New to the Forum...Hello!

Hello to all. I found this site and am excited to have so many answers about wood stoves and firewwod at my fingertips! For introduction, I am a happily married civil servant with a wife that serves as a kindergarten teacher. We have two children 6 and 5 and no, we did not plan it that way!

At any rate, We purchased our home in the spring and it came with a wood stove. It is an "Apache Stove". I have no idea about this type of stove nor do I know much about a wood stove, period. My primamry query is regarding the safety of our children, is this stove going to be a safety hazard? I fear they could be burned just by touching it while totally not intending to.

Also, I have never started a fire in it. I had the home inspected including the fire place and chimney. I also had a contractor inspect it and by all accounts it is ready to go. I am familar with open fireplaces as that was our primary source of heat in our old house. Thus, I should be good on the seasoned fire wood. Everything else, I kinda need some advice on using a wood stove!

Thanks for any guidance!

begreen said:

Welcome, the safety will depend on parental guidance with a stern warning of hot! and no! near the stove, but they do make child gates to keep them away if desired. Can you post a picture of the stove?

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aansorge said:

https://www.hearth.com/talk/threads/would-like-some-info-help-with-my-apache-stove.123147/

Welcome to the forum!

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Very helpful information. Thank you!

Nick Mystic said:

I wouldn't be overly concerned about kids 5 and 6 years old getting a serious burn from a wood stove. At that age they understand that hot things burn you. Any injury they get from falling on the stove, say from running and slipping, is going to be more of an injury from banging their head on something very hard, rather than very hot.

What is a bigger danger for kids their ages is that they might put something flammable on the top of the stove and start a fire. I don't mean intentionally, although inquisitive kids might do this as an experiment, but rather from playing around the stove and throwing something that lands on the stove.

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Thank you for the reply. I have went over the dangers with the kids. Hopefully, we wont have any issues!