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.

How to Clean your Fireplace

Cleaning out a fireplace can seem like a daunting task, but it doesn't have to be.

What you need to get started cleaning:
Dish Washing Liquid
Fireplace Tool Set
Glass Cleaner
Paper Towels
Plastic Tarp
Rubber Gloves
Scrub Brush
Soft Cloth
Spray Bottle full of water
Trash can with a lid
Used Coffee Grounds
An apron or smock to keep your clothes clean
Something soft to kneel on to save your knees, optional but recommended.

How to Clean your Fireplace:
Be sure to allow your fireplace to cool for at least 24 hours after your last fire before you attempt to clean it.
Place your tarp in front of your fireplace, this will help you to catch ashes and keep the area around the fireplace clean.
Lay out your tarp in front of the fireplace to catch ashes, etc.


Remove your fireplace screen, leftover firewood, tinder, and the fireplace grate. Set these on your tarp.
Throw out any badly burnt firewood, if there is firewood that is still burnable you can keep it.
Used coffee grounds should be sprinkled over the ashes to keep them from blowing around and creating a larger mess.
Using your brush from your fireplace tool set, sweep out your fireplace starting at the top of each interior wall and work your way down and out.
Shovel the ashes into a pan and dump them into the trash or into your compost pile if you have one.
Sweep off your fireplace screen to remove any dirt and debris on it.

On the brick of your fireplace's exterior you will need to spray water onto any sooty areas. If your fireplace is less than 50 years old you can use a hearth cleaner, if it is older than that you will want to use only water. Scrub with your scrub brush, spray with more water than use your soft cloth to dry it. If your fireplace has an iron exterior you will spray it with hearth cleaner, rinse with water, and dry off with your paper towels. For marble, spray with water and wipe down with your dish washing liquid and soft cloth. Spray to rinse and dry with paper towels.
For fireplaces with glass doors, clean them with hearth cleaner, front and back, be sure to remove the cleaner before it dries. (You can also try the method we talked about previously in Wood Stove Glass Cleaning Tip we haven't tried this method ourselves yet, so use your own best judgement.)
Lay your fireplace tools on the tarp, spray with hearth cleaner and wipe clean with your paper towels.
Place your grate and still good firewood back into your fireplace.

Once you dispose of all the debris on your tarp you are officially finished with cleaning your fireplace.

Benefits of Pellet Stoves

We have discussed the benefits of wood stoves in the past. We thought it was time to look at the benefits of pellet stoves:

• Easy to operate. 
• Easy to fuel.
• Doesn't produce smoke.
• Higher combustion and heating efficiency than traditional wood stoves.
• Lower fuel cost.
• Wood pellets are made from recycled components making them more environmentally sound. 
• Most are easier to clean than traditional wood stoves. 

There area few disadvantages to the pellet stove, one of those being that they use electricity to run, so they are not the best investment for a heating back up for power outages. However, some pellet stoves do come with a battery back up. But if the power is out for an extended period of time, there is the risk of the battery running down.

What do you consider an advantage to the pellet stove?

Basic Pellet Stove Tips

For those of you that are new to pellet stoves here are a few tips to help get you started:

Our first tip is a simple tip, but it is important. Be sure to read the owners/instruction manual that came with your pellet stove. As with any type of appliance instructions can vary between brands and models. If you have misplaced or cannot find your owner's manual then you will want to try contacting the company that manufactures the stove you own to see if they can mail you a copy or email a .pdf version of it.

The correct type of pellets can make a big difference in how efficient your pellet stove is. Pellet stoves do NOT use firewood like you would use in a wood stove. Instead, a pellet stove uses compressed pellets. These pellets are designed specifically to use in your pellet stove. Most of the pellets are wood compressed pellets, but there are other options for pellets such as waste paper pellets and grass pellets.

Before you use your pellet stove for the first time you will need to check that your stove pipes and venting meet your local building requirements. You want to do this to be sure that your set-up is safe to use. When you install your stove refer to your manufacturer's instructions. Make sure all your stove pipe seams are sealed properly. High temperature caulk or stove cement can be used to seal these seams. Be sure to use a type of stove cement that is recommended for stove pipe.


To start up your stove you will need to read your instructions as each pellet stove manufacturer configures their pellet stoves differently for the start up process. If you fail to follow your manufacturer's start-up instructions problems can be created with the pellet stove's operation. To shut off your stove you will need to use the controls to set the shut off for your unit. Do not unplug the stove to shut it down, the stove needs to cool down before it completely shuts itself off.