If you burn wood for heat, you want the most efficient use of the wood possible. I have burned wood to heat my home for almost 40 years and have used most of the tips in this article and learned others from additional research.
What is the number one tip for burning wood more efficiently? Burn wood that has been dried and seasoned to between 15% to 20% moisture content. This is critical to efficient wood burning. The remaining tips can be used to help heat a home a keep it warm through a long, cold winter.
If you burn wood to save money, then saving time along with saving money should be of interest. These tips will help with both. Read on to see what I have learned through experience and a little research.
Dry Your Firewood Properly
Allowing time for firewood to dry is by far the best advice I can give to anyone seeking advice regarding wood stoves. After the wood is cut and split, it needs six to nine months to dry properly and some species of wood up to 12 months.
Wood will burn before it is dry, but it will not burn well. The moisture in the wood must be released. If the wood is put in a fire with more than 20% moisture content, the moisture has to come out for the wood to actually burn. It will be released as steam at this point and causes multiple issues.
First, some heat must be used to “boil” the moisture out of the wood. This is wasted heat. Second, the moisture that is released sticks to the walls of the stove and chimney and creates dangerous creosote. The creosote may cause a dangerous chimney fire and should be removed. Cleaning the chimney is the safest solution to removing the creosote.
Choose the Best Hardwood
Finding good hardwood to burn can take some additional time but is well worth the extra effort. Burning a hardwood with a high BTU value helps in several areas. First, it burns hotter. The goal of burning wood for heat is to produce heat! Hardwoods burn longer and hotter! You will not have to stoke your stove as often.
Hardwoods generally dry faster, so the time spent seasoning the wood is less, hardwoods provide a longer lasting coal that is necessary to keep the fire burning. Lastly, they leave less ash to clean out of the stove.
There is a large number of hardwood species available for wood burning stoves. Each hardwood species has a different quality that makes it a better “burning” wood, some wood splits better than others; some leave fewer ashes. More importantly, some types are more available than others.
Finding a hardwood to burn that meets the qualities you desire and is readily available is the goal. See my article on “What are the Best Types of Wood to Burn”, to see the characteristics of many hardwoods and softwoods for burning.
Store Firewood Near the Stove
Once your wood is dry and seasoned, it is ready for storage. Finding a suitable place to store the wood as close to where you will use it seems obvious but I have seen storage areas far from the door where it will be used. You will be loading a wood burning stove three to six times a day depending on the stove and the outdoor temperature. Carting wood even 30 feet to a door can be exhausting. Hardwoods are heavy, and unless you are looking for a workout at 11:00 at night, a close storage area will be a welcome arrangement.
Plan on storage of at least one month of wood. I store my entire season of wood within 10 ft. of my entry for my stove. The wood should be off the ground and may be stacked tightly once it is dry.
If you store only one month at a time by the door, make sure you can get to the remaining wood after a snowstorm or freeze. Nothing is worse than having a dry pile of wood that is surrounded by snow drifts!
Store Under a Cover
Dry, stored wood is going to stay dryer if it is covered. Many commercial wood racks come with a cover. A tarp secured with bungee cords will be more than sufficient.
A wood shed is an option for storing dried or drying wood but is generally not the prettiest building to be located close to a house. A small lean-to with only a roof for cover can be incorporated into the look of a home to store wood under in the winter months.
Be creative as there are many ways to accomplish a cover for your wood that is effective and attractive. Keeping the rain and snow off the wood will help it light quicker and burn hotter.
Save the Small Pieces of Wood
When splitting wood, there are always small pieces that are left that pile up around the wood splitter. Don’t just pile it up and burn it for campfires.
Those small pieces make great fire starting wood. They also make a quick coal base for a fire. They need to dry out but unlike the larger pieces wood; the small pieces will dry out in a much shorter time. Three to four months should be more than adequate drying time.
Then find a method to store this kindling wood. I found the heavy plastic bags that softener salt comes in to be useful for this. They can hold enough kindling for three startups and will keep the wood dry as the plastic is waterproof.
Clean Your Chimney
A clean chimney is a must for a wood burning system. Chimneys collect creosote, soot, and other particles that are extremely flammable. If the chimney ignites, it can quickly burn to over 1000 degrees F. This is a dangerous situation and is better contained before it becomes an issue.
Inspecting and cleaning should be completed by a competent and reliable company if you are not comfortable doing so. The chimney is the most vulnerable portion of the wood burning system and should be treated as such
You can expect to have the chimney cleaned at least every two months in the burning season and more if your wood is not seasoned properly. Keeping the chimney clean will give you peace of mind and allow the system to have the most amount of air draw. This allows the fire to burn properly as the airflow is unrestricted.
Keep Hot Coals in the Stove
A bed of hot coals is not meant for walking on. It is what keeps your fire burning hot. Consistently hot! After your fire is lit, a 2″ – 3″ bed of coals should always be burning or glowing in the bottom of the stove. The coals may be black when you open the doors to stoke the fire, but by raking out the coals and shaking down the ashes to the bottom, they should start glowing in a minute or two.
This bed of coals is the base that keeps the fire burning. Keeping that base hot will allow the wood burner to hold a consistent temperature. This will maintain your home at a stable temperature rather than a yo-yo, up and down temperature throughout the day and season.
Keeping a Consistent Temperature.
If you are not near your stove watching the temperature day in and day out, how can you keep it burning consistently? Of course, there are trends that we follow after years of burning wood. For example, when the wind blows harder, the air vents on the stove will need to be shut down. Another example would be different wood types burn hotter and faster.
Even if you have had a wood stove for many years and you know the tendencies, there is a new product that will assist in keeping your stove’s temperature consistent. The Tempsure monitor will allow you to see the temperature of your stove anywhere at any time of the day or night. The monitor sends information to a smartphone app which allows you to view the temperature and even a graph of the past week or month of stove temperatures. You can even receive a high and low-temperature alarm on your phone.
This is a revolutionary new product and will change the way you burn wood. It makes you stove safer by alerting you when the temperature is too high. It makes your stove more efficient by alerting you when the temperature gets too low and is ready for another load of wood.
Clean Out Ashes
This is the dirty job that has to be done! Keeping the ashes cleaned out allows more room for coals and firewood. Eventually, the ashes will take over space in the stove and have to be removed.
A large buildup of ashes also reduces heat efficiency as the ashes absorb heat that should be radiated through the walls and bottom of the stove and into the room.
Cleaning out the stove when the ashes reach about one and a half inches for most stoves should be a good rule of thumb. Having a stove with an ashtray or ash pit makes this job easier and convenient. I have never had that luxury. It’s the bucket and shovel at my house.
Have a Thermal Mass Near the Stove
Building or installing a stove near an area of brick, stone, or concrete will increase efficiency. A large mass of a substance that will absorb and hold heat like brick or stone near the stove will do just that. These substances slowly absorb the heat then slowly release the heat.
This allows you to have a source of heat like a wood stove that warms and cools over time to evenly release heat from the surrounding materials.
This is a typical graph of my stove temperature in March. My home thermostat reads at very steady 72 degrees F. as I have a wall of brick behind and under the stove to hold that steady temperature in my home.
Draw air from Outside
Drawing air from outside your house to feed the fire will increase efficiency. This reduces the air you are pulling out of the home and sending up the chimney. Some homes are so airtight today that they need the air to be drawn from outside.
Most 90%+ efficient furnaces today draw air to feed the gas fire from outside. Feeding you fire this way increases the efficiency of your stove and keeps the warm air in your home inside, where you want it. A PVC pipe runs to the outside with a flexible connector hose like a dryer vent will do the trick. Make sure you block the input with something to keep rodents out in the winter and insects in the summer. If you use a screen, check it to make sure it is not clogged.
Replace the Door Gasket
Replacing the door gasket may look like a difficult task, but with a kit and a few simple tools, replacement is less than an hour job. The gasket is a rope that doesn’t burn. It seals the door when closed to prevent air from leaking in around the door.
The gasket should be soft all the way around the door. Typically, it will become hard and crusty along the bottom of the door as it collects creosote and other chemicals from the fire.
Purchase a kit with the correct gasket size for your door. The kit includes a length of rope and the glue to attach the rope to the stove. Typically, once a year is sufficient to keep the stove working well.
Check the Catalytic Converter
If you have a catalytic type stove, check the catalytic converter to verify if it is clean. This must be completed when the stove is cool. The manufactures manual should include instructions on how to remove and inspect the catalytic device. Normal operation of the stove will clog the device, and it will require occasional cleaning and most will need to be replaced in 3 – 5 years.
I would suggest a thorough inspection every year but follow the manufactures recommended maintenance schedule for inspection, cleaning, and replacement.
Set a Timer
Have you ever allowed your stove to cool down more than you wanted, and then left the doors open a crack to get the fire up to temperature quickly? You walk away from the stove and in your mind say, “I won’t forget to close it in 3 – 5 minutes”, but you do forget!
We have so many timers available to help us today. A simple timer can save us from a roaring fire and a possible chimney fire. If you have Alexa (Amazon Echo) or any smartphone, simply set a 5-minute timer.
Just as helpful is the
Place Your Stove in the Center of the House
The closer your stove is to the center of the home is better. Wood burners radiate heat. Like the early heat radiating burner of the 1920s, a wood burner is a similar device. The old furnaces would set in the middle of the home on the lowest floor. Open grills would be located on the second floors above the furnace as the heat naturally rose to the upstairs rooms.
The heat radiated from the stove, even without a fan, can heat a 1500 sq. ft. home comfortably. If your floor plan allows for the stove to be in the center of the lower floor the heat from the correctly sized stove will keep a home warm through extreme winter months. Using a thermal mass area will assist in this also.
Use the Cool Air Return on Your Furnace
Drawing warm air from your wood burner into the cool air return of your furnace will extend the range of your stoves heating capacity. My stove draws air around the firebox and directly into the cool air return on my furnace.
This basically has turned my furnace into an air handler for my wood burning stove. The heat is distributed to the entire home by switching my furnace fan to the on position.
By placing your stove near a cool air return, and directing the hot air into the return, you can set up a similar situation. This will move hot air far from the stove to cool areas of the home.
Inspect Your Stove
The wood burner can burn at extremely high temperature. They also cycle between very high and low temperatures. This cycle can cause fatigue on the metal surfaces as they expand and contract.
A physical inspection of the stove should be completed at least one time a year. The primary areas to inspect would be welds, bends, and gaskets. Any cracks, broken, welds or overly worn surfaces should be examined by a professional. Pictures can be sent to the manufactures for additional investigation if necessary.
Any defect in the metal or the connections need to be rectified before the stove is used again. Allowing smoke in a home can lead to carbon monoxide poisoning and should be avoided.