outdoors is what ought to be done to safely work with a wood heating system. Before you ever start a fire in your wood heater check the stove pipe and chimney. Look to see they are properly connected and that they have no holes showing. Fumes like carbon monoxide, along with smoke, could escape into your house by way of a hole in the stove pipe, as could flames f you ever have a little chimney fire. Which could take up a house fire.

Open a window some to allow oxygen from outside to enter the area where your heater is burning. The fire burns up the oxygen present in the room when the heater is operating.

It is a good notion to have your heater sitting on a sheet metal base, that stretches out in front of the heater's door. This metal sheet spreads out any excessive heat on to the floor and should the fire spit out burning embers when the door is opened for putting wood in, the ground will be protected from burns. This can often happen if the wood being burnt isn't completely dry. Some types of wood like spruce will have a tendency to pop and spit embers frequently while burning.

Check the fire proof chord seal round the door of the heater, ensuring there are no holes or gaps present. You want the fire box of your heater air tight when you close the draft lever shutting off the air flow. The draft lever enables you to control how hot the fire burns. Closing the draft lever decreases the fire by stopping its oxygen supply.

You should keep a door seal repair kit on hand. It includes a tube of liquid adhesive and a amount of fire proof rope-like chord. When you can start to see the light of the fire through the edge of the door where the door seal is situated, repair is needed.


It is advisable to do the repair when the door of the heater continues to be quite warm. Measure and slice the correct length of door sealing chord that will fit all over the door in the groove. Scrape out the old chord still in the heater door groove so when clean wipe it with a rag. Apply the liquid adhesive several drops at the same time to the inside of the groove. The warmth of the door will cause it to become sticky in a minute. When the adhesive becomes gel-like, press the chord in to the groove with a screwdriver. Hold the chord in place for some moments while it sets, attaching a few inches of the chord to the groove at a time. When it's all set up, close the heater door. Tighten the door latch whenever you can and allow it set for about quarter-hour.

The chimney must be checked for an excessive amount of soot deposited on its inside. This is a good notion to open the hole for the soot to collapse the chimney and stove pipe into the heaters burning chamber. This is done by turning two fire bricks on the side near the top of the heaters burning chamber.

Wear old clothes. Take hand wiping rag, chimney cleaning brush, and the various tools needed to take away the stove pipe cap at the top of your chimney. Carefully climb onto the roof. Remove the chimney cap and brush the soot off the inside of the cap. Look inside the chimney. You'll likely visit a layer of black soot within the top of the chimney. Blow it away. Take the chimney brush and carefully push it down and pull it up the chimney. Do that repeatedly until you see no more black near the top of the chimney. When it's clean reattach the cap onto the chimney, clean your hands and tools with the rag and be careful climbing down off the roof. Invest some time. It isn't worth getting hurt by falling.

Wood heat is really a comfortable way of heating your home nonetheless it does take some safety knowledge and precautions to take action safely.