Fireplaces and Wood Stove Maintenance

When the calendar approaches winter in your area, and the holiday season starts to swing into full bloom, visions of an open fireplace or burning wood stove brings cheer and warmth to many hearts.

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You can help maintain the cheer all throughout a cold winter's night by incorporating a few energy efficient and health facts into your wood burning routine.

As with most things in life, wood stove and fireplace technologies have improved over time. Pellet stoves, the most efficient stoves on the market, produce almost zero waste.

Whatever type of wood burning system you use, proper maintenance of the system insures maximum heating and environmental efficiency.

Fireplaces and chimneys should be thoroughly cleaned once per year to remove creosote, the tar like build up found in the smoke that attaches itself to the chimney.

Leaks or cracks, especially in wood stoves, should be sealed to keep smoke out of the room and prevent unnecessary air flow into the fire.

Consumers using fireplaces or older wood stoves can also improve their fire wood use efficiency by choosing proper wood.

Fire wood, unlike most other wood around the home, is natural wood, cut, split and stored explicitly for heating. Chemically treated household lumber products normally do not constitute good fire wood. Typically they have been treated with chemicals to withstand the assaults of weather and insect invasion. When burned, they can emit potentially toxic chemicals.

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