Building A Woodstove Fire and Storing Firewood

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To build a woodstove fire, place a pile of dry kindling over balls of crumpled newspaper and top with a mix of split wood, softwood for ignition and hardwood for long burning. Open the damper and air inlet, light the paper and shut the stove door. After a few minutes when the fire is burning well, add enough larger harwood logs to almost fill the combustion chamber. As soon as the larger pieces of wood have caught fire, close the air inlet two-thirds of the way or more ( you will have to experiment with how far) to slow the burn rate and keep the fire going longer. The outside temperature and the degree of wind chill will affect how fast the fire burns and you will have to use trial and error in adjusting the air inlet and damper. If your stove has a thermostatically controlled regulator, these adjustments will be made automatically.

In storing firewood, keep firewood outside for seasoning or just for storage. Stack it off the ground on a frame which you can improvise from concrete blocks and boards or metal pipes so that air can circulate around the logs to dry them out and to prevent them from rotting. To protect the wood from rain, cover the top of the pile with a plastic or canvas tarpaulin tied to four posts or make a lean-to type of roof that water will roll off. Keep the sides of the wood pile open to the air. Firewood can be home to many insects so bring in only enough logs to burn for a single day at any one time. Do’nt store firewood in the basement or garage. It is not only a potential source of insect infestation but it also releases unwanted moisture into already damp air and poses a potential fire hazard.