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How to Properly Operate a Woodburning Stove Wood stoves can be a cozy and inexpensive way to heat the home. But the smoke they emit can also be harmful to health. It is essential to understand how these appliances function and how to use them safely. Many modern stoves rely on a catalytic or secondary combustion to reduce their emissions. Older stoves and open flames emit large amounts of particulates. The firebox The firebox is the heart of any fireplace system. It's where you create a fire to heat your home and provide ambiance. It's a simple concept, but there are many important details that must be accounted for to keep your wood burning stove safe and efficient. The most straightforward way to think of the firebox is to think of it as an open-air combustion chamber that has walls and an entrance. Most fireplaces come with an already-built metal firebox or masonry firebox. The type of firebox you choose will depend on your preferences as well as the type of fireplace you own. Most wood-burning fireplaces utilize a continuous flow of air to create the flame and burn fuel. Fresh air is drawn into the stove through dampers which can be adjusted inside the doors. This allows the fuel to burn properly and helps to reduce toxic gases that are produced by incomplete or unburnt combustion. The exhaust gases are drawn up through the chimney, and safely out of your house. Modern stoves with catalytic second combustion use a special catalyst that reburns unburned gases to create additional warmth. This results in a much cleaner and less polluting emission than traditional wood stoves with no secondary combustion. Modern non-catalytic stoves are available, but they're usually less efficient than stoves that have secondary combustion catalytically. Some wood-burning fireplaces come with a backboiler, which can be used for space heating or water heating. They are also known as “combination” or “hybrid” stoves and have been around since the beginning of the 20th century. Wood burning stoves should only be burned with well-seasoned wood. Freshly cut (green) wood has a high content of moisture, which can cause low flue temperatures and excessive creosote buildup in the chimney. This can lead to chimney fires that can damage your stove and even cause harm to the health of your family members. If you're looking for an expert to look over your wood-burning stove or perform any firebox repairs, make sure the chimney professional you choose is CSIA certified and provides reviews from their customers on their website. Ask about their pricing and the type of work they can perform. The ventilation pipe Ventilation is required for wood stoves in order to remove smoke and keep the home healthy and warm. Venting carries away carbon monoxide, nitrogen dioxide, and excess moisture from the combustion process. It also helps reduce the amount of air pollution and heat loss to the outdoors. Wood, gas and pellet stoves have different requirements for venting. Properly maintaining the stove's ventilation system on a regular basis is crucial for safety and efficiency. The ventilation system consists of the firebox, the vent pipe and chimney. The chimney and ventilation pipe work together to create draft that draws smoke from the stove out through the fireplace. The differences in temperature and densities between the hot wood smoke and cold outside air creates draft. The higher the temperature of the smoke, the more it is able to rise up the chimney and ventilation pipe. Modern wood stoves are EPA-certified low-emission units. They emit less pollution than older models which contribute to global heating and other environmental issues. The majority of modern stoves have built-in pollution controls to limit the amount they emit, while also ensuring that the carbon emissions are burned in an efficient manner. Older stoves with open flues produce a lot more carbon dioxide, a poisonous gas that must not be allowed to escape into the home. Carbon monoxide can be a source if your chimney is dirty or has inadequate ventilation. Installing carbon monoxide alarms in your home is therefore crucial. Before installing a brand new or used wood stove measure the distance from the point where the stove is on the floor to the chimney opening in the wall or ceiling. By multiplying this measurement by 2 will give you the shortest length of stovepipe that you need. You can use either single-wall or double-wall stovepipes but you must ensure adequate clearance from burning combustibles. The vents for the stove's air should be adjusted whenever it first starts to light up until a proper flame has been established in the stove and the combustion process has stabilised. It is recommended to stay clear of using wood briquettes in the stove, because they are not logs and can contain volatile chemicals that can cause the air vent to fail and cause a hazardous situation. The chimney The chimney may not be something that homeowners think about a lot to, but it's actually a complex system that requires careful attention. The chimney is composed of numerous important parts that are all crucial for the safety and efficiency of your stove. The wood burning stove's combustion gases are emitted outwards through the firebox, the vent pipe, and the chimney. This is essential to avoiding harmful emissions and reducing carbon dioxide levels within your home. To achieve this the chimney and flue have to be sufficiently hot to carry the gases out of the fireplace without them cooling. This can be achieved by using a woodburning stove that has an extremely high heat output, and by adding regularly new logs to the fire. Modern woodburning stoves have a taller chimney than older systems to improve the drafting effect. This could cause problems when the chimney's height is higher than the maximum for your location. If this occurs, the chimney may compete with the house stack for draft, which can cause the gases to cool before they exit. This could result in a pause in the flow of gas and a buildup on creosote. One of the most frequent mistakes homeowners make is to open and close the fireplace door too frequently which could negatively impact combustion. It is important to keep the fireplace door closed as much as possible and only open it when you need to add additional firewood or ash. If you leave the door open for too long allows the hot air to escape from the stove, which causes the logs to cool and more difficult to light, and also releases unburned volatile compounds into the room. Another mistake that many make is to use different kinds of combustibles with their woodburning stoves, which can result in higher emissions, or even a chimney fire. Fireplaces And Stove were developed and optimized for burning firewood. They are not suitable for other combustibles. The flu To ensure that the airflow is proper, a woodburning stove needs flues that are the correct size. Typically, the dimensions of the flue must be at least 25 percent larger than the stove pipe (which connects the stove to the chimney) to ensure adequate room for smoke circulation. A wood stove must be placed on an uncombustible hearth that has a clear space in front of the fireplace's opening. Modern stoves come with catalytic combustion systems that reduces the amount harmful byproducts that are released into the chimney. This feature can help increase the efficiency of wood stoves by burning a wood that produces more heat and emitting less pollutants. Using other types of combustibles than firewood, however, can result in problems like lower efficiency and higher emission levels. When burning wood in a stove or fireplace, it is important to use dried or seasoned wood. If your wood isn't well-seasoned or dried, it will release a lot of water vapor into the chimney. This can lead to low flue temperatures and possibly a chimney fire. Another way to prevent a fire in your chimney is to have a professional inspect and clean your flue system on a regular basis. This includes the stovepipe, chimney and the chimney itself. A unclean stove and flue system can lead to an unclean chimney draft that could release carbon monoxide into your home. This could be hazardous for your family members and should never be allowed to occur. A good rule of thumb is to have a professional chimney sweep clean your chimney and stove every year. This will keep your chimney and stove in good working order.