Preparing For A Winter Of Heating With Wood

It's getting to be that time of year again – the time where the temperatures fall as quickly as the leaves drop from the trees. If you rely on a wood, pellet, or coal burning stove or furnace to heat your home or supplement your home's heating system, you have a lot more work to do than those who rely solely on a heating system. Here, you'll find a few things to make sure to have done or to purchase before winter creeps in and freezes you out.

Chimney Cleaning

Now is a good time to call a chimney sweep to schedule a chimney cleaning before you light your first fire of the season. During the summer of non-use, so many things can happen inside a chimney. There could be rodent and insect nests, there could be leaves and other debris clogging things up. There could even be damage caused by one of the strong storms that blew through town. Until the chimney is cleaned and inspected for the season, do not light a fire – it could easily result in a chimney fire or exposure to the toxic gasses that the chimney carries out of the house.

Fire Safety

Unfortunately, the use of wood-burning appliances to heat the home comes with the increased hazard of fires, so it's imperative that you take the necessary measures to prepare for whatever might happen.

Replace the batteries in all of the smoke and carbon monoxide detectors in the house. You need to be sure that you will be alerted as quickly as possible if there's a fire burning inside the chimney or walls.

Now, check the fire extinguishers in the house. Did you know that fire extinguishers do have expiration dates that must be honored? If you try to use an extinguisher that's beyond the expiration date, it may not work – if it does, it may not work as well as it should.

Emergency extinguishing logs are another thing to have on hand. These logs go into the fire and will quickly choke it out if it gets too hot or begins burning out of control. So, if you were to have a chimney fire flare up, you can toss one of these logs in the fire and it will suck the oxygen out of the air and extinguish the fire fairly quickly.

Taking the time to prepare for winter with a wood burning appliance will help to provide you with safety and peace of mind.