Get the Right Wood-burning Stove

• 1). Avoid low-tech, homemade stoves such as those made from oil drums. This type of stove costs very little money, but that's likely because they aren't very good stoves.
  
  
• 2). Buy the best, newest, most efficient stove you can afford, preferably one with a catalytic converter. Catalytic converters deteriorate over time, so the older the stove you buy, the sooner you will need to replace the catalytic converter, unless it has already been replaced. Ask about the age of the catalytic converter when looking to buy a previously used stove.
  
  
• 3). Be sure the stove is properly sized for the space you will be heating. Too large a stove will waste wood and might even make the space too hot, while too small a stove will be unable to heat the space sufficiently.
  
  

Use the Right Wood

• 1). Use good firewood that has been properly dried and stored. For maximum efficiency, firewood should dry for at least a year, but not more than three years, before being burned.
  
  
• 2). Avoid softwoods such as pine, cedar and spruce. These will put out a lot of heat very quickly but are not best for long-term heating of indoor spaces.
  
  
• 3). Find heavy hardwoods with maximum BTUs. Oak and rock maple are among the best, with birch, beech, hemlock and ash all very good for heating.
  
  

Keep Your Stove and Chimney Properly Maintained

• 1). Clean out the ashes in the stove regularly to maintain good airflow and combustion in the firebox.
  
  
• 2). Clean the chimney at least once a year, preferably in the fall just before heating season starts, by running a chimney brush on a pole up and down it, then cleaning the creosote and ash out of the clean-out door at the bottom of the chimney.
  
  
• 3). Clean the pipe that goes from the wood-burning stove to the chimney at the same time that you clean the chimney. Detach it from the stove and chimney, take it outside and brush and bang out any creosote that has collected inside of it.