Wood Stoves: Worth the Risk?

Rising fuel costs in the North Country are causing some to turn to alternative ways to heat their homes.

Story by Jessica Shea
Photos courtesy of Noah Fitzgerald

Take a drive through rural Northern New York and you will see many quaint country homes with smoke curling from the chimney. With rising heating costs, many people are returning to more traditional practices of heating their home with a wood burning fireplace or wood stove. Though using a woodstove to heat your home on a frosty spring morning might seem like a very benign activity, devastation may follow if the proper precautions are not taken.

According to the Federal Emergency Management Agency, there were 1.7 million fires in the United States in 2000, which cost 4,000 lives, caused 22,350 injuries and lead to $11.2 billion dollars in property damage. The U.S. Fire Administration reports that more than one-eighth of residential fires are caused by supplemental room heaters; such as, wood stoves, kerosene heater, and electric space heaters.

However, in rural areas heating fires account for 36 percent of fires. According to Captain Michael Edwards of the Plattsburgh Fire Department, there are usually between seven and 12 fires caused by woodstoves each year in the City of Plattsburgh.

Most commonly, woodstoves cause chimney fires. A dirty chimney is more likely to start a fire because the creosote residue from burning fires builds up in the chimney. Creosote is a product of burning wood. If a fire burns at 250 degree Fahrenheit or less, creosote will condense from the smoke and adhere to the walls of the chimney. A chimney needs to be cleaned when creosote buildup is a quarter of an inch thick due to the risk of the residue igniting.

"The draft will pull the dry chemical up and put the fire out."

There is no need to climb onto your roof with ruler in hand to check the thickness of creosote buildup. Chimneys should be cleaned yearly, at least. Edwards even recommends having your chimney cleaned every six months to prevent creosote buildup.

According to Steve Dubuque, owner of Tip Top Chimney Sweep and Pressure Cleaning, only an experienced homeowner should attempt to clean their own chimney. Otherwise, a certified chimney sweeper should be hired.

Dubuque, who has been in the chimney sweeping business for seven years, uses fiberglass rods or brushes to clean a chimney. He typically works from the top of the chimney to the bottom. Then, he cleans the stove pipe that connects the wood stove to the chimney. Cleaning a chimney usually takes around 25 minutes to one hour.

Even with regular cleaning, chimney fires may ignite. According to Edwards, most chimney fires remain contained in the chimney. "Normally, what we do is go into the basement. We open the flue and get a full draft," Edwards explains. "The draft will pull the dry chemical up and put the fire out." Dry chemicals are used instead of water because water will crack the chimney and cause the fire to spread to the rest of the house.

Danger lies in the possibility of the chimney getting so hot it causes the adjacent walls to ignite. If the walls ignite, or if the chimney has cracked from the heat and the fire has spread, water will then be used to extinguish the blaze.

"There are ups and downs in wood stove use connected to the price of oil and gas."

Wood stove owners can take safety precautions before they even light their first fire. According to Guy Swartwout, Fire Protection Specialist at the New York State Office of Fire Prevention and Control, proper installation of woodstoves according to manufactures instructions is important in ensuring safety. He advises that professionals install homeowner's wood stove to ensure proper safety precautions.

Swartwout explains that homeowners are currently at a high level of wood stove use. "There are ups and downs in wood stove use connected to the price of oil and gas," he notes. However, residential heating fires have declined drastically since the 1980s when wood stoves were commonly used to offset the high cost of other forms of home heating.

On a chilly spring morning, when drinking your morning coffee at the kitchen table in front of the woodstove, consider not only the warmth of your home, but also your safety. According to the U.S. Fire Administration, one out of three people will experience a fire in their lifetime. Taking the proper safety precautions when using your wood stove will help you prevent yourself from becoming a part of the unlucky third.

Have you experienced a home heating fire?

Pellet Stoves

An alternative to a wood burning stove is a pellet stove. As its name suggests, pellet stoves burn small pen cap sized pellets. The pellets are made from compressed saw dust, wood and/or biomass; such as, peanut shells. Heat is regulated in a pellet stove by the amount of pellets released. Unlike wood stoves, the sides of a pellet stove do not give off a lot of heat. Therefore, there is less of a risk of combustible material being near the stove to ignite.