| If you're interested in owning a wood stove, you | | | | easy to overlook. |
| probably done some research. Maybe you've heard | | | | Modern stoves don't create a lot of waste, but from |
| the buzz about the efficiency of modern stoves and | | | | time to time you'll want to clean out wood ash. When |
| their small environmental footprint. Or you may already | | | | excess ashes start to build up, it's time to service your |
| be a stove owner, in which case you've started | | | | stove with the equivalent to a quick oil change--only it's |
| basking in that radiant heat. Either way, you're | | | | much, much easier! Collected ash can obstruct the air |
| wondering how to ensure that your stove turns out to | | | | vents of your stove, depriving the fire of oxygen. This |
| be one of those peak performers--and a smart | | | | makes it hard to control the burn rate of your fire, and |
| investment to boot. If so, you're asking the right | | | | compromises efficiency. Heating your home is hard |
| questions, because today's stoves a designed to pay | | | | work, so the last thing you want to do is making your |
| great dividends. Capitalizing on your stove's potential | | | | stove short of breath. |
| begins with choosing the right type of fuel. But beyond | | | | Third, take an outsider's perspective on your wood |
| that, here are three steps to help stoke your stove to | | | | stove. |
| its full heating potential. | | | | By "outsider" I mean outside your house. When a |
| First, take the temperature of your wood burning | | | | wood stove is burning with maximum efficiency, it |
| stove. | | | | creates almost no visible smoke. So when you have a |
| A lot of today's stoves come with thermometers | | | | good blaze going, walk outside and inspect your stove |
| preinstalled, which makes this step easy. If this isn't the | | | | flue or chimney. If you see dark fumes, you should |
| case, it's not difficult to attach a stack thermometer to | | | | vary the stove's oxygen flow and wood supply, then |
| your stove's flue--that pipe that carries the exhaust | | | | check again. A well-tended fire with good fuel will |
| outside. Once you have a thermometer in place, you'll | | | | eliminate that smokiness. When there's no smoke, and |
| be able to check the temperature of gases as they | | | | just a shimmer in the air, you'll know your stove is |
| exit the stove. For the average wood stove, the ideal | | | | reaching its potential: burning clean and hot. |
| temperature range falls between 300 and 400 F. If the | | | | Feel like you're getting the idea? Modern stoves are |
| stove is burning within this range, it is producing heat | | | | designed to take most of the guesswork out of all this. |
| efficiently while causing the least pollution possible. You | | | | Feeding your stove the right woods and following the |
| can target this optimum spectrum by adjusting the | | | | "common sense" tips above will turn your stove into a |
| stove's burn rate or changing the quantity of fuel. | | | | radiant heating machine. |
| Second, do stove maintenance. This a simple step, but | | | | |