply for best efficiency.

If you have built the fire properly, the only maintenance you will have to do during the day is to put more split logs on the fire as the wood burns down to coals. One indication that the fire needs more wood is that the temperature will go down. All wood stoves should have a magnetic thermometer attached to the flue pipe where it exits the stove. This should read between 300 and 500 degrees Fahrenheit when the stove is operating. If the temperature climbs above 500, shut down the air until the temperature drops to the operating range. When the temperature drops below 300 it is usually time to add more wood. A correctly operated airtight stove runs with little attention. A clean fire leaves little deposits of creosote on the flue pipes.

At the end of the heating day open up the air valve and let the coals burn down overnight. In the morning, if there is too much ash in the stove and the coals are all gone, use a fireplace shovel to clean out the ash. Ash should be placed into a metal bucket, never plastic. There may still be burning coals in the ash that could melt and set a plastic bucket on fire. A good wood stove can heat your entire house, and is good insurance against power failures in cold weather.

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