What You Need to Know About Outdoor Wood Burners
Outdoor wood burners are an affordable method of heating homes and businesses. They also help to reduce dependence on fossil fuels that are non-renewable and contribute to a resilient energy strategy.
Well-seasoned wood is essential for efficient burning. Wood that is not seasoned or green has higher moisture content and may cause creosote that can reduce performance.
Efficient
Outdoor wood burners (OWBs) have been around for many years and offer a very energy efficient and environmentally friendly way to heat your home. The design of OWBs encourages the slowing of the fire, making it cooler which leads to less efficient combustion and a higher amount of smoke and creosote. These unburned fuels could lead to health problems and fire hazards. They also degrade the environment.
Furthermore, the visible smoke produced by OWBs could cause neighbors to voice their concerns and lead to DEC (Department of Environmental Conservation) enforcement action. This kind of public relations issue could be a significant impact on the value of your property and may even 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 boost the efficiency of combustion to ensure a smokeless, clean burning. This is accomplished through a negative pressure air system that pulls fresh, dry heated, filtered air from the bottom and then pushes it up the chimney at a much faster rate than traditional outdoor wood boilers. This is accomplished by the unique design of a multi-pass, water filled heat exchanger made from 409 Titanium Enhanced Stainless Steel.
When properly used, the Pristine Series OWB can achieve an 99% efficiency in combustion for a cleaner and smokeless fire. It uses less wood, and produces significantly less emissions than traditional OWBs. To maximize your OWB's performance, it is important to burn only dry, clean, and seasoned wood. It is recommended that you season your wood for a period of six months or a year prior to burning it. This will ensure an efficient and clean burn.
wood burning stoves small can increase the efficiency of your wood-burning stove by executing every week a "dry burn". This technique eliminates creosote build up, keeps your boiler running efficiently and increases its life span. By affixing a creosote-removing stick to your stove each time you fill it, you can drastically reduce the amount of creosote that you need to use. This product is available from Wisconsin Wood Furnace.
Clean
A wood-burning stove can be extremely dirty due to burned soot particles. They are difficult to clean, so clean any buildup on your stove's glass immediately. If not, the soot will begin to get harder and become more difficult to get rid of. It is crucial to choose the right cleaner however, you should avoid damaging the glass surface with anything that may scratch it. This could leave an area of weakness that could break the glass if it's exposed to high temperatures.
Be sure to let your wood burner cool completely before cleaning it. Be sure to protect the area around it with newspaper. This will stop any spillage of ash which can stain and mark surfaces.
It could take as long as one year for the seasoning process of your stove to be completed, based on the quality of wood you use. The wood that is seasoned will not only burn better, but will create less creosote. This is the substance that accumulates on your fireplace, reducing its efficiency and posing a potential fire hazard. If you're using unseasoned wood or are just making a fresh fire in your outdoor wood burner, the best thing to do is to open up the back door to the lower part and scoop out the ashes into a non-combustible container every week.
A sediment flush should be carried out on your boiler every four years. It is a simple flush lasting five seconds from the drain valve on your boiler. This will eliminate any sediment that has built up in the system, and ensure that your boiler is operating efficiently.
After you have cleaned the outside of your fireplace that is outside, it is time to clean it. Before starting, it's essential to cover the floor area around the stove with newspaper. Wearing protective eyewear and gloves is also a good idea. You should also have a metal ash container along with a scraping tool as well as a shovel. You can make use of a cloth as a shield to shield the refractory from damage while you scrape away coal and ash deposits.
Easy to operate
Despite their popularity (they were among the 1990s' "it" trends, along with mullet haircuts) outdoor wood boilers, referred to as outdoor furnaces or outdoor wood hydronic heaters, are often misunderstood. Contrary to the EPA's popular wood stoves, which are designed to burn at constant, low temperatures, these units use a higher fire rate and produce more smoke when operating. This is the reason why local governments have a policy of regulating or banning their use.
OWBs are best used to heat homes with insulation levels that are high. The smoldering, dense visible smoke can also be a source of complaint with neighbors, and has led to many OWBs being shut-down or being sued in the past. For OWBs, dry wood with less moisture content is needed to work effectively. The use of unseasoned or green wood reduces efficiency, leads to creosote to build up and may reduce the lifespan of the burner. Drying wood takes time and the use of a moisture gauge is a must for the homeowner.
Dual-stage wood gasification (OWGB) boilers are, on the other hand, use a three-step process which makes use of the energy contained in the wood. This means less smoke. These types of furnaces are more efficient than conventional OWBs and can be used with a wider variety of fuel. Wood gasification boilers require dry well-seasoned and seasoned firewood. The majority of wood will season over the course of the course of a year. Oak and other hardy trees can take as long as two years to mature. They are less watery and have a denser mass. This enables them to hold heat longer, thus increasing efficiency and decreasing pollution. The EPA "Burn Wise' website and Cornell Cooperative Extension are great resources for homeowners to learn how to burn wood efficiently in order minimize air pollution.
Low Maintenance
Modern outdoor wood furnaces have been designed with the environment in mind. Modern outdoor wood furnaces do not produce excessive heat or CO2. They also burn more efficiently than indoor wood stoves. They also require 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 wood burning stoves that are indoor. However, outdoor wood burners can only be used with properly prepared or "cured" wood. Certain types of wood may last for up to a year. Make use of a moisture meter prior to loading to determine the amount of water contained in the wood.
During operation it is important to inspect the system periodically for creosote accumulation. Creosote is an byproduct of combustion and can accumulate in the chimney and flue if it is not cleaned regularly. It can be removed by pouring a creosote removal product into the fire. Regular cleaning of the chimney and flue will help eliminate dangerous creosote accumulations, and increase efficiency.
Crown Royal Stoves developed a new airflow technology called Negative Pressure Gasification to attain 99% efficiency in combustion. This technology is employed in our EPA certified Pristine Series Outdoor Wood Furnaces to draw air from the bottom and push all the gases through an enclosed secondary combustion chamber that is that is surrounded by water and easy-to-clean turbulators. The result is a smokeless and pollution-free combustion.