When dealing with safety and wood stoves, there are many things to consider. This blog will highlight the main safety concerns. All of our stoves come with a warning sheet that can also be found on our website. It is important to read it carefully as failure to do so could prove to be quite dangerous or even deadly.
Photo submitted by Colin Lime
Safety Precautions During Installation
- When deciding where to install the stove, you need to make sure that the clearances are respected and that proper shielding is used if necessary. We offer different wall mounts that can reduce the clearance of the stove to combustibles, which saves precious square footage. We also offer side shields which protect lateral surfaces to the stove.
- All wall mounts come with side guards to prevent the spilling of heat onto the surfaces they are mounted to. They also comes with a telescopic flue shield which offers 37” of flue protection when fully extended.
- We offer flue shield extensions for the run of pipe that is not protected by the flue shield that comes with the wall mount. The flue shield extensions are required when wall mounting the stove and you have more than 37” of pipe going up your wall.
Precautions to Consider for Exiting the Pipe
- When exiting the pipe, you need to provide the proper air gaps, fittings and cap.
- The pipe must surpass the highest point of your roof by one foot. If it does not, the heat could hit the roof and not allow the stove to function as it should.
- Pipes must be cleaned regularly. If not, excess creosote can build up and you could potentially cause a chimney fire. To prevent this, check the pipe after one week of use and keep checking weekly to establish your rate of build up as it will change from install to install. How to clean the pipes are mentioned in our FAQ.
Precautions to Consider While Using Your Stove
- As mentioned on the warning sheet; never use the stove without a smoke detector, carbon monoxide detector or a fire extinguisher present. This will ensure your safety in case anything happens.
- An intake of air also needs to be provided while the stove is in use, as it consumes the oxygen inside the space. A window opened slightly is enough to replace the air that is consumed.
- Do not operate the stove for long periods of time with the stove door open. This will allow too much heat into the flue pipe and it could over heat it.
- Do not use the stove without the baffles (plates inside the stove found at the top). The stove is designed to be used with them in place. If not, there could be excess heat going up the flue.
- Overfilling the fire box, operating the stove with a cracked glass, cooking on top of the stove with oil, and leaving the stove unattended are all things that should not be done. This may be common sense to most, but to an inexperienced stove operator, these things may not be so obvious.
- Always read the warning sheet. If the precautions on the warning sheet are taken, you should have nothing to worry about and you can enjoy your stove with peace of mind.
Overall, from installation to operation, there are a lot of things to consider safety-wise which is why you should take the time to properly read the warning sheet for the safe, correct use of your Cubic mini wood stove.