12 Tips to Make Sure Your Wood Stove is Ready for Safe Winter Heating

This year over 171 home fires have taken their toll on families in Alaska. Sometimes, home fires are due to improperly installed or serviced wood stoves. Here are a few important tips to make sure your family doesn't become a tragic statistic:

1. Maintain all factory-specified clearances to combustible materials.

2. Don't use gasoline, gasoline-type lantern fuel, kerosene, charcoal lighter fluid or similar liquids to start or "freshen up" a fire.

3. Don't burn your stove with the stove door(s) open.

4. Inspect the stove periodically for missing fire bricks.

5. Inspect the chimney at the beginning of the season and every two months for creosote build-up.

6. Don't start a chimney fire to clean the flue.

7. Don't burn materials other than natural wood, and never burn wet or green wood as it causes excessive creosote that can lead to a chimney fire.

8. Use a perimeter gate to keep small children away from hot surfaces.

9. Don't burn a stove so hot the stove or chimney connector begins to glow.

10. Don't remove hot ashes or store hot ashes in a garage or basement as they will generate carbon monoxide air and/or flammable gases.

11. Don't cook on a stove not designed for that purpose.

12. Make sure your stove is connected to an code-approved factory built chimney or a code-approved masonry chimney with a flue liner. Never vent a wood stove into a "Class B" gas vent chimney.

Also, make sure you have properly installed smoke and carbon monoxide alarms, and test your alarms once a month to be sure they are working.

More safety info:

Alaska Red Cross Fire Safety Info.
Blaze King General Care Information
Blaze King Owner's Manual