Caring for your fireplace or wood burner

Like pretty much everything at home, your wood burner or fireplace needs to be cared for.

As we start to get into the autumn and winter months which is the time of the year you’ll be using your wood burning stove on a regular basis, you need to ensure that it is in good condition.

In fact, regular maintenance throughout the year will help combat any problems down the line.

Let’s find out how to care for your fireplace or wood burner with some tips.

how to care for your fire place or wood burner

Tips to maintain your fireplace or wood burner

#1 Get an annual inspection carried out

Most of these tips to help maintain your fireplace or wood burner you can do yourself however you’ll need to get a professional to inspect it at least once a year.

There may be some important issues you might miss when looking after your wood burner that a professional will pick up on. This is vital for safety and it is recommended that you get an inspection carried out just before you start to use your wood burner in the colder months.

#2 Have your chimney swept

This ties in with our first tip because you’ll need a professional to do this.

Yes, there are still many chimney sweeps around and they are back in popularity due to the rise in people having wood burning stoves at home. Burning wood creates a built up of something called creosote which can cause chimney fires.

Even if you are only using smokeless fuel, HETAS recommend that you have your chimney swept at least once a year.

#3 Clean the glass properly

You will notice after a period of the time that the glass on your wood burner door will get pretty dirty.

It is actually easy to clean and you can just use some newspaper with malt vinegar to get rid of the build up that comes with the smoke from your fire. It is a small job but one which, if you do regularly, will help to maintain your wood burner.

#4 Take care of rust

Rust isn’t as big an issue with modern stoves but it can still appear and not only does it affect how your log burner looks but it will impact on its performance too.

Luckily, rust is pretty easy to take care of. Take some steel wool and rub it over the rusted parts in a circular motion. Wipe it down with a damp cloth afterwards and leave to dry. Once it has completely dried, you can apply paint that has been designed for high temperature stoves and your wood burner will look like new again.

#5 Cleaning the inside

Your wood burner or fireplace will probably have an ash pan for collecting the ashes that are generated from burning firewood.

However, you should also clean the inside of your fireplace or wood burner too. This helps to keep it clean and will also aid in lighting better fires as well. Make sure that your fireplace or wood burner is cool before you do this so it is best to leave it about 12-24 hours after you use it.

You can clean the inside easily with a dustpan or just take a vacuum cleaner and suck up any leftover ash and debris.

#6 Inspect the rope seal

Your wood burner will have a rope seal around the door and it is there to ensure that it closes properly and your wood burner is as efficient as possible. Overtime they can become loose and worn.

The easiest way to check if you need to replace it is to take a piece of paper, put it between the door and the stove and close it. The paper should be difficult to pull out - if it pulls out without a fight then you’ll probably need to replace your rope seal.