Getting the Most From Your Wood Burning Stove




Wood burning stoves are a wonderful, charming, centrepiece to your home, keeping you relaxed and toasty on these cold Winter nights. But let’s make sure you stay warm – and safe – with the following advice on how to maintain your stove.


Use the Correct Fuel

It’s best to use logs with a moisture content between 10 and 20%. We have moisture metres that can help you monitor this. Freshly felled wood can contain up to 60% water. This is not only inefficient, but it can also release more pollutants. Kiln dried logs are cleaner and easy to light and produce minimal emissions, hence they are better for you – and the environment.



Sweep Your Chimney

The frequency of this depends on how frequently your wood burner is used, however it should be at least every 12 months. This will ensure that soot doesn’t build up causing blockages. As well as sweeping the chimney, you should consider a full service which will look at all aspects of your fire’s safety and performance.



Know Your Limits!

Tasks such as cleaning the glass (best to dip newspaper in water and then coat in some ash before wiping your glass doors) and removing ash are straightforward, regular maintenance elements. Your wood burner must be respected with professional attention in order to keep you safe and optimise the heat output and minimise environmental impacts.



The Best Way to Light Your Fire

To light your fire, arrange a small pile of kindling sticks with a firelighter in the middle. Natural firelighters made from wood shavings dipped in wax are best. They light easily and cleanly and don’t produce as much smoke. Once the fire is lit and the box is hot, add a log, bark side down. Leave the air vents fully open after lighting the fire. Once the first log is burning well, add a second if required. Close the air vent to halfway at this point.


We aim, always to help you get the best out of your wood burner and our fuels. We hope you have found this advice useful and would be pleased to help with any questions you may have.