How to Use a Wood Burning Stove | Elgin, IL
With their welcoming crackle and warming ambience, a wood-burning stove can be a comforting heating solution for your home, cabin, or vacation property. But once you’ve had a wood burning stove installed, how do you use it? Read more about the best practices and tips for using your wood burning stove from the specialists at Majestic Distributing Co-The House of Fireplaces in Elgin, IL. For specifics on your particular stove, always check your owner’s manual.
If you’re still considering whether a wood stove is the ideal choice for your heating needs, learn more about the benefits of wood burning stoves, or call one of our woodstove experts at (847) 741-5903. Our fireplace and stove experts are happy to serve all your installation, and maintenance, and repair needs from our Chicagoland area store.
Starting a Wood Burning Stove
Dry, seasoned firewood, plenty of airflow, and patience are the keys to successfully starting a fire in your wood burning stove. While the process involves more attention than flipping a switch for a gas fireplace, many home owners appreciate the opportunity to slow down and practice the ancient art of fire starting.
Follow these steps to start a fire in your wood burning stove for the first time. Please note that there are plenty of different ways to start a fire, and everyone tends to find their favorite as they practice.
- Place crumpled-up newspaper inside your stove — five to ten sheets will be sufficient
- Surround the paper with finely shaved kindling wood (less than 1 in. in diameter) and add thicker kindling around the finer shavings
- Completely open the air intake for your wood stove
- Light the newspaper
- Add normal-sized firewood once the larger kindling has started to burn down
During the initial ignition, you may close and latch the door to your stove (if you have a straight venting system) or close but not latch the door (if your venting system has curves or elbows) depending on how the fire ignites. After the fire has begun to burn at full intensity, latch the door and moderate the air vent for a steady burn — only allow the fire to burn at full intensity for a few minutes.
Never use accelerants or flammable liquids to start a fire in your wood burning stove.
How Long Do Wood Burning Stoves Last?
The maximum burn time for your wood burning stove will depend on a wide range of factors that you can and can’t control before and after you choose your next wood burning stove. However, in general, you may be able to keep the fire burning in your wood stove for between 3 to 10 hours.
Factors that influence how long the fire in your wood burning stove will burn include:
- The size of the firebox in your wood stove
- The amount of firewood you add
- The tree species and moisture content or your firewood
- How cold it is outside
- How warm you want the area you’re heating
- The size of the area you are heating
If you’d like to discuss the maximum burn time for a particular wood burning stove, call the professionals at Majestic Distributing Co-The House of Fireplaces at
(847) 741-5903 or
request a call back.
How To Make a Wood Stove Burn Longer?
One of the beauties of using a wood burning stove is the ability to create a particular type of fire for every occasion. Cool October mornings might only require a small fire to take the chill off the house, while sub-zero January nights during a polar vortex will likely require a roaring, high-output fire. In the latter case, you’re likely looking for a long burn cycle for maximum heat with minimal input from you. Yet, this option may not be the best fit if you’re starting a fire on a cool autumn evening, as you may heat the room past your ideal temperature — but you still want to maximize burn time.
For either scenario, see some of our tips below.
- For high-output fires — On frigid winter nights, using hardwood firewood and completely filling the firebox is the best way to ensure you get the longest burn time from your stove with the most heat possible. In a roughly square firebox, use a north-south loading scheme (with the logs running perpendicular to the load door).
- For low-output fires — One way to moderate the temperature while still maximizing your burn time is to use softwood species of firewood and leave the air intake open long enough to fully char the logs. Once this has occurred, you can turn the air intake down to moderate the burn time. You can also load the firewood in an east-west orientation (parallel to the load door), as this tends to help the logs burn more evenly. You should not fill the stove completely with this loading scheme in an effort to keep the burning logs from resting against the door of your stove.
View Our Latest Wood Burning Stoves Available
Majestic Distributing Co-The House of Fireplaces is ready to be your go-to source for modern wood-burning stoves in Elgin, IL. We carry top manufacturers in the industry, along with a variety of styles and options. View our wood stove options page for more information and pictures.
Visit House of Fireplaces Today in Elgin, IL
Whether you’re still exploring your options or you have your eye on a particular wood burning stove, stop by Majestic Distributing Co-The House of Fireplaces and begin your journey toward a beautiful, warming solution at our store in Elgin, IL. View our about us page to find our open business and showroom hours. For more information, request a callback or speak with us directly by calling (847) 741-5903.
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