How to Use a Wood Burning Stove

Starting a fire with a wood burning stove takes patience and a bit of know-how.

Here's also a quick cheat to starting your fire and keeping it running efficiently.

1. Make sure your damper is vertical! (The video shows clearly where that is.)

2. Use dry twigs. If the twigs are dry, they snap easily. If you can't find dry twigs, establish a base fire with match-light charcoal.

3. Avoid paper if possible! It's always better to start your base with twigs or match-light charcoal. If you can't find any of that, use cardboard instead of paper.

4. Blow on the fire a lot. The more you blow, the better. Don’t use an electrical fan though as that might smoke out your space.

5. Remember the basics: Heat rises. So always focus on creating your initial bed of fiery coals before moving onto other steps.

6. Smaller is always better! Big logs will suffocate your fire. Use the smallest wood you can find, particaurly in the early stages of starting the fire.

7. Be patient and enjoy art of making a fire with a wood burning stove.

[jameskrug]

I'm a retired chemist, new to wood stoves and I've watched dozens of videos. This one covers the science and theory, in lay terms, BEST on the subject, that I have seen. Thank You

[petermenosky]

Great video, but one suggestion, build the fire upside down. Put a couple logs on the bottom, then your medium branches on next, followed by your vine bark and birch bark on top. Light the birch bark first. As the fire burns, the coals will fall down into the layer below igniting it and building your bed of coals and ultimately your logs. You get a lot of instant heat up the chimney with this method helping to clear any cold blockages. Works a charm each time.

[matthewdiehl]

Ive built hundreds of fires this way-and still do sometimes. But nowadays when im at home i just use a propane torch, kindling in a can. I use regular kindling splits and blast it with the torch, and alternately blast the chimney pipe with my torch too, to force heat to the insode of my chimney pipe and induce draft. Getting a draft started is the biggest help to starting a fire quickly. Also, if ur wood stove sat unused for several days and ur trying to start a fire in damp chilly wet weather its best ti blast the outside of ur chimney pipe with the torch for a bit to push that heavy plug of damp cold air out of ur chimney and help prevent an inversion, which is when ur stove reverses on start up and smokes out ur house

[joshbredehoeft]

I'm new to wood stoves and this was the video I was looking for. Everything put into simple terms and explaining the functions of everything. You're a lifesaver man.

[AlvinGriswold]

I have the same exact stove. The instructions said to not install a damper on the stove pipe. Doing so stops your secondary burn. The way this stove works is when it gets up to temp.(close to 1000 degrees) you close the primary air and the draft will cause oxygen to enter through the secondary air tubes at the top of the fire box that burns the smoke. This is why this stove is so efficient.

[TwiggehLeaf]

I'm moving into a log cabin in the woods with a wood stove, so this is great for me! Thanks!

[vanPoll]

Best explanation for new woodstove owners I've seen on youtube so far. Building a nice bed of coal, giving the fire all the air it needs to build the coalbed and after that feeding the large stuff to it, regulating the air down for your heating needs when you have the fire up to speed.

[khadijahdavis]

This is why i love YouTube for videos like this, i so appreciate you for this video my beautiful brother please don't stop making these, thank you so much, you just never know how many people need this info, i just bought a wood burning stove and i am very glad to have found your video, this is valuable to an amateur such as myself

[TAC]

Just bought a new Home that has a Pellet Stove upstairs and a wood burning stove in the basement. This was a great help.

[Lynkimball.]

Thank you so much. Newly divorced and needed sone tips. You’re awesome!

[dorian]

I’ve been adding a few corn chips to my kindling. It works great. I learned this from an episode of The Big Bang Theory!

[hoofgripweightlifting]

Wow. Thank you for this video. For years we used electric and propane heater.

I plan to install wood burner soon as i expect the price of propane and everything else to skyrocket. We live in the country where we have lots of trees. Thank you.

[ronoutwest]

Yeah, I been heating with a wood stove since I was a kid. I’ve cut hundreds of cords in my life. Get it cut and split in the spring and let it bake in the sun all summer and you’ll have dry wood to burn in the fall and winter. Keep it out of the rain and snow! Split some kindling and start it with newspaper. Pretty simple!

[michaeleconomides]

Good information, but you forgot to mention pre-heating the flue before starting the fire. This step seems to be missing from most wood stove videos on YT. I struggled to understand why my house would fill with smoke for the first few minutes, despite the fact that I was doing everything shown in the videos. I eventually learned that not pre-heating causes cold air to push down on the fire and prevents smoke from exiting the flue (until it warms up).

[e_ak_l]

I use a wood stove to heat my house when it’s real cold…like it is now, at -30. There were some tips in here that I didn’t know about. Great video, very informative

[robertcastro]

Thanks so much. Very well taught for first time wood burning stove owners.

[trashcanbees]

this is an absolutely fantastic video and it helped me get a wonderful little fire going. unfortunately i realized that my problem is that i am not getting a draft because the vent in the room is sealed from the outside, which became clear after filling my house up with smoke, lesson learned lol

[rogerknight]

We’ve been getting ready for our wood heater for at least a year know; harvesting wood, splitting, stacking, etc. I’ve saved all the scraps created when splitting the wood. It will make some fine kindling, along with the dryer lint that my wife has been collecting. I’ve also invested in a really nice moisture meter. Spot checking my wood racks shows a moisture reading of no higher than 12%. Everything I’ve read says keep it below 20%. My Buck Model 81 will be installed in a few weeks. We’re pumped. Thank you for the info!!

[brianwelteroth]

I agree with all you say. Though the following are more tips: A propane torch is the easiest way to start a fire and advance it to the stage when you just wanna jam it full of wood, set the air and walk away for a few hours. Fooling with the fire and opening it up every hour or so to add just one log loses a lot of heat from your house. After a full night burn push everything to the back and rake the coals to the front. After about 3 days of burning let her die down all day to burn up most of the coals, the bottom might be about half full. After about 5 days of burning you then need to let her die down all day with air damper wide open to remove the ash and restart.

[thesainzfamily]

thank you for this! so informative with tips and tricks and clear explanations, this video is a life saver, thanks so much!