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 dependence on fossil fuels that are not renewable and help in implementing a sustainable energy strategy.
Well-seasoned wood is essential for efficient burning. Green or unseasoned wood has a higher moisture content and may cause creosote accumulation, which can affect performance.
Efficient
Outdoor wood burners (OWBs) have been around for years and offer a very green and efficient way to heat your home. However, the typical design of OWBs that encourages an unsteady, cooler fire, causes less combustion and a higher amount of smoke, creosote, as well as particulates. These unburnt fuels can cause health issues, fire hazards, and affect the environment around them.
Moreover, the visible smoke plume that OWBs emit could cause neighbors to voice their concerns and lead to DEC (Department of Environmental Conservation) enforcement action. This type of issue can affect your property value and even result in your OWB being closed.
Crown Royal Stoves offers a line of EPA Certified outdoor wood furnaces that are referred to as the Pristine Gasification Series that utilizes technology to maximize combustion efficiency to ensure a smokeless, clean combustion. This is achieved with a negative-pressure air system which pulls in fresh, dry, heated, filtered air from the bottom and pushes it through the chimney faster than traditional outdoor wood boilers. This is accomplished by an innovative design that makes use of a multi-pass, water-filled heat exchanger made of 409 Titanium Enhanced Stainless Steel.
When properly used when properly used, when used correctly, the Pristine Gasification Series OWB can attain a 99% combustion efficiency for a cleaner, smoke-free fire that uses less wood and generates significantly less emissions than traditional OWBs. It is crucial to burn clean, seasoned and dry wood to increase the performance of your OWB. It is recommended that you season your wood for a minimum of six months or one year before burning it. This will result in the most efficient and clean burn.
You can boost the efficiency of your wood-burning stove by performing every week a "dry burn". This technique reduces creosote which improves boiler efficiency and extends the life of your boiler. By adding a stick for removing creosote to your stove every time you fill it, you can drastically reduce the amount of creosote you use. This product is available from Wisconsin Wood Furnace.
Clean
A wood-burning stove can be very dirty due to burnt soot particles. They are difficult to remove and therefore, you must remove any buildup from your stove's glass immediately. Soot that is not removed will become hard and make it more difficult to remove. It is essential to select the right cleaners however, you should avoid damaging the glass surface with anything that could scratch it. This could result in a weak spot that could break the glass when exposed to extreme temperatures.
Before you begin cleaning your wood burner , you must ensure that it is unlit and completely cool. Also, make sure that the surrounding area is covered with newspaper. This will prevent any spillage of ash which can cause stains and marks on surfaces.
It can take up to one year for the seasoning process of your stove to be completed, based on the quality of wood you use. wood burners near me that is properly seasoned will not only burn better and last longer, but it will also produce less creosote. This is the material that builds up on your chimney, which reduces efficiency and creating the risk of fire. If you're using unseasoned wood, or just beginning a new fire in your outdoor wood burner the best thing you can do is to open the back door to the lower part and scoop the ashes into a non-combustible container each week.
A sediment flush should be performed on your boiler every four years. This involves a simple five-second flush from the drain valve of your boiler. This will eliminate any sediment that has built up inside the system, and will keep your boiler in top operating condition.
Once you have done the sediment flush, it's now time to clean the exterior of your outdoor wood burner. Before starting, it's important to cover the floor area surrounding the stove with newspaper. Wearing protective gloves and eyewear is an excellent idea. Also, you should have a metal ash canister as well as a scraping tool and shovel. You can use a cloth for a shield to protect the refractory while you scrape away coal and ash deposits.
Simple to Operate
Despite their popularity (they were among the 1990s' "it" trends, along with mullet haircuts) outdoor wood boilers, also known as outdoor furnaces or outdoor wood hydronic heaters are frequently misunderstood. They're not like the popular EPA wood stoves, which are designed to burn low temperatures and run continuously. They use more burning and produce more smoke. Certain local governments restrict or prohibit their use.
OWBs are ideal for heating homes with insulation levels that are high. The smoldering, dense visible smoke can also be a source of complaints from neighbors and has led to many OWBs being shut down or being sued in the past. For OWBs dry wood that has less moisture content is needed to function effectively. Wood that is not seasoned or green can reduce efficiency, cause creosote to accumulate and decrease the life of the burner. A moisture gauge will allow you to determine how long it takes for wood to dry.
In contrast dual-stage wood gasification boilers (OWGB) make use of three steps that makes use of more available energy in the wood and results in much less smoke. These furnaces are more efficient than conventional OWBs and are suitable for many different fuels. Wood gasification boilers require dry well-seasoned and well-seasoned firewood. Most wood will season within a year, however oak and other species that are hardy may take two or more years to fully season. This is because they have lower water content and denser mass. This enables them to hold heat for longer, thereby increasing efficiency and decreasing pollution. The EPA "Burn Wise' website and Cornell Cooperative Extension are great sources for homeowners to understand how to burn wood efficiently to minimize air pollution.
Wood Burning Stoves are constructed with the environment in mind. Unlike indoor wood burners that emit significant smoke modern outdoor furnaces burn cleanly and without the release of excessive carbon monoxide or heat. They also require less wood to provide the same amount of heat as traditional stoves.
Outdoor wood burners require less maintenance and are more tolerant of moisture content in wood than wood burning stoves that are indoor. However, outdoor wood burners can only be used with properly seasoned or "cured" wood. Certain types of wood may last for up to a year. It is important to utilize a moisture gauge to determine the amount of water of your wood prior to loading.
During operation, it is important to regularly check the system for the accumulation of creosote. Creosote is a byproduct of combustion that can build up in the flue and chimney when it is not cleaned frequently. It can be removed using the use of a special creosote remover that is poured into the fire. Regularly cleaning the chimney and flue will remove dangerous creosote accumulations and improve efficiency.
Crown Royal Stoves developed a new airflow technology called Negative Pressure Gasification to attain 99% efficiency in combustion. Our EPA certified Pristine Series outdoor wood furnaces employ this technology to pull air from the bottom, pushing all gasses through an insulated water surrounded secondary combustion chamber, which is easy-clean turbulators for a smokeless & pollution-free burn.