Now that Spring has finally arrived and the weather has turned much warmer, this is the time of year to carry out maintenance on your wood burning stove whilst it is no longer in use. In order to keep you stove working well and efficiently, it is important to check for problems.
If there are any spaces between the joints of the iron plates then you need to get some fire cement and seal any gaps.
Check that the glass front is not cracked and clean off any sooty residue with an old cloth and glass cleaner.
Are the rope seals around the door and lid looking worn or frayed? Fire rope can be found in most good DIY stores. Make sure you seal the rope in place by using special heat setting glue.
Replace any fire bricks which may have cracked during the Winter months when the stove was in daily use.
Do you find that your stove has faded in colour and lost is black sheen? Buy a tin of heat resistant stove paint or black grate polish and you will soon have your stove looking as good as new, ready to fire up again, once the nights start drawing in and the thermometer heads towards zero.