What You Need to Know About Outdoor Wood Burners
Outdoor wood burning stoves are a cost-effective method of heating homes and businesses. They also reduce the dependence on fossil fuels that are not renewable and help to create a more resilient energy strategy.
For efficient burning it is essential to use wood that has been well-seasoned. Green or unseasoned wood may have a higher moisture content, which can create creosote and decrease performance.
Efficient
Outdoor wood burners (OWBs) have been around for years and offer a very green and efficient way to heat your home. The typical design of OWBs encourages the slowing of the fire, making it cooler which results in less efficient combustion and a higher amount of smoke and creosote. These unburnt fuels can cause health issues as well as fire hazards and affect the environment around them.
Moreover, the visible smoke puffs that OWBs produce can cause neighbors to complain. This may result in DEC (Department of Environmental Conservation), taking enforcement action. This type of public relations issue could cause serious damage to the value of your property, and could result in your OWB being shut down.
Crown Royal Stoves offers a range of EPA Certified outdoor wood furnaces called the Pristine Gasification Series that utilizes technology to increase the efficiency of combustion for a clean, smoke-free burn. This is accomplished by using a negative-pressure air system that draws in fresh dry, heated, filtered air from the bottom and then pushes it up the chimney faster than traditional outdoor wood boilers. This is accomplished by a unique design that utilizes an encapsulated, multi-pass heat exchanger constructed from 409 Titanium Enhanced Stainless Steel.
Properly utilized, when properly used, the Pristine Series OWB has an efficiency of 99% for a smoke-free and cleaner fire. It uses less wood, and produces a lot less emission than traditional OWBs. It is crucial to burn clean, seasoned and dry wood to increase the performance of your OWB. Seasoning your wood for six months or a year prior to burning is recommended. This will ensure a more efficient energy efficient and efficient burn.
In addition to improving the performance of your wood stove it is also possible to increase its efficiency by executing an "dry burn" every week. This method lowers the amount of creosote in your home which increases the efficiency of boilers and prolongs the life of your boiler. By affixing a creosote-removing stick to your stove every time you fill it up, you can dramatically reduce the amount of creosote you use. The product is available from Wisconsin Wood Furnace.
Clean
A wood-burning stove can be very dirty due to burnt soot particles. They are extremely difficult to remove, so if you see any spots of soot build-up on the glass of your stove, you must clean them immediately. If not, the soot will begin to get harder and become more difficult to get rid of. It's important to choose the right cleaner however, you must be careful not to scratch the glass by using anything that can scratch it. This could result in an area of weakness that could shatter glass when exposed to extreme temperatures.
Before you begin cleaning your wood burner, you should make sure that it's not lit and completely cool. Also, be sure that the area around it is covered with newspaper. This will stop any ash spillage that can stain and mark surfaces.
Depending on the quality of the wood that you select, it can take up to an entire year for your stove to get properly well-seasoned. Wood that is properly seasoned will not only burn better and will produce less creosote. This is the kind of material that accumulates on your chimney, decreasing its efficiency and creating a fire hazard. If you are using unseasoned wood or just beginning a new fire in your outdoor wood burner the best thing to do is to open up the lower back door and scoop out the ashes into a non-combustible container every week.
It is also recommended to perform a sediment flush on your boiler at least every four years. This involves a simple five-second flush from the drain valve of your boiler. This will remove any sediment that has built up in the system and ensure that your boiler is operating well.
After you have cleaned the exterior of your fireplace that is outside, it is time to clean it. Before you begin, it's important to cover the floor area around the stove with newspaper. It is also helpful to wear gloves and protective eyewear. You should also have an shovel, a metal ash container and a scraping tool. To protect the refractory you must lay a cloth on it to protect it from damage as you scrape away coal and ash deposits.
Easy to Operate
Outdoor wood boilers (also known as outdoor furnaces and outdoor wood hydronic heating systems, or outdoor wood heaters) are often misunderstood in spite of their acclaim. They were one of the "it" trends of the 1990s, alongside mullet hairstyles. They're different from the popular EPA wood stoves, which are made to burn low temperatures and run continuously. They use more fire and produce more smoke. This is why a few local governments regulate or even ban their use.
OWBs are great to heat homes with high insulation levels. Smoke that is dense and smoldering could be a nuisance for neighbors, which has led many OWBs to be shut down or even sued. For OWBs dry wood that has a lower moisture content is needed to function properly. Green or unseasoned wood can decrease efficiency, cause creosote build-up and decrease the life of the burner. Drying wood takes time and an instrument to measure moisture is essential for every homeowner.
In contrast dual-stage wood gasification boilers (OWGB) employ a three step process which makes use of the available energy from the wood and results in much less smoke. These types of furnaces are much more efficient than conventional OWBs and can be used with a wider range of fuel. Wood gasification boilers require dry, seasoned firewood. Most wood will season within a year, but oak and other species with a hardy structure may take two or more years to fully mature. This is due to less volume of water and a greater density. This allows them retain heat for longer, increasing efficiency and reducing pollution. The EPA's "Burn Wise" website and Cornell Cooperative Extension can help homeowners learn more about how to burn wood efficiently, thereby reducing air pollution.
Low Maintenance
Modern outdoor wood stoves are designed to be environmentally friendly. Unlike indoor wood burners that emit significant smoke Modern outdoor furnaces burn efficiently and without the release of excessive heat or carbon monoxide. They also use less wood to produce the same amount of heat as traditional stoves.
Outdoor wood burners require less maintenance and are more tolerant of wood moisture content than indoor wood burning stoves. However outdoor wood burners should only be used with properly seasoned or "cured" wood. This could take a whole year or more for certain types of wood. Make wood burning stoves for sale of a moisture meter prior to loading to measure the amount of water in your wood.
During operation it is important to inspect the system periodically to check for accumulation of creosote. Creosote, a by-product of combustion, can accumulate in the flue and chimney when they are not cleaned regularly. It can be removed by pouring a creosote-removing product into the fire. Regularly cleaning the flue and chimney will remove dangerous creosote buildup and improve efficiency.
Crown Royal Stoves developed a new airflow technology known as Negative Pressure Gasification to ensure 99% efficiency in combustion. british wood burning stoves is employed in our EPA certified Pristine Series Outdoor Wood Furnaces to draw air from the bottom and push all gases through an insulated secondary combustion chamber that is surrounded by water and easy-to-clean turbines. The result is a smokeless & pollutant-free combustion.