How to use your masonry stove

The beauty of a masonry heater is that you do not have to throttle the air in order to save wood, so you have heat for a longer period of time. You can fire with enough air supply, because the heat is taken up into the stones and radiated into your room over many hours.

Here are some simple tips on how to fire.

• Make sure to use dry wood.
• Ensure the wood is finely split. Place the largest pieces at the bottom and the smallest on top.
• Place a few fire starters between the small pieces of wood and light them.
• Enjoy the fire!!
• Regularly check the ash pan and the firebox for ash. Remember that a layer of ash is good for wood burning. It creates some air and turbulence that makes combustion easier.

Cleaning Your Stove

A soapstone masonry heater has to be cleaned from time to time. We recommend regularly checking the stove for the buildup of soot particles. These can hinder the absorption of heat from the smoke at the top of the stove. This soot buildup on the walls can be caused by moist wood, poor draft, too large wood pieces, or too little wood. This happens to all of us to some extent, so occasional checking is important.

Here’s how to check and clean:

• Remove the top plate or the front part of the top plate (for top pipe connection).
• Check if there is a lot of soot on the walls.
• If there is more than half a centimeter of soot, it needs to be removed.
• This can be easily done with an ice scraper or something similar.
• Push the soot down to the bottom layer and the stove will function perfectly again!
• If the soot buildup is more than half an inch, the process has gone too far. Then the top layer with stones needs to be dismantled.
• Clean the stones and also remove the soot that is on the layer of stones below, in case you have two layers of stones above the burn chamber.
• Use gloves and protect your floor from soot stains.
• Rebuild the top layer. Soot stains can be easily removed by washing with a sponge or cloth and soapy water.

Cleaning the Glass

Every stove will get soot on the glass. This is because the glass quickly loses its heat and thus becomes much colder than the flames nearby. The glass is easy to clean:

• Use a damp cloth with some soot and wipe off the caked soot.
• Or use a special sponge, such as from Schott Robax, for cleaning. If the soot is very difficult to remove, it is likely that not only dry wood has been burned… Scrubbing well with soap or stronger cleaning agents is then necessary.