- Cleaning
There’s no hard and fast rule as to how often you should clean your wood burning stove. A lot will depend on how often you use the stove, but I always recommend a good clean at the start of the winter season.
- Empty the ashpan and remove any ash and debris found inside the stove.
- Clean the glass to get a good view of your wood burner’s flames. This is best done by dipping some old newspaper in water and then a bit of residual ash (yes, really!). Once the glass is clean, wipe down with a damp cloth to remove excess ash. Check that the seal on the door of the wood burner is clean and free of excess ash, you can use a soft brush to get into the corners.
- Ensure your chimney or flue is swept before the winter. Use the right sized chimney brush for the width of your flue pipe and buy enough rods to handle the entire height of the chimney. Take the chimney brush and lower it down into the chimney. Push the brush down to the bottom end of the chimney. Repeat the pushing and pulling process until all the build-up falls to the bottom of the chimney. Lay out plenty of dust sheets and wear gloves as this can be a messy job!
2.Check the rope seal
This is a good opportunity to check that your stove rope is in good condition. This is vitally important, both for safety and efficiency as it creates a smoke seal around the door, ensuring that harmful carbon monoxide and smoke goes up the flue, and not into your room. The rope seal also ensures that the air feeds the fire through the air vents and not from the join between the door and the main body of the stove, therefore making your stove more efficient.
If the rope is split or frayed, contact your stove manufacturer or installer to have it replaced.
3.Stock up on logs
Fill your log basket with wood and order more logs to keep you going for a few months.
4.Lighting your wood burning stove
When your wood burning stove is clean and stocked, you can turn up the heat and enjoy the flames. The Grenadier Electric Firelighter is by far the quickest and most efficient way to do this. You won’t even need to bother with the hassle of kindling, paper or matches with this powerful device. Simply plug it in, turn the safety key and direct the nozzle just under the base of the wood. Your wood burning stove will reach peak efficiency in the shortest possible time with the Grenadier Electric Firelighter and you’ll be wondering how you ever managed to light a fire without it.
