It is a highly combustible and unsafe material which, if left untended, can lead to a chimney fire. Creosote can take the form of a sticky liquid, a flaky, black deposit, or a hard tar-like substance.
A large buildup of ashes can eventually block the air intake from the draft registers and reduce the efficiency of your woodstove. Don’t let ashes build up in your woodstove.Do not use gasoline, charcoal starter fluid, or other flammable liquids to start your fire.Use properly dried hardwoods such as maple, beech, ash, hickory, or oak as the fuel for your woodstove’s fire.Make sure everyone knows where the fire extinguisher is and what to do in case of an uncontrolled fire. Go over fire safety rules with your family.Keep a fully charged Class A fire extinguisher on hand and be sure to test all of the smoke and carbon monoxide detectors in the cottage.Replace any damaged materials and check the cap and screen to ensure that no critters decided to make your chimney their winter home. Take the time to closely inspect the support straps in order to confirm that the chimney is straight and obstacle-free. Harsh winters such as this past one can affect the stability of the chimney which can lead to an unsafe woodstove. Before starting up that inaugural fire, inspect the woodstove’s chimney stack for damage.
Before that can happen however, it is important to make sure that your woodstove is in safe, working order and that you and your family are familiar with woodstove safety.įor your reference, we here at Cade have put together a list of some helpful information with respect to your woodstove so that you can be sure that you and your family have a safe and warm summer! As with every year, that first weekend of work up North can be a chilly one and most of us will be looking forward to getting a fire going. In these few weeks before the May long weekend, plans for opening the cottage are getting underway. While it might be a little late this year, Spring is finally upon us! The buds on the trees are just starting to appear and, before we know it, many of us will be packing up the car for that inaugural trip up North to the cottage.