https://telegra.ph/How-To-Outsmart-Your-Boss-On-Wood-Burner-12-22 How to Properly Operate a Woodburning Stove Wood stoves are an affordable and cozy method to heat the home. However, the smoke they produce can be harmful to health. It is important to know how these appliances function and to use them correctly. Modern stoves use secondary or catalytic combustion to limit emissions. Older stoves and open flames release high levels of particulates. The firebox The firebox is the heart of any fireplace system. It's where you create a fire to heat your home and provide ambiance. It's a simple concept, but there are many important details that must be accounted for to keep your wood burning stove safe and efficient. The simplest way to think of the firebox is to think of it as an enclosed combustion chamber that has walls and doors. Most fireplaces come with prefabricated metal fireboxes or a masonry firebox. The type of firebox you pick will depend on your personal preferences as well as the type of fireplace you have. Most fireplaces with wood burning use a constant air flow to create the flame and burn fuel. Fresh air is drawn in through adjustable dampers located inside the stove's doors. This allows the fuel to burn efficiently and helps reduce toxic gases that are caused by unburnt or incomplete combustion. The exhaust gases will be dragged up the chimney and away from your home. Modern stoves with catalytic second combustion use a special catalyst that allows the unburned gasses to generate additional heat. This results in a cleaner and less polluting emission than traditional wood stoves with no secondary combustion. Modern non-catalytic wood stoves are also available, but these are typically less efficient than stoves with secondary combustion that is catalytic. Some wood-burning stoves include backboilers that can be used to heat water in addition to space heating. They are known as "combination" or "hybrid" stoves and have been in use since the early 20th cent