Trick 1 Air!
The best use of firewood is obtained with medium-high air regulation and intense flames. This reduces pollution because the particles or gases are more easily burned to generate heat. When your house is already heated, the room temperature is regulated by the amount of wood, rather than by air regulation.
Trick 2 Little smoke is a good sign
The less smoke we see coming out of the chimney, the better. The smoke contains gases with high energy potential that have not been burned. That’s why it’s a good idea to go outside and take a look at the smoke coming out of our chimney. Dense black smoke is a sign that combustion is not optimal, usually because the fire in the stove or fireplace is not intense enough. When the stove has optimal combustion, the smoke is almost a light water vapor, and the smoke escapes through the chimney without odors or particles.
Trick 3 A clean stove is a hotter stove
Clean soot that accumulates in your stove and flues at least once a year. In this way, your stove will heat more and better. A layer of soot, even if only a few millimeters thick, reduces the heating effect because the heat is transmitted to the iron, making it easier for the energy to escape through the chimney flue. Clean more frequently if you burn a lot of pine or resinous woods that deposit more soot than normal.
Trick 4 Different woods give different types of heat
Hardwoods give more heat than light woods with the same volume, but per kilogram all firewoods give more or less the same heat, with light woods being cheaper. Lighter or softer woods are perfect for cooler early or late winter nights. These firewoods allow a cleaner and faster combustion without turning our house into a sauna, and once the embers are achieved we can extend the heat time by leaving a harder wood log.
Trick 5 All-night autonomy
Few stoves allow fires that last more than 2 or 3 hours on a single load of wood to burn efficiently. The old custom of closing the air regulation flues makes it possible to keep embers burning until the following morning, but it must be taken into account that this is a very polluting practice, not very efficient, and with a risk of chimney fire.
To get closer to the effect of an all-night burn, we recommend that the last nightly load of firewood be made with some type of hardwood. In any case, if your wood stove is cast iron and large capacity, a good loading time, and the mass of iron will allow your stove to retain heat until the next morning facilitating the work of ignition.
Trick 6 Turbulence helps!
Turbulence inside the combustion chamber is important to ignite the fire because when the temperature is low, oxygen resists mixing with the wood particles. An air circulation that sweeps away the smoke gases facilitates ignition. This is why the fire starts more easily when the stove door is left ajar. Some houses are so isolated that even a window must be opened when the fire is lit. A bellows also aids in ignition.
Trick 7 Lighting from above is better
Many modern stoves are designed to light the fire from the top down. Lighter from top to bottom is done by placing logs close together at the base, and lighting a small fire on top of that wood so that the fire is falling. In this way, even with the door closed from the beginning, the wood stove reaches its operating temperature earlier, the gases burn better, and the load of wood lasts longer.
Trick 8 Always more than one log
Always place two or three logs at a time – only one log will burn without heat very often. The reason is that firewood is consumed in three phases, and a single log is not capable of optimally maintaining its own process. More logs offer more
combustion surface and generate a more constant and long-lasting heat. In addition, by placing several logs together, a self-combustion effect is created, where gases and flames feed each other, improving the efficiency of the stove.
In short, by following these tips from Jotul, you will be able to get the most out of your wood stove, making the most of the heat generated and reducing wood consumption. Remember to regulate the air properly, keep the stove clean, use different types of wood, look for all-night autonomy and follow the proper ignition method. With these tips, you can enjoy a warm and cozy atmosphere in your home in an efficient and sustainable way.
By following these tips, your wood stove will be more efficient and generate a more even heat. To learn how to maximize the heat output and effectively distribute it throughout your home, check out our complete guides:
