Morsø give you some useful tips on how to make your old wood burning stove "as good as new"

A wood burning stove made of cast iron can, when looked after, last for centuries and a simple "Do-It-Yourself" service check can make the stove look and work "as good as new."

Morsø give stove owners some useful tips to how their old wood burning stove can be made ready for use for the whole family and get the best possible warmth and pleasure from the wood burning during the coming heating season.

According to Morsø it is essential to first check the fireproof door rope gaskets that ensure that the door closes tightly to the stove body. It is quite easy to see whether the rope gasket is intact or if it must be replaced. A frayed rope gasket is will no longer be air-tight and could lead to an excess of combustion air entering the stove. This would make it difficult to control the burn rate of the stove and could lead to over-firing causing potential damage to both stove and property. It also means that the stove's combustion system would become unclean and would result in poor fuel economy.

Another essential check is the refractory bricks inside the stove. Bricks are there for two reasons; added heat protection for the stove walls and for creating a good firebox environment for clean combustion. It is not decisive to replace these if the bricks are cracked, as long as they more or less fit and are not crumbling away. If the bricks do not have their original shape, the protection and insulation around the firebox is poor. This causes too low a combustion temperature inside the stove and thereby an unclean and uneconomic combustion. At the same time the temperature of the cast iron will get too high and may in the long run reduce the durability and lifetime of the stove.

Over a period of time, all stoves begin to look tired. The overall look of the wood burning stove can easily be restored to the original manufacturers matt black finish. If the stove is painted you can "pep up" the stove using Morsø Senotherm Stove Paint. This can be applied by brush or aerosol. The paint itself withstands very high temperatures and is used on almost all painted stoves available on the market. Enameled stoves however, should be washed using distilled soapy water, applied using a soft sponge. If the door glass of your woodstove has become sooty and difficult to see through, a simple wipe over with Morsø glass cleaner will help to dissolve the soot particles and will quickly restore the clear view surface.