QA

Question: How To Use A Wood Burning Stove

Should the door be open or closed on a wood burning stove?

Wood burning stoves are not designed to be used with the door open. You can use a wood burning stove with the door open but doing so will lose the control of the air flow into the stove, making it operate less efficiently and sending more heat up the chimney rather than out into the room.

Can you keep a wood stove burning all night?

In an extended fire, you load large pieces of wood into your wood burning stove, tightly packed, so the fire slowly spreads from log to log, extending your burn for 6 to 8 hours or more. You won’t need to reload any time soon. This sort of burn maintains a low, steady heat that can stay burning all night.

What vents should be open on a wood burner?

Most wood burning stoves and multi-fuel stoves have a bottom air vent and a top air vent. Wood burns best with a good bed of ash laid down in the bottom of the stove and an air supply from the top. When lighting your stove, open both air vents fully.

How do you regulate a wood burning stove?

How to Control the Air in a Wood Burning Stove Open both front dampers completely before starting a fire. Place wood in the firebox and light the fire. Allow the fire to burn for between 10 to 30 minutes before adjusting the dampers. Close the front damper slowly and observe the smoke escaping from the chimney.

Do you close the damper on a wood stove?

Close the damper until nearly shut for overnight or maintenance fires, such as when you go out to the supermarket. The minimal airflow allows for smoldering coals and existing smoke to escape through the flue pipe, but not enough airflow for flames and mass consumption of the wood.

Why does my wood stove go out when I close the door?

This can occur due to several factors: The fire was not burning hot enough to produce the draft needed to pull the air into the fireplace. Feed more dry wood kindling before closing down the stove. The wood is not properly seasoned or too big to create the heat necessary to produce draft.

Can a wood stove cause carbon monoxide poisoning?

It’s also the most dangerous and deadly. The direct answer to the question above is: yes. Your gas, pellet or wood burning stove, insert or fireplace will produce carbon monoxide. All heating appliances should be vented to the outside.

Can you leave the door open on a wood burning stove?

The doors of wood burning stoves are not designed to be open. You can use a wood burning stove with the door open, but it will lose control of the air flow into the stove, making it operate less efficiently and sending more heat up the chimney, rather than out into the room.

Can you burn pine in a wood stove?

Perhaps you’ve been told the same thing: don’t burn pine in your fireplace or wood stove. The common explanation is that pine creates a dangerous soot buildup in the chimney, called creosote. While true, it’s not entirely accurate. Pine does have a place in your wood stove or even your fireplace.

Which way opens the flue?

Some open the flue by rotating a knob in the anticlockwise or clockwise direction, while others require you to pull or push to open the flue. You can quickly tell whether you have an open or closed flue depending on the position of these controls.

What does the top and bottom vent do on a wood burner?

Inside the wood burning stove The bottom vent is the primary vent and the top vent is the secondary vent. The vents let you adjust how quickly your fuel burns by controlling the air supply to the stove. On the top of the stove you’ll see a pipe coming out of the wood burner.

What does a damper do on a wood stove?

The damper retains heat that escapes up the chimney or flue. It allows this heat to dissipate into the area being heated by the woodstove. A damper should always be fully opened when starting a fire or adding wood to the stove, allowing the firebox to draw the most air.

What is the lever on the bottom of my wood stove?

The handle looks like coiled wire. This is a flue vent to control how much air passes over the fire and up the stove.

Is it OK to leave the flue open overnight?

The smoke from burning wood contains carbon monoxide, so in order to prevent this toxic byproduct from entering your home, it is important to leave the flue open overnight. This enables a draft to carry the compound out into the atmosphere, instead of sinking down the chimney and saturating the room.

Should the damper be open all the way?

When should the damper be kept open or closed? The fireplace damper should always be in the open position whenever you have a fire in the fireplace. Close the damper when the fire is extinguished. This will prevent the heated air from escaping through the chimney and will keep water and other debris out of the flue.

Can you leave damper open overnight?

Leave the damper open overnight. Yes, you will lose some heat up the flue, but you will save the occupants of the home from poisoning by colorless, odorless carbon monoxide. Only when they are completely cold to the touch is it safe to shut the fireplace damper.

Does wood burn better on a bed of ash?

Wood burns better on a layer of ash because the ash helps to insulate the warmth and also helps to reflect the heat back onto further pieces of wood. It can also take a while for firebox surrounds to heat up from cold, and so a bed of ash can help to get the fire going more quickly.

Should you open a window when you have a fire in the fireplace?

Open a window when using the fireplace to prevent the room from becoming smoky. The air coming in from the window will go up the chimney. Before making a fire, open the glass doors, pull aside the screen curtains, and place the kindling, newspaper and logs inside. Use fireplace tools to handle burning logs.

Can you go to bed with embers in the fireplace?

Can I go to sleep with a fire in the fireplace? You should never go to sleep while a fire is in the fireplace. It may seem safe—after all, the fire is small and controlled behind a metal grate.

Why does smoke come into my house from the fireplace?

One of the most common causes of a fireplace smoking back into the home is due to poor quality firewood. Damp firewood produces more smoke than a flue can handle and will cause back-puffing. On the other hand, firewood that’s too dry and old can also cause problems with smoke blowing back into your home.