Santa's Friend Chimney Service Blog

Tips for Maintaining Your Wood Stove

Knowing the best ways to clean and maintain your wood stove will help you enjoy using your stove without problems this fall and winter. To help you take care of your wood stove, Santa’s Friend Chimney Service would like to share with you some cleaning and maintenance tips from a video produced by Regency Fireplaces. This tutorial provides essential steps to follow, and we have highlighted exactly what you need to do to keep your wood stove working efficiently and effectively this burning season.

Ash Removal

When you use your wood stove daily, you will need to remove the ashes frequently. Every few days, you should check the ash buildup. To avoid maintenance problems, you should never let the ashes accumulate to the loading doors. However, leaving a layer of one-half to one-inch of ashes can insulate the firebox for easier ignition and a uniform burn. You want to safely remove the ashes by allowing them to sufficiently cool down before attempting to remove them. Always treat the ashes as if burning embers could be present. Use a metal container with a lid to store your ashes, and place this container outside on a non-combustible surface to prevent an accidental fire.

Glass Door Cleaning

To keep the glass doors of your wood stove clean, use a soft, clean cloth and a glass cleaner made for fireplaces after the stove has cooled down to room temperature. You can find this type of glass cleaner at Santa’s Friend Chimney Service. Spray the cleaner to the cloth and wipe away any soot from the glass doors. Use another soft, clean cloth to wipe off any remaining cleaner residue.

Creosote Accumulation Prevention

Preventing creosote, a highly flammable compound, from accumulating in your stove and chimney is essential to reducing the risk of a residential fire. Following these tips can help you keep your stove free from creosote buildup:

• Burn your stove with the draft control wide open for 10 to 15 minutes every morning during burning season.
• Whenever you add wood to your stove, be sure to completely open the damper for 10 to 15 minutes.
• Never burn wet or green wood. You want to burn seasoned firewood that has been dried for at least six months.
• Do not burn large, smoldering fires. Instead burn small, hot fires.
• Examine your chimney and the chimney connector every two months during burning season to look for any accumulation of creosote.
• Have your chimney professionally cleaned two times a year to keep it free from creosote buildup.

For more cleaning and maintenance tips for your wood stove, contact us at Santa’s Friend Chimney Service. We are happy to help you keep your wood stove working properly.

The Best Way to Start a Cold Fireplace

If you have ever attempted to start a fire in a cold fireplace, you are most likely familiar with how difficult and frustrating it can be. When the fireplace is cold, you can end up with smoke rushing into your home when you do get a fire going due to the cold air from the chimney pushing down into the fireplace. This issue can be even worse if your chimney is located on the exterior of your house. At Santa’s Friend Chimney Service, we are asked regularly about how to best start a fire in a cold fireplace, so we thought we would give you some tips to help you be as warm as possible this winter.

Be sure that the damper is fully opened.

Although this sounds obvious, some people think that if they keep the damper closed while trying to start a fire, it will keep the cold chimney air from causing problems. However, this does not work and can be disastrous. Always ensure that your damper is completely opened before you attempt to start a fire. If the damper is closed, you could end up becoming ill from smoke inhalation.

Warm up the flue.

To counteract the rush of the cold air sinking down from the chimney into the fireplace it is recommended that you prime the flue by lighting a rolled-up newspaper and holding it up the damper for a few minutes until you feel the draft reverse. This will let you know that your flue is primed and ready to go.

Develop a bed of ashes.

While it is important to keep your fireplace clean from ashes, you should leave behind a layer of about one inch of ashes to help insulate your fireplace. Even the Chimney Safety Institute of America (CSIA) recommends this tip. If you have never burned a fire in your fireplace and have no ashes, you can take ashes from your outdoor grill to build an ash bed. Just keep in mind that the ash bed should not be higher than one inch.

Know the best way to build a fire.

Of course, there are several ways to build a fire, but if you build your fire upside down, you will have a long-lasting and clean-burning fire. Place your large pieces of firewood at the bottom, and then stack smaller logs on top. On the top of this stack, add a layer of kindling. To finish your upside down build, top off the stack with bunched-up balls of newspaper, and then light the stack from the top.

For more suggestions and tips on burning wood, click here to contact us at Santa’s Friend Chimney Service. We are here to help you stay warm and safe this fireplace season!