Why Woodburning Stove Should Be Your Next Big Obsession How to Properly Operate a Woodburning Stove

Wood stoves are a cozy and inexpensive way to heat your home. But the smoke they emit can also be harmful to health. It is essential to know how these appliances function and how they operate.

Modern stoves employ secondary or catalytic combustion to reduce emissions. Older stoves and open flames release high levels 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 simple way to think about the firebox is that it's an enclosed combustion chamber that has walls and doors. Most fireplaces have a prefabricated metal or masonry fireboxes. The type of firebox you choose will depend on your personal preferences as well as the type of fireplace you have.

Most fireplaces with wood burning utilize a continuous flow of air to create the flame and burn fuel. Fresh air is drawn in through adjustable dampers that are located in the stove's 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 will then be dragged up the chimney and away from your home.

Modern stoves that have catalytic second combustion make use of a specific catalyst to reburn unburnt gases to generate additional warmth. This produces a more clean and less polluting exhaust than traditional wood stoves that have no secondary combustion. Modern non-catalytic stoves are available, but they're generally less efficient than stoves with secondary combustion catalytically.

Some wood-burning fireplaces come with backboilers that can be used for space heating and water heating. They are known as "combination" or "hybrid" stoves and have been around since the early 20th century.

Wood burning stoves should be lit with seasoned wood. Freshly cut (green) wood has a high moisture content and can result in low flue temperatures as well as excessive creosote build-up in the chimney. This can cause chimney fires, which could damage your stove and even cause harm to the health of your family members.

If you're in search of a professional to inspect your wood-burning stove or to make any repairs to your firebox, make sure the chimney specialist you choose is CSIA certified and has customer testimonials on their website. Find out their rates and the kind of work they perform.

The ventilation pipe

Wood stoves require ventilation to remove emissions from the combustion process and keep the home warm and healthy. Ventilation helps remove carbon monoxide, nitrogen dioxide, and excess moisture from the process of combustion. It also helps reduce the amount of air pollution and heat loss outside. Wood, pellet and gas stoves have different requirements for venting to accommodate the different ways they function. It is important to maintain the stove's venting system on an annual basis for security and efficiency.

The ventilation system is comprised of the firebox, the vent pipe, and the chimney. The chimney and the ventilation pipe work together to create draft, bringing smoke from the stove through the fireplace to outside air. Draft is generated through the difference in temperature and density between hot wood smoke and cold air outside. The more hot the smoke, the better it can rise up the chimney and through the ventilation pipe.


The majority of modern wood stoves are certified by the EPA as low-emission units. They emit less pollution than older models that contribute to global heating and other environmental problems. Most modern stoves have built-in pollution control systems that reduce the amount of emissions, while making sure that they burn efficiently.

Older stoves with open flues emit lots of carbon dioxide, a poisonous gas that must not be allowed to escape into the home. This can happen if your chimney is not properly maintained or there is inadequate ventilation, so it is crucial to install carbon monoxide detectors within your home.

Before installing a new or used wood stove determine the distance between the point where the stove is on the floor to the chimney opening on the ceiling or wall. Multiplying this distance by 2 will give you the shortest length of stovepipe that you need. Single-wall or double-wall stovepipe and must ensure that you have adequate clearance from combustibles.

When the stove is first lit, adjust the air vent until a stable flame has been established and the combustion process is stable. It is also a good idea to avoid using wood briquettes in the stove, since they aren't logs and can contain volatile chemicals that could cause the air vent to fail and lead to a risky situation.

The chimney

The chimney is a complicated system that requires careful care. From top to bottom, the chimney is made up of several important components that are crucial to ensure that your stove functions effectively and safely.

The firebox, ventilation pipe and chimney work together to release the gases from combustion produced by your woodburning fireplace to the outside. This is crucial to avoiding harmful emissions and reducing carbon dioxide levels in your home. To do this the chimney and flue must be hot enough to allow the gases to exit the fireplace without cooling. This can be accomplished by using a wood-burning fireplace that has a high output of heat and by adding fresh logs frequently to the fire.

Modern wood-burning stoves have a higher chimney than older models to improve the drafting effect. However, this may have disadvantages in the event that the size of your chimney is greater than the maximum permitted for your area. If this occurs, the chimney may compete with the house stack for draft, causing gases to cool prior to exiting. This could result in a pause in the flow of gas, and the formation of creosote.

The most common mistake homeowners make is to open the fireplace door and close it often. This can adversely affect combustion. It is essential to keep the door of your fireplace as tightly shut as you can, and only open it to add firewood or ash. Keeping the door open too long can allow 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.

Other types of combustibles could cause higher emissions or even an explosion in a chimney. The truth is that woodburning stoves are built and designed to burn firewood and not other kinds of combustibles.

The flue

To ensure proper air flow for a woodburning stove, it requires an exhaust pipe that is the correct size. The flue should be at a minimum 25% larger than the pipe connecting the stove and chimney to allow for adequate smoke flow. Additionally the wood stove should be installed on a hearth that is made of a non-combustible substance and is clear and unobstructed area that is in the front of the opening for the fireplace.

Modern stoves have an element called a catalytic combustor that can reduce the amount of harmful by-products which are released into the chimney. This feature can improve the efficiency of wood stoves by burning a wood which produces more heat while emitting less pollutants. However, using different types of combustibles, like coal, can cause issues, such as lower efficiency and greater emissions.

When you are burning wood in a stove or fireplace, it is important to use dried or seasoned wood. If your wood is not seasoned or dry it will release high levels of creosote and water vapour into the chimney. This could lead to low flue temperatures and possibly a chimney fire.

A professional can also assist you in avoiding the possibility of a chimney fire by regularly checking and cleaning the flue system. This includes the stovepipe, chimney and the chimney itself.

A soiled stove or flue system may lead to an insufficient draft inside your chimney, which could cause carbon monoxide to build up in your home. This could be hazardous for your family members and should not be allowed to occur.

A good rule of thumb is to have your chimney and stove swept by a professional once a year. This will keep your stove and chimney in good order.