Homeowner Resources
This page features wood-burning how-to’s and resources to help you get the most out of your investment.
Scroll down to the bottom for pellet stove how-to’s and info!
safety first!
The United States Fire Administration (part of FEMA) recommends the following practices to ensure safe operation of your wood-burning fireplace, insert, or stove. For the sake of simplicity, we’ll use the word “fireplace” to include all wood-burning appliances.
Before you burn:
Make sure your chimney and fireplace has been professionally cleaned and inspected at least once a year, especially if you haven’t used it in a long time or if you burn every day.
Keep all combustible materials at least 3 feet from the fireplace.
Install a carbon monoxide detector and replace the batteries annually.
Install a smoke detector and replace the batteries annually.
If the glass is dirty, clean it before burning or after the fireplace is completely cool.
Lighting A fire
First, make sure you only burn dry, well-seasoned wood to prevent creosote build-up. The wood species you burn is far less important than many people think. Hardwoods will burn longer, but what’s really important is to only burn wood with a moisture content of less than 20%.
Many people who are new to wood-burning experience a lot of smoke blowback into the home. This is annoying and not great for your health. Avoid blowback by:
Opening the air intake all the way
Opening a nearby window or door (just a crack is enough!)
“Prime” the flue - which is likely filled with heavy, cold air - by lighting a small piece of wood like a fatwood fire starter - to move that cold air up and out, which will create a good draft
Use newspaper, corrugated cardboard (unpainted, not shiny), or fatwood to start a fire (fatwood is sap-laden wood from the heart of a tree - it lights reliably, and smells great too)
Once the kindling is burning well, slowly add larger pieces of well-seasoned wood being careful not to over-stuff the fire box
Here’s a video from Jotul on how to light a fire in a Jotul F500 V3 Oslo wood stove:
getting rid of the “new stove smell”
New wood-burning stoves, inserts, and fireplaces have a distinctive “new stove smell.” The smell comes from the paint used on appliances. The paint needs to cure, and the only way to do that is with heat.
For your first fire, make a fire using dry, well-seasoned wood. Open the doors and windows during the curing process. While non-toxic, the fumes are unpleasant.
Slowly add fuel until you have achieved a medium burn (about 400°F/204°C and maintain this temperature for at least 45 minutes. Then, increase the burn temperature to a hot burn (600°F/315°C) for at least another 45 minutes. All told, the curing process should take no more than 2-4 hours.
Note that the door gasket (or “stove rope”) can get stuck to the paint so open the door carefully every time you add fuel during the curing process.
where to get firewood
Need firewood? Our friends at Evergreen-based SylvanCycle can help! On this site, you will find marketplace-style listings of fire mitigation professionals as well as homeowners with firewood to sell (or even free firewood). SylvanCycle is just getting started and currently serves the Evergreen/Conifer area, but the plans are to gradually expand to include the Front Range mountain communities. Using firewood from fire mitigation projects is a win-win for everyone!
Some landscapers or arborists also sell firewood. They’re a great source of hardwoods like maple, cherry, and oak. While hardwoods are more expensive than softwoods like pine and fir, they burn longer which will help offset the price.
How to store firewood
There’s nothing quite as satisfying as a couple of seasons’ worth of dry, split, stacked wood. How you store it is important for successful burning as well as pest control and fire prevention.
The best way to store firewood:
Outdoors
Off the ground
Split and stacked loosely to reduce drying time and prevent mold
Protected from the elements with a tarp or a simple lean-to structure.
Keep firewood and away from drip zones like roof overhangs and trees
If possible, stack wood in a sunny spot
If you are using pine-beetle killed trees, cover the wood pile tightly in black plastic wrap for an entire season to kill the beetles (the heat and lack of air flow will kill them), and keep the pile away from any healthy pines to prevent any escaping beetles from colonizing a new tree.
Wood that’s ready to burn is called “seasoned” for a reason. If you cut it this year, plan on burning it next year!
At the very minimum, allow six months depending on how green (fresh)the wood is, whether the logs are cut and split, and whether you follow the storage guidelines we outlined above.
The non-scientific way of knowing your wood is ready to burn is by whacking two logs together. If they feel heavy and you hear a dull thud, they’re wet. If they’re light and you hear a hollow sound, they’re ready to burn. The scientific way is to invest in a moisture meter. Don’t burn firewood with more than 20% moisture - it will burn, but it will also create a lot of smoke and creosote.
Keep firewood away from your house or any flammable materials.
Never store firewood inside your home unless you love spiders, termites, ants, moths, pine beetles, and other creepy crawlies.
wood burning tips
To help you get the most out of your wood-burning fireplace, insert, or stove, the Environmental Protection Agency has a variety of resources in multiple languages to help you become a wood burning expert. These tip sheets and brochures have everything you need to know about wood burning appliances. You can also call our friendly experts if you have questions about your specific heater, such as how to use your catalyst.
What to do with all that Ash
What to do with all that ash? Safety first: make sure ash is put into a metal container with a lid that is stored outside on a non-combustible surface, at least 3 feet away from any flammable materials. Let your ash cool completely cooled before using it!
This Old House has a great article that describes the many ways to use fireplace ash: as soil enhancement, composting, pest control, and more!
glass CARE & cleaning
Glass Care
The ceramic glass on your fireplace, insert, or stove is designed to withstand extremely high temperatures, but it needs to be treated with care.
Never operate a fireplace with broken or missing glass
Never place wood against the glass
Never slam the door or use the door to push a log deeper into the fireplace.
Make sure the stove rope is in good condition and creates a seal when the door is closed
Glass Cleaning
Burning wood means, in essence, a beautiful way to heat your home, but it’s only beautiful when you can see the flames!
The glass on your wood-burning appliance can become coated with creosote and ash to the point you can’t see the flames. Dirty glass can also result from a poor draft, burning wet wood, a small (cooler) fire, or closing the damper too early.
We recommend cleaning your glass frequently with non-ammonia glass cleaner, which is available at our showroom. Our service trucks also carry glass cleaner, so your regular service call is a great opportunity to stock up!
If your glass becomes sooty or caked with creosote, wait until it is completely cool to clean it. Spray it with non-ammonia glass cleaner and use a flat razor to scrape off the creosote. Here’s a very satisfying time-lapse video of how easy glass cleaning is with a flat razor. Follow mtnhp on Instagram for more fun content!
chimney cleaning
Chimney cleaning is just as important as changing the oil in your car, because prevention is much cheaper than the cure. A dirty chimney can significantly reduce burning efficiency and worse, it can lead to chimney fires.
We recommend annual chimney sweeping, which includes a thorough inspection to make sure your chimney is free from cracks, or other damage (especially at the chimney-roof interface), and that there’s a chimney cap to keep debris and water out of your chimney.
We make scheduling service super convenient with our forward-scheduling process: we’ll call you when it’s time for your next service, so you’re always ready for burning season!
pellet stoves
To get the most efficiency from your pellet stove, here are some important tips.
Use Quality Pellets
High quality, low-ash pellets prevent clogging the hopper and feed system. It’s important to know the ash content of the pellets. Some pellet stoves can handle high-ash pellets, while others are only designed for low-ash pellets.
Properly Store Your Pellets
We get a lot of calls from frustrated homeowners whose pellets aren’t burning properly. In many cases, it’s because the pellets were stored incorrectly and have absorbed moisture.
Keep pellets elevated, preferably indoors, in a cool, dry location. If you store them outdoors, they must be thoroughly protected from the elements. Never put pellets on the garage or basement floor! There’s enough moisture in concrete to soak into the bags and ruin your pellets.
Keep Up with Maintenance
The burn pot and ash pan must be cleaned out regularly to ensure proper airflow. At the end of the heating season, remove any unburned pellets from the hopper and feed system. If you don’t, they can soak up moisture, breed mold, and clog the system.
Adjust Airflow and Settings
Too much air will cause pellets to burn too hot. Too little air will lead to incomplete combustion, and a build-up of creosote. Adjust the airflow for a steady burn that’s hot enough for your heating needs but not so high that you overfire the stove and blow through bags of pellets too quickly. If you’re not sure what settings to use, our friendly experts can help!
Use a blower system or fan to distribute the heat throughout the space, whether your pellet stove is used for zone heating or whole-house heating.
FAQ
Why am I feeling a cold draft from my wood-burning fireplace?
The most common cause of a cold draft from an open fireplace is that the damper is open. Unfortunately, beyond closing the damper there’s not much that can be done to keep cold air (which sinks) from coming down the chimney into your home. This - and because so much heat goes up the chimney when you’re burning a fire - is why we highly recommend replacing an open fireplace with an insert. If you’re feeling a cold draft from an enclosed fireplace (with doors) or an insert, you can use fire-rated caulk or sealant to fill in gaps around the fireplace insert.
I get smoke spilling into the house when I light my wood fireplace.
This happens often when the air in the chimney is colder than the air in the fireplace or stove (which, when cold, is around room temperature). Cold air sinks and pushes the smoke back into your living space. Many modern wood fireplaces and stoves feature a bypass damper, which helps direct smoke up the chimney rather than into your living room. You can also prevent smoke spillage by using good kindling like corrugated cardboard (not printed!), cracking a door or window to equalize the air pressure between the home and the outdoors, opening the air vents all the way, and keeping the door ever so slightly ajar until the smoke is clearly going up the chimney.
What are outside air kits, and do I need one?
At our high Colorado altitude, there isn’t quite enough oxygen to achieve ideal flames. We recommend adding an outside air kit which will provide additional combustion air to the fireplace to give the fire more oxygen.
I get very short burn times. How can I extend my burn times?
Softwoods like pine burn quickly, so try mixing some hardwoods into each load. For overnight burns, lower the amount of air coming into the fireplace or stove, and opt for hardwoods.
Why does my blower take so long to come on? The blower has a temperature sensor called a snap disc which is located on the bottom or back side of the firebox. This sensor has to reach a certain temperature before the blower turns on. The timing depends on how hot your fire is. It can take anywhere from 20 -60 minutes for the snap disc to heat up enough to trigger the blower. Keep in mind too that even if the thermometer (if your stove is equipped with one) reads a hot temperature like 600 degrees, the sensor is reading the temperature higher in the stove than where the snap disc sits.
Why does the blower come on and off while I’m burning? Blowers cycle: this means that after the blower comes on, it cools the temperature sensor causing the blower to turn off. You can prevent this by burning a hotter fire. If this does not help, the blower may need to be serviced.
When I’m cleaning my wood stove or fireplace, should I remove all the ash? You can actually improve performance by leaving between ½ ” to 1” of ash in the bottom.
The mantel above my fireplace is hot. Is this dangerous?
The mantel will get hot to the touch - but it should never become so hot that you can’t comfortably touch it. How hot it gets depends on how close it is to the fireplace, how thick it is, and the materials it’s made of. If the mantel becomes too hot to the touch or our technicians discover that it has been incorrectly installed (too close to the fireplace), we can install a metal heat shield on the bottom of the mantel to protect it from rising heat. In some cases, a mantel will need to be re-installed at a proper height.
