Owning a wood stove is a great investment in inexpensive heat for your home, and an incredibly beautiful and romantic atmosphere. It can also be a lesson in patience and even futility if not handled correctly. Many wood burning stove owners have had long nights of starting and restarting their fires, or getting ashes everywhere when cleaning the stove, or running out of dry wood just when they need it most. These are natural mistakes to make when learning how to use a stove for the first time, but many novice mistakes can easily be avoided with a few good tips.

First of all, learn to build a good fire. Simply dousing your logs with lighter fluid and tossing in a match is not going to cut it. The two big rules you need to remember are that fires need fuel (the wood) and oxygen to function, and big logs don’t catch on fire immediately. There is no correct way to build a fire, but it helps to start by placing some crumpled up newspaper on the bottom, followed by a combination of small twigs and medium sized sticks. This gives the fire the tinder (paper and twigs) and kindling (sticks) it needs to catch and burn long enough to light up the logs. However, make sure to place the logs with enough gaps to let in oxygen for the fire to burn, it is very easy to suffocate a small fire before it builds up.

Next, always remember to use good wood, and keep a lot of it! Never use wood that has seasoned for less than a year, it can build up soot in your chimney that could catch on fire. Keep a large supply of wood that has been seasoned for at least a year, preferably 2-3 years, ready at all times. Once you have your fire going it is important to remember that radiant heat does not automatically go to all the rooms in your house. Old houses had big rooms so that heat from a fireplace could flow between them easier, but newer houses have smaller compartments instead. You may need to use fans to blow the hot air to where it needs to go in order to heat up your house. These may seem like simple little tips, but you will be amazed at how much easier they make your life, and how much more you will enjoy having your new wood stove!