Learn Before You Burn

Want to chop less wood and/or spend less money buying firewood this winter? You can reduce the amount of wood you burn by learning how to burn more efficiently. The EPA's Burnwise Program has a lot of great information about this. Spend some time checking out their website, and see if you can learn how to build a better fire.

Here are a few tips:

1. Use only seasoned, dry wood (make sure you keep your wood pile off the ground and cover it up to keep it dry).
2. Use kindling to start your fires, never use trash or paper.
   
3. Remove ash often.
4. Burn hot fires.
5. Check your chimney to make sure there is not too much smoke coming out. If there is a lot of smoke, you may need to have a hotter fire and check to make sure your wood is dry.
   

Here is a great video summarizing important burning tips from the EPA.

Stay warm!

Wood Burning and CO Detection

If you have a wood stove in your home, there are some good tips on how to burn wood properly at the EPA website, Burnwise. They recommend burning only dry, seasoned wood (like the wood in this picture from their website) in a HOT fire. Ignore their comment about starting fires with newspaper as burning trash in your home releases chemicals, inks, and dyes, and we have wonderful birch bark all around us to use as a fire starter.

It is also recommended to have a carbon monoxide tester in your home. Wood stoves can release CO if the fire does not completely burn, and gas stoves may release large amounts of CO. You should have a gas stove vented to the outside, and if not, you should at least make sure to open windows when you cook. It is important to note that gas stoves usually release the most amount of CO when the stove is first turned on, so make sure to open a window then. A great CO detector is High Quality Carbon Monoxide Detector, made by CO experts. This detector displays a constant reading of CO levels in your home. Most detectors only warn residents at higher levels when there is immediate danger to one's health. However, chronic exposure to low levels of CO in your home causes serious health effects, including headache, depression, nausea, vomiting, and sluggishness. The price of one of these detectors can run pretty high, but I may be able to get a good discount by making a large order. Please let me know if you are interested in getting one of these detectors by calling me at the Trust lands at 475-2027 or emailing at yvettec@boreal.org.

From The "Practice What You Preach" Department

A couple of months ago I posted on how everyone should clean and check their wood stoves for leaks before the heating season. Mine was clean and ready, and I didn't think it had any leaks - until I discovered one last night.

I only fire it up when it gets below zero to save on propane, so with temperatures forecast to get down around ten to fifteen below and winds at 25-30 mph I thought I had better stoke up a nice fire.

A few hours later the fire was burning nice and hot, but my wife said she could smell an occasional whiff of smoke. I checked the dampers and vents and everything seemed fine, so I sat and watched the stove and pipe and sure enough - a short puff of smoke came out from where the flue damper was. The wind was strong enough to overpower the hot smoke and the pressure buildup caused the leak. I will need to replace that section of pipe, but in the meantime I will try to find some high temperature putty or tape as a solution for the winter.

I guess the moral of the story is; don't assume your stovepipe has no leaks until you watch it in windy conditions or test it under pressure.