Here is a beginners guide to heating with a wood stove.
Whether you want to heat with wood for self reliance purposes, or cost purposes or just ambiance, here we’ll talk about how to heat with a wood stove for beginners.
Quick Naviagation
- How Do Wood Stoves Heat?
- Know What you Want
- How Much Does Heating With a Wood Stove Cost?
- The Three Elements of Heating With a Wood Stove
- Other Equipment
- Existing Wood Burning Stoves
- Other Questions
First we’ll cover how a wood stove heats; second, your desires and expectations for your wood burning stove; next we’ll cover the three main elements of heating with a wood stove; finally, we’ll cover some other frequently asked questions.
How do wood Stoves Heat?
Wood stoves heat through three actions: radiant heat, convection heat and conduction heat. Radiant heat is like the sun, it comes right onto you and warms you. Convection is like sitting in the shade on a warm day, the air is warm, but there is no direct heat radiating on you. Conduction is like a hot water bottle, heat is transferred directly from one material to another. Radiant it the most effective of these three. Remembering this can help you design how to implement a wood stove in your house.
Know WHat You Want
Knowing what you want is important for heating with a wood stove. How much of the heating do you want to happen with the wood burning stove? Are you going to supplement with any other source of heat? Do you want it to heat the whole house? Do you want to be able to heat water or cook with your wood burning stove? Asking yourself these questions and questions like them will be critical going into heating with a wood stove. Write down your goals and exceptions that you have for heating with a wood burning stove.
The Three Elements of Heating WIth A WOod Stove
There are three main parts of the equation you need to look at when beginning to heat your home with a wood stove: the house, the stove itself, and then the fuel you will use. The goals and expectations you outlined first will be critical in helping you make these choices.
House
Heating with a wood stove starts with the house.
Location
If you want to put a stove in an existing house or you’re building a new house it is important to choose where to place your stove. Going for aesthetics? Place it as the central piece of the room. If you want to use it for cooking or heating water, you may want it in the kitchen. Bear in mind the different characteristics of convection, conduction and radiant heat when choosing a location. If you have a spot you normally sit or sleep, you may want the stove in a direct line of sight with the stove to utilize the radiant heat. For convection heating, hot air rises, so perhaps the basement is the best location for your stove. Conduction heating is accomplished through heating a material that you are indirect contact with, for example a rocket stove bench or a masonry bed platform.
Also think about where you’ll store your fuel, where you’re going to bring it in from, etc.
Insulation and Drafts
Insulation is a game changer when heating with your wood stove. We used to live in a trailer that had about an inch of foam insulation. We heated with a wood stove and it took a massive amount of wood and a very large stove to do the job. Since moving into a tiny home twice the size of our trailer, with six inches of fiberglass insulation, we use a quarter of the wood in a smaller wood stove. Insulation matters.
If you are working with an existing home and adding insulation isn’t practical there are still things you can do that will help. Investing in a good set of window blinds that have good insulating capacity is a good first step.
If your house is drafty it doesn’t matter how good your insulation is. Go through your house and eliminate drafts.
How do you heat multiple rooms?
Depending on the location of your stove there are many ways to heat multiple rooms. Here is a great article that covers how to heat multiple rooms with a wood stove.
The stove
The stove is the next element. There are all sorts of stoves out there, do your research and make sure you find one that meets your needs best. This is a rabbit hole that you can get sucked into, beware!
Some good things to think about when choosing your stove is how large of a fire box it has, what dimension of wood it likes how efficient it is, does it meet your local EPA regulations, is it easy to light? What maintenance does it require? Some wood heaters are masonry and cob based, is that something you want? Do you want a rocket stove? Do you want a catalytic stove?
I already have a wood stove
If you already have a wood stove, learn how to operate it efficiently. Wood stoves are different and you can’t treat them all the same and get the same results. If you have a stove that isn’t working well, it might not be the stove, it may be the way you are running it. So do your research and know what kind of stove it is, and how to use it.
Fuel
You will need good seasoned wood to run your wood burning stove. Seasoned wood has a moisture content of 20% or less. Do not burn green wood. Some woods take longer to season than others. Here is a more in depth article on seasoning wood.
Wood is measured by the cord. A cord of wood is enough wood to fill a space that is 128 cubic feet, about 4’X4’X8′.
How Much Fuel DO I need?
This one is a big question mark because it depends. This depends on how much insulation you have, what kind of wood you are burning, how efficiently your stove burns, etc.
WHere to find wood
You can pay someone to cut wood for you and buy it by the cord. Or if you keep your eye out you can also pick up wood that people don’t want that is free for the hauling. If you live by a forest you can go the local forestry service and buy tags to go harvest your own wood. Here is a great article from Backwoods Home on how to haul your own wood.
How to store Wood
It’s best to store your wood off the ground, covered and with decent ventilation. Store your wood away from buildings and fire hazards.
Other Equipment FOr HEating WIth a WOod Burning Stove
- Chimney Cleaning Kit ( You can buy one here) Make sure to get the right size for your chimney.
- Welding gloves (get some on Amazon here)
- Fire Poker (Get one here)
- Splitting Maul (Get one here)
- Splitting Wedges
- Sledge Hammer
- Hatchet
- Smoke Detector/Carbon Monoxide Detector
- Some way of starting a fire whether that is Matches (get it here) or Flint and Steel (get it here) or a Torch (get it here).
Exisiting WOod Burning Stoves
Some people aren’t getting a new stove, but are starting with an already existing stove. Here are a few steps you should take, plus some ideas for making your stove perfect for heating your home.
DOuble check that it was installed Properly
We have a friend whose roof caught on fire because they started a fire in a preexisting stove that was installed incorrectly. Either double check yourself that it was installed correctly or hire someone else to double check for you. It is also a good idea to clean out your chimney. Creosote fires aren’t fun.
How can I help my existing wood burning stove run more effecientley?
Here are two great articles that cover this topic, one from the Stove Sellers and one from SF Gate.
Other Questions
What Maintenance WIll I need to put into tHis?
You will need to source fuel, which could mean as much as hauling and splitting your own. You will need to haul the wood in the house and keep the fire burning as long as you want heat. The chimney will need to be cleaned. You will need to clear and dispose of the ash from your stove.
What do you do with the ash?
MAKE SURE YOUR ASHES ARE COOL AND EXTINGUISHED. Either let your ashes sit for a couple of days in a secure location or put them in a bucket of water. You can save ashes and put them to good use (here is a great article by Practical Self Reliance on what to use ash for). Or you can compost is or use it as a garden supplement. Be careful composting it, your pile should be able to handle a little here and a little there, just don’t dump a years worth of ashes on it all at once. Carrots LOVE ashes.
Why do you clean the Chimeny?
When you burn wood there is a residue that will begin to coat the inside of your chimney called creosote. This substance is flammable and if you let it build up to much it can cause a chimney fire and (possibly) a house fire. Plus keeping a clean chimney helps your stove burn more efficiently.
How do you clean the Chimeny?
You can hire a chimney sweep or do it yourself. Here is a great article that covers this topic from MrFixitDIY.
How do you split wood?
Starting with the right equipment is important. A splitting maul, a wedge and a sledge hammer are critical. There IS a difference between a splitting maul and an ax, so watch out. Get the heaviest maul and sledge hammer you can swing comfortably.
Here is a great step by step video on how to split wood.
Have any other questions? Reach out to us and we will do our best to help you!
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