It took me two whole days, but I finally figured out how to work our new house’s old-timey stove.
It’s the first time I’ve fired it since we bought the house this summer. This thing is a lot more complicated than it seems. It has a main damper and a bypass damper, a separate air intake and it hadn’t been fired up for 6 months so the flue was full of cold air and humidity.
But crucially, it sits inside a northern house that’s so well insulated it’s airtight enough for the fire to pull a vacuum inside the house, snuff itself out and create enough of a backdraft to smoke up the entire house in seconds when all the windows are closed.
It took me a while to figure out how to adjust the dampers, stop the air extractor and crack a window open when I add a fresh log to avoid turning the whole family into smoked meat 🙂 But now the flue is warm, the draft is going good and the house is sitting at a balmy 82 degrees while it’s freezing outside.
Nice!
Get someone to inspect and clean the chimney. They get creosote build-up that could start a fire where you don’t want it.
Wood stoves are great. I used to go home from school with a pack full of shorts. My Mom kept the house at 90F during the day.
The chimney is swept every year by law. Even if you don’t use the chimney, it has to be done, else the insurance company will use it to deny any damage claim - although I think maybe if the chimney is never used, it’s every 2 years.
Anyhow, the chimney sweep came just before we bought the house. It’s good.