A sliding or spinning air vent was added, generally to the door and the “Air Tight” stove was born. The box was lined with firebrick, and a smokestack was added. Some clever inventors began welding up steel boxes on legs with a door that could be shut to seal the air from entering. The fireplace had a damper in the chimney, but closing it, even a little would generally send smoke into the house. The glass doors on fireplaces helped a little but fireplaces still burnt too much wood for the small amount of heat that radiated about 5-7 feet from the hearth.
Fireplaces were just not efficient as most of the air feeding the fire literally just went up the chimney. Turning the thermostat down to “save energy” was getting old.
The Beginning of Air Tight Stovesīack in the early 1980s, as the “energy crunch” was starting to loosen its grip, we started to look for alternative ways to heat our homes. To further explain, the way a stove works and the types of chimney your stove is connected to is also a factor.
I have also learned how the stove and chimneys work properly together by trial and error and research.ĭo I need a damper on my wood burning stove? Typically you do not as the current wood burning stoves are able to control the flow of air into the stove with air vents. With all of them, wood heat has been a comfortable, inexpensive source of winter warmth. Some were very efficient, while others were better than the alternative of electric baseboard heat (my first house). Since I purchased my first home in 1981, I have heated my homes with wood burning stoves.