It’s Gettin’ Hot in Here with the Wood Burnin’ Stove!

A wood burning stove can easily complete your living room.

So you’ve gone out, bought a wood burning stove, and are ready and excited to start installing it. You’ve made a great choice, considering that wood burning stoves do the following:

Heat your home more effectively and affordably than using natural gas, oil, or other fossil fuels
Provide 60% more heat efficiency than something like a fireplace
Use wood, which is a renewable resource
Burns cleaner (emits less CO2)
Add a cozy and sophisticated finishing touch to your living room

A modern look at wood burning stoves.

Today, I’m going to help you learn how to install that wood burning stove so you can start using it right away and take advantage of its great characteristics. Be warned, however, that wood burning stoves are HEAVY and as such require at least 4 people to move around. Also be aware that you will not be able to fully install it yourself—you’ll need the help of a licensed professional to finish the installation, but you can get it prepped and ready by yourself. If you’ve got an entire day free, you’re ready to start!

Once you’ve got a set location for your stove, you’ll need to measure what your stove clearance is. This is just a fancy way of saying you need to find out what the minimum safe distance is between the stove and the nearby floors and walls. For this, figure out if the walls and floors are combustible and what kind of wood burning stove you have. Also make sure you give yourself enough room to be able to clean out the ashtray and maintain it as necessary. Finally, you’ll want your wood burning stove in a central or frequently used location and if possible, on the ground floor, so that as heat rises upward, it can heat the other levels of your home.
Ensure non-combustible surroundings by placing a non-combustible floor pad underneath your wood burning stove. This pad may be made of brick, ceramic tile, or concrete and should rest evenly atop your home’s existing floor. Make sure the pad is big enough that any stray embers or sparks will land on it and not your floor or you could potentially light your house on fire.
In the US and Canada, a floor pad must be at least 18 inches out if front of the stove door and have 8 inches of space on all other sides.
As for the walls, the stove should be placed at least 12 inches away from non-combustible walls and at least 36 inches away from combustible ones. If you’re nervous about your walls, you can install 28-guage sheet metal (this will prevent your walls from catching fire) over your walls or concrete, ceramic tile, or brick.
Install a chimney. Since wood fires create smoke, you’ll need to install a chimney from the stove out of your home so that you don’t die from carbon dioxide poisoning. It’s best to have a straight, vertical chimney for the smoke to go through, and make sure you add a cap so that birds and other small animals don’t get in.
Hire a certified professional to finish installing your wood burning stove. The professional will both ensure that your chimney’s installation is correct and make sure you wood burning stove meets local and federal codes and regulations.
Install a smoke detector. Though not an actual part of installing your wood burning stove, a smoke detector will ensure safety if your stove ever does get out of control. If you already have one installed, test it to make sure it is working properly.

You’re all done! If you need to find some supplies or accessories for your wood burning stove, or if you want to check out other wood burning stoves, take a look at http://www.plumbersstock.com by clicking on either of the images above to find the best deals on what you’re looking for.