Home Safety Tips for Fireplaces and Wood Stoves
It’s the time of year when nothing feels better than cozying up in the warm indoors. This is especially true here in southeastern New England, where the first few months of the new year are particularly cold and damp. As everyone bundles up to brave the rest of the winter months ahead, we want to take this opportunity to remind you all of a few key safety tips for heating your home the old fashioned way.
Whether you currently heat your home with a fireplace or wood stove, you’re considering adding a fire feature to your home in the future, or you’re thinking of purchasing a new home with this heating style, there are certain things to consider. While the firelight and crackle of the flame adds extra ambiance and comfort, it also adds a bit of extra work on your end (but hey, it’s worth it, right?) and means taking extra precautions to make sure you, your family and your home stay safe. Here’s what you need to keep in mind:
Maintenance, Maintenance, Maintenance!
The best way to prevent an incident is to ensure proper maintenance of your stove or fireplace and especially your chimney. The most common cause of chimney fires is ash or creosote buildup (creosote is a tar-like fire byproduct that accumulates in your chimney). Get in the habit of having your chimney checked once a year and have it cleaned by a professional after approximately every 80 fires. A professional can even show you how to check your chimney, so you can make sure it’s in good shape in-between services from the professionals.
It’s not just your chimney that needs checking. Make sure you test all the smoke detectors and carbon monoxide alarms in your home. Don’t wait for the batteries to die before replacing them. Make swapping in fresh batteries part of your holiday decorating routine or include it in your spring cleaning so you know they’re always ready to go.
Feed Your Fire the Right Fuel
Always use proper fuel in your wood burning stove or fireplace. Hardwoods such as maple, beech, ash, hickory or oak are best. Also make sure the wood you use is sufficiently seasoned. Seasoned wood burns cleaner, heats more efficiently and produces less smoke and creosote, meaning your chimney will stay cleaner. Seasoned wood is cut, split and air dried for at least a year before burning.
If you’re not certain of when your wood was cut or how long it’s been drying, a good way to tell if it’s well-seasoned is to look at the ends of the logs. The ends will be darker in color and cracked if the wood is seasoned. Another good trick is, if you hit two seasoned logs together they will sound hollow.
Once you have your seasoned firewood, be sure to store it in a dry area protected from the elements, such as in a shed or under a tarp and off the ground.
Watch Your Ashes
Ashes in your fireplace or wood stove can stay flammable for up to three days after the fire has gone out, so be sure to wait at least that long before removing them. When you are ready to clean out your stove or fireplace, use a metal, fire-proof shovel and bucket to remove the ashes, and always store ashes far away from anything flammable. As you do this, leave roughly one inch of ashes for your next fire because it will serve as insulation, helping to heat coals faster and retain heat better.
Once the warmer months arrive and you retire your fireplace for the season, you can clean out the ashes completely. While it may be tempting to tidy the area during your routine chores, never use a vacuum to clean up ashes. There could be live coals you don’t see that can very easily start a fire in the dry dirt and dust in your vacuum bag/receptacle.
Use the Right Tools
In addition to the metal shovel and bucket mentioned above for cleaning your ashes, make sure you have metal and non-flammable tools for building, stoking and adding wood to your fire. And it’s always a good idea to wear protective gloves (again, non flammable!) while using your wood stove or fireplace to keep your hands safe from any burns.
While you’re at it, protect your floors too! Using a fire screen or always securing your stove door will prevent sparks from flying out of your fire—at the very least you’ll save your hardwoods from scorch marks and at most you avoid your living room catching fire. If you’re still nervous for your floorboards, you can buy a fire-proof mat to safely cover the area in front of your fire, such as a hearth pad or stove board.
And as for your chimney, installing a chimney cap will prevent debris from falling in and getting lodged in your chimney. It will also keep critters from building their homes there during the warmer months. Both can cause blockages if not prevented and leave you with smoke backing up inside your home or cause a chimney fire.
While there’s nothing quite like warming up by the fire in your home, always remember that fire is a force of nature. It can be unpredictable and dangerous, so never leave a fire unattended in your home. Always make sure you take every precaution to protect yourself, your family and your home, and you’ll enjoy a cozy winter.