First, about FIREWOOD. You should have already had your firewood cut, stacked off the ground, the top covered, and DRYING for a minimum of three months. It's better to have it seasoned (dried) for six (6) months. It would be best to have it dried for one year before burning. LESS CREOSOTE IS PRODUCED WHEN DRY WOOD IS BURNED.

Wet wood will burn, but drying the wood in your woodstove causes less heat to be available in the house. A cooler fire results from burning wet wood and the smoke from wet wood is cooler and laden with creosote (unburned wood gasses). This smoke condenses faster on the cooler walls of the flue liner, thus more creosote buildup.

USE LESS WOOD WHEN REFUELING: You will have to make more trips to the woodpile, but a smaller fire burns hotter. This will result in more complete combustion of the wood. A HOTTER FIRE AND MORE COMPLETE BURNING RESULTS IN LESS CREOSOTE.

The THIRD STEP is to: KEEP STOVE DRAFTS WIDE OPEN when the fire is first lit. They should remain wide open for at least 30 minutes or more so that the heat from the fire warms the chimney flue. This will cause a strong upward draft in the chimney. This draft will exit the smoke faster from the chimney and will result in less creosote buildup.

The heater drafts should never be completely closed. This would should off the air supply (oxygen) to the fire and prevent the wood from completely burning. The result will be creosote-laden smoke going up the chimney at a much slower rate.

Following these three steps, (1) burning dry wood, (2) using less wood when refueling, and (3) keeping the drafts wide open, and then partially open during burning will result in less creosote deposited in your wood heating system. If you still have an excessive amount of creosote accumulation after following these steps, you should check for incorrect chimney height or size and lack of incoming air to the fire (house is too "tight").

Contact your COUNTY EXTENSION AGENT for more information about wood heating.

Revised 2/16/2006.