You Need More Than Fire To Use A Wood Stove

Adding a wood stove to your home can be a great way to reduce your utility costs while adding an old world charm to your living room, but it is not a feat that should be taken lightly. Unlike with central heat, wood burning stoves do not simply work at the flick of a switch and you can’t normally just ignore them and go on with your day. They need to be maintained, and they require the proper equipment to function at their best. In addition to the stove itself there are several items that you should purchase in order to operate the stove properly. Fortunately these items are not particularly expensive, but they are absolutely essential.

To begin with, you need to get a fire resistant hearth or some sort of foundation to set the stove upon. If you look at  already installed wood stoves you will notice that they are always sitting on top of fire brick or some sort of ceramic foundation. This hearth is important to absorb the heat from your stove (particularly for a radiant heat model), and it will catch any hot embers that may spill out while adding wood or cleaning out the ashes. You do not want to place your stove directly on top of a carpet or wooden floor; that is simply asking for a house fire. Secondly, you will need a poker and shovel kit to move the wood around in the stove and to clean out the ashes every few weeks.

Unless you are using wood pellets or buying pre-cut cords of wood, two more important tools for you to purchase are a chainsaw and a maul in order to cut the wooden logs down to size and split them. Since in most cases you will not actually be cutting down a tree to feed your fire it is possible to save a great deal of money by buying a small electric chainsaw rather than the larger gas powered variants. The maul, on the other hand, is basically a one size fits all situations. If you are unfamiliar with a maul, it is essentially a variant of an axe that has a much heavier and wider head that makes it easier to split a log down the middle (with the grain, rather than against it). You can also chop the maul into the log and then use a hammer to force it down and split the log in half.

These tools and accessories are an important part of the proper use and maintenance of your wood stove. Some, like a fire resistant hearth, are indispensable. Others, such as the saw and maul, are useful but not necessary in every situation. All, however, will make a big difference in operating your stove to the fullest.