Wood stove safety

There is nothing that sounds like winter more than crackling wood in a wood stove and the sounds of groaning children grumpily stacking firewood. The fireplace can be the heart of the home in fighting the chilly winter weather. Regular preventative maintenance is important to keeping everybody as safe as they are warm, however; and here are some tips to keep your stove in tip-top condition.

Get an annual inspection from a chimney sweep. They'll check for creosote buildup, damage, and function in the chimney and ensure your fireplace is safe to use. You would think in Alaska that there would be a lot of options, but there aren’t many chimney sweeps. Contact local wood stove vendors and ask them for referrals, and you will discover that some have nobody to recommend. Keep on calling until you find a couple to choose from. If more than a quarter of the wood you burn is softwoods or is wet, do the cleaning twice per year; once at the beginning of winter around October and the second in January.

Clean the firebox after every use. The firebox is the part of the wood stove where burning occurs. To clean, remove ashes and unburnt wood from in front of the fresh air intake to prevent airflow obstruction. Do not remove all the ash, though, as that is an important part of the fire burning and heat retention process. Place removed ash into a metal bucket and cool outside for at least seven days before disposing into a dumpster, or use the ash for projects like your garden, an ashpit for chickens to clean themselves in, or to sprinkle outdoor in a gravel area.

Chimney caps are very important on chimneys to keep birds, animals, and debris from entering your chimney. They can also catch embers as they exit if you have an ember screen on your cap, which is a very cheap addition. In addition, it will keep rain and snow out of the stack.

Regularly check for cracks in your stovepipe or firebrick lining. These should be repaired to maintain the integrity of your fireplace. Cracks allow smoke and carbon monoxide to escape and can also allow fresh air to enter that you cannot control and increase the temperature possibly resulting in a chimney fire.

Make sure your fireplace has proper ventilation to avoid smoke buildup inside your home. If your home becomes smoky, open a window to improve airflow. Smoke needs a flow path. Cracking a window at both ends of the room allows smoke to move through without spreading to other areas.

Burn seasoned hardwoods like birch, poplar, willow, or alder. Softwoods like pine, spruce, or cedar are okay to start a fire but never to burn for extended periods of time. Cottonwood is a medium between the two in that it doesn’t produce a lot of heat and sparks but it also doesn’t burn so slowly that it is incomplete. “Seasoned” means at least one year old.

Overloading your fireplace can lead to overheating and damage. Follow your manufacturer’s guidelines for this, but a good rule of thumb is to never fill a firebox more than the height of the bricks inside of it. If you do not have bricks or are putting your own in, keep it around one-third filled.

Too much wood, softwood, and too much air will increase the temperature of the fire. You can tell that a fire is too hot by several things. A whooshing sound inside the firebox or chimney is a sign that it is drawing in oxygen faster than it is designed to. A red glow at the base or along the chimney is another key indicator. If either of these are present, your risk of a chimney is significant and you need to mitigate the hazard immediately. Decrease the amount of air getting into by closing the air intake or closing the flue, or open the door and throw a coffee mug of water onto the fire to decrease it and immediately shut the door. Call 9-1-1 if you have a chimney fire immediately.

Keep the area around your fireplace clear of flammable materials, including curtains, furniture, and rugs. Do not allow anything to anyone to get within 3 feet of the fireplace. Install a carbon monoxide detector near your fireplace to ensure your family's safety. If you notice any issues with your fireplace, call a professional for prompt repairs. Do not put your life at risk for a quick/cheap fix.

Christian M. Hartley is a 40-year Alaskan resident with over 25 years of public safety experience and public service. He runs a freelance business, Big Lake Writer, from home in Big Lake that he shares with his wife of 19 years and their three teenage sons.