Excerpted from the EPA factsheet on wood burning stoves.

Did you know that by changing the way you burn wood in your woodstove, you can save money, reduce air pollution and protect your health?

Here are a few simple tips to make your fire burn hotter, keep your wallet fatter and keep your local air cleaner and healthier to breathe when using your woodstove:

• Upgrade to an EPA-certified woodstove or other clean burning technology. All new stoves are EPA-certified and burn cleaner and more efficiently. A clean burning stove emits far less particle pollution - 70 percent less, on average - than an older, less-efficient stove (or a fireplace insert). They also use approximately 30 percent less wood.
• Choose the right firewood. Hardwoods are the best. Regardless, never burn trash or treated wood which can emit toxic air pollutants.
• Season all firewood. All firewood should be split, securely covered or stored, and aged for at least six months. Seasoned wood burns hotter, cuts fuel consumption and reduces the amount of smoke your woodstove produces.
• Choose the right size stove. A stove that is too large for a room will need to be dampered down so it doesn’t overheat the space. This can waste wood, which in turn wastes your money.
• Clean ashes from the stove. Excess ashes can clog stove’s air intake vents, reducing its efficiency. Discard after they are completely extinguished. Do not leave the metal ash container near the house or near any flammable material. This could start a fire!
• Begin with a quick hot start. Open the woodstove draft to maximum, and start the fire with a manufactured firestarter or crumpled paper and kindling. As the kindling burns, add smaller pieces of firewood followed by larger pieces until the fire is bright and hot.
• Always burn small hot fires. These fires provide the maximum in heat, while cutting fuel consumption and reducing pollution.
• Don’t let the fire smolder. Many people think they should let a fire smolder overnight. But reducing the stove’s air supply does little for heating and can increase air pollution.
• Keep your chimney clean to provide good draft for your stove and to reduce risk of a chimney fire. Have a certified chimney sweep inspect your chimney once a year or after every three cords of wood. For safety, never leave a fire unattended.

For more information about burning clean, go to www.epa.gov/woodstoves

Provide make up air for wood burning stoves. Like other fuel-burning equipment, wood heaters need air for combustion and must vent exhaust products to the outside. In standard construction, air infiltration provides the necessary combustion air. However, in energy efficient homes, the sources of air infiltration are greatly reduced so special measures to supply outside combustion air must be provided. Homeowners serious about using wood as a heat source should use a high efficiency wood heater, such as an airtight wood stove. As with fireplaces, wood heaters in energy efficient homes should have an outside source of combustion air. In fact, even standard houses may not have adequate infiltration levels to maintain proper combustion and venting for a wood heater. To ensure safety, select a wood heater designed to supply its own outside combustion air. These units are required by code in manufactured housing and are usually sold by businesses supplying wood heaters and fireplaces. The wood heater should also be properly sized for the home. Many energy efficient homes have small heating loads, so large or even moderate sized wood heaters may produce too much heat. Excerpted from A Builder’s Guide to Energy Efficient Homes in Georgia