Installation Guide

‐ FuelSelection:Onceyourwood‐burningapplianceisproperlyinstalled,buildinganeffectivefire

requiresgoodfirewood(usingtherightwoodintherightamount)andgoodfirebuilding

practices.Thefollowingpracticalstepswillhelpyouobtainthebestefficiencyfromyourwood

stoveorfireplace.

 Seasonwoodoutdoorsthroughthesummerforatleast6monthsbeforeburningit.Properly

seasonedwoodisdarker,hascracksintheendgrain,andsoundshollowwhensmackedagainst

anotherpieceofwood.

 Storewoodoutdoors,stackedneatlyoffthegroundwiththetopcovered.

 Burnonlydry,well‐seasonedwoodthathasbeensplitproperly.

 Startfireswithnewspaperanddrykindlingasdiscussedearlierinthemanual.

 Burnhotfires.

 Tomaintainproperairflow,regularlyremoveashesfromyourwood‐burningapplianceintoa

metalcontainerwithacoverandstoreoutdoors.

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MoistureMeterInformation

 Firewoodisreadyat10‐25%moisturecontent.

 Newly‐cutlogscanhaveamoisturecontent(MC)of80%ormore,dependingonspecies.Since

woodshrinks,andcanalsosplit,twistorotherwisechangeshapeasitdries,mostwoodisdried

beforebeingused.Airdrying,or‘seasoning,’isthemostcommonmethodusedforcordwood.

InmostpartsoftheUnitedStates,theminimummoisturecontentthatcanbegenerally

obtainedinairdryingisabout12to15percent.Mostair‐driedmaterialisusuallycloserto20

percentmoisturecontentwhenused

 Totestyourfirewood,simplypushthepinsintothewoodandwaitforareading.Remember,

don'tjuststickthemeterintotheendsofyourfirewood.Togetthemostaccuratereading,

splitthewoodandtestthecenter.Thecenterofthelogwillcontainthemostmoisture.

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HowFarShouldIDriveNon‐InsulatedPinsintoWood?

 Tofulldepthifpossible.However,atmoisturelevelsbelow10%,itisusuallysufficienttomake

good,positivecontactwiththewood.Athigherlevelsofmoistureandespeciallyifyouhavea

steepgradient,fullpenetrationisamust.

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