There are many benefits to wood burning stoves, and you want yours to remain efficient and safe for many years to come. If you invest in a good quality stove, this should be easily done; however, there are some things you should do in order to ensure your stove is safe and working at optimum efficiency.

Keep Your Wood Burning Stove Clean

Keeping your stove clean is the first step towards ensuring an efficient, long-lived stove. Be sure to keep the ash pan clean by clearing the grate regularly. There are benefits to leaving a thin layer of ash in the grate. This prevents the grate and ash pan from burning, and will enable you to get a fire started more efficiently. You should also keep the glass clean, a task which is considerably easier on stoves with Airwash, as the vent helps to prevent the build-up of tar on your glass. When you are cleaning, check for distortions, cracks, rust, holes, and breaks in the seals. Always attend to such issues as soon as possible, to maintain peak efficiency, and be sure to check your manufacturer’s warranty to see if they are covered.

Keeping your chimney clear of tar and soot is essential and you should have it swept regularly, at the start and end of every winter. Tar and soot are very harmful and can not only damage your stove and chimney when the stove is not in use, but could also cause carbon monoxide to build up if the chimney becomes blocked. If your wood burning stove was installed after 2010, or is in a rented property, it is a legal requirement to have a carbon monoxide detector in the room with the stove. Regardless of legalities, this is a good idea generally. Carbon monoxide is lethal, and the cost of sweeping your chimney should not be more than £40 – £50. This is a small price to pay to ensure your wood burning stove remains efficient and safe!

In addition to the carbon monoxide detector, you should have a smoke detector fitted in the room, and check it regularly. It is also worth fitting a bird guard when your stove in installed, to keep any birds from nesting in your chimney – nothing ruins the efficacy of a stove more than a nest clogging up the chimney, or stray birds finding their way down into your fire.

To reduce the frequency your chimney needs sweeping as much as possible, be sure to use seasoned and dry logs, which will leave less soot
in your chimney. Kiln-dried wood is particularly good, both for reducing the build-up of soot, and ensuring peak efficiency.

Pellet stoves are slightly different, as they have electrical elements that need servicing on an annual basis. Just as servicing your car regularly ensures it runs at peak efficiency, so too do regular services of your pellet stove ensure it’s in tip top condition.

Follow these simple steps and you will be enjoying your stove for many years to come.