Curing a Wood Stove

If you have a new wood stove it will need to be cured. The paint that is on your new wood stove is the reason for the need to be cured.

So how do you cure a wood stove?

Open your damper door. Take single sheets of newspaper and crumple them into loose balls and fill the bed of your wood stove with them.
Add some small pieces of kindling (do not use leaves or pine needles in this process).
Light your newspaper with a match. Do not use any flammable agents to light it.
Once your newspaper and kindling are burning well add 2 very small pieces of firewood to your wood stove - about 1/4" diameter or less.
Once the firewood is burning well close your stove door and allow the fire to burn out completely.
Let your stove cool down completely and repeat the curing process two or three times.
The amount of smoke produced by this process should be minimal.

Operating a More Efficient Wood Stove

We came across a great video on youtube. This video is put out by the Department of Ecology State of Washington. It is about operating a more efficient wood stove. To watch this video visit: http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=pC67gBhWu0Y

This video covers selecting the right fuel for your wood stove, starting your fire correctly, maintaining your fire, etc.

As with all information that you find, always be sure to cross reference it with the information that came with the wood stove you own. Always follow your wood stove's manufacturer instructions first as each wood stove is made a little differently.

2013's Most Popular Wood Stove Blogs

We've already starting into the 2nd month of 2013, time sure is flying this year. We've decided to take a peek and see which three blogs our readers seem to be enjoying the most so far this year:

Did your favorite blog make it? If not which one of our blogs did you find the most informative?

Three Wood Stove Myths

We've rounded up a few myths about using wood stoves to help clear the air for those of you who read our blog.

Myth: Different types of wood burned in your stove give off different types of heat.
It doesn't matter if your wood is hard wood or soft wood, the type will not determine whether your wood will give off more or less heat. All wood has the same energy to mass ratio. The difference that you will come across in hard vs. soft woods is how long it takes to burn and the total heat energy that is supplied for creating useful heat vs. heat being wasted during combustion. Hard woods burn slower while your soft woods will burn longer. Your total heat energy will be the same, it is just the time it takes to use up all of the wood's energy is varied. The type of wood will only affect how often you need to put wood into your wood stove. Keep in mind that regardless of your wood type your wood should be seasoned, read more at How to Season Firewood

Myth: It is beneficial to starve a stove for adequate air combustion.
A starved fire will become overly smoky. This is caused by incomplete combustion which will cause more unburned particulates and gaseous air pollutants to be created than a hot fire that has adequate air supply will make. Poor combustion can also cause more build up of creosote in your chimney which is a fire hazard. Carbon monoxide build up is also a concern with incomplete combustion.

Myth: A wood burning stove is not any more efficient than an open fireplace.
If you have a quality wood burning stove it should operate between 70-85% efficiency when the door is closed. This means that just 15-30% of your heat is lost. When you have an open fire in a fireplace the efficiency is about 20% which means more than 4/5 of your heat is being lost through your chimney.