| Wood burning stoves have several unique | | | | the money you can save. In some places, wood |
| advantages as a primary method of heating your | | | | can be cheaper than gas, especially with the |
| home. They aren't perfect for every situation, but | | | | chronic instability and wild rises in gas prices. This |
| modern stoves are made of solid metal, | | | | can vary some depending on where you live, but |
| extremely efficient, and they put out a | | | | it's one of the first things to look at when |
| tremendous amount of heat. For some people | | | | determining if a wood stove is right for you. It's |
| they are the most energy-efficient method of | | | | very possible that you could be wasting money |
| heating available. | | | | by using gas heat in your home, and sometimes |
| Wood stoves are designed so that you can easily | | | | the differences in price can be startling. |
| control the amount of air that gets to your wood. | | | | Your house design can be a factor to consider |
| This allows you to have some control over how | | | | when determining whether or not you would want |
| hot the wood burns, and how quickly it burns. | | | | to heat with wood. Open designs work much |
| When you initially light your wood, it's important to | | | | better, because they allow heat from a central |
| get your chimney or flu heated so that it will | | | | source to be easily transferred to other parts of |
| properly draw smoke, and during that process | | | | the home. If your house is more separated, it can |
| you will want to have your air control wide open. | | | | be hard to heat the whole thing with wood alone, |
| Most of the time you will want to keep it at a | | | | but in some cases you can still save money by |
| lower level. Leaving it fully open all the time can | | | | using wood to heat the main part of your house, |
| risk damaging your stove, and it causes too much | | | | and supplementing in other rooms with electric |
| of your heat to rise through the flu or chimney. | | | | heat when needed. |
| One of the main advantages of burning wood is | | | | |