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