What You Need to Know About Outdoor Wood Burners
Outdoor wood burners are an affordable method of heating homes and businesses. They also reduce dependence on nonrenewable fossils fuels and help to create a more resilient energy strategy.
Well-seasoned wood is essential for efficient burning. Wood that is not seasoned or green has a higher moisture content and may cause creosote accumulation, which can affect performance.
Efficient
Outdoor wood burners (OWBs) have been around for many years and are an extremely eco-friendly and energy efficient method of heating your home. The design of OWBs promotes an older, cooler fire which results in less efficient combustion, and more smoke and creosote. These unburnt fuels can cause health problems and fire hazards, as well as cause harm to the environment around it.
Additionally, the visible smoke puffs that OWBs generate can make neighbors complain. This could lead to DEC (Department of Environmental Conservation) taking enforcement action. This type of public relations issue could have a serious impact on the value of your property and could result in your OWB being shut down.
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 boost the efficiency of combustion to ensure a smokeless, clean combustion. This is accomplished through a negative pressure air system that pulls in fresh, dry heated, filtered, and heated air from the bottom, and then pushes it out through the chimney much faster than traditional outdoor wood boilers. This is accomplished by an innovative design that utilizes a multi-pass water filled heat exchanger constructed of 409 Titanium Enhanced Stainless Steel.
Properly utilized, the Pristine Series OWB has an 99% efficiency in combustion for a cleaner and smokeless fire. It consumes less wood and produces a lot less emission than traditional OWBs. To maximize your OWB's performance, it is important to burn only dry, clean, seasoned wood. It is recommended to season your wood for a period of six months or a year prior to burning it. fireplacesandstoves will result in an efficient and clean burn.
In addition to maximizing the efficiency of your wood stove it is also possible to increase its efficiency by performing a "dry burn" every week. This technique eliminates creosote buildup, keeps your boiler in good condition and extends its lifespan. In addition, by adding a creosote removal stick every when you load your stove, you will be able to significantly reduce the amount creosote used. This product is available from Wisconsin Wood Furnace.
Clean
A wood burning stove can become very dirty from burnt soot particles. They are extremely difficult to remove so if you notice any areas of build up on the glass of your stove, wash them right away. If the soot isn't removed, it will harden and make it more difficult to remove. Using the correct cleaners for the job is crucial, but also be sure you're not damaging the glass's surface with anything that could scratch it. This could leave a weak spot that could break the glass when exposed to extreme temperatures.
Make sure you let your wood burner cool completely before cleaning it. Also, ensure that the area around it is covered with newspaper. This will prevent any spillage of ash that can cause stains and marks on surfaces.
Depending on the quality of the wood you use, it can take up to an entire year for your stove to become properly seasoned. The wood that has been properly seasoned will not only burn more efficiently, but also produce less creosote. This is the material which builds up on your fireplace, decreasing its effectiveness and creating an opportunity for fire hazards. If you're using unseasoned wood or you're just starting an outdoor fire fireplace, it's recommended to open the lower backdoor, and scoop out ashes into a noncombustible container every week.
You should also perform an annual sediment flush on your boiler at least every four years. It is a simple flush that takes five seconds from the bottom drain valve on your boiler. This will remove any accumulation of sediment within the system and help keep your boiler in top operating condition.
After you have cleaned the outside of your outdoor fireplace It is now time to clean it. Before you begin, it's important to cover the stove's area with newspaper. Wearing protective eyewear and gloves is an excellent idea. Also, you should have a shovel, a metal container for ash, and a scraping tool. You can use a cloth as a shield to protect the refractory as you take off coal and ash deposits.
Easy to operate
Despite their popularity (they were one of the 1990s' "it" trends, as were mullet haircuts) outdoor wood boilers, also referred to 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 continuously. They are able to produce more combustion and produce more smoke. This is why a few local governments have a policy of regulating or banning their use.
OWBs are great to heat homes with insulation levels that are high. The visible, smoldering smoke is also a cause of complaint with neighbors and has resulted in many OWBs being shut-down or sued in the past. To ensure that OWBs to operate properly they should be operated with dry wood that has a low moisture content. Unseasoned or green wood can decrease efficiency, cause creosote build-up and decrease the life of the burner. A moisture meter can help you determine the time it takes for wood to dry.
In contrast dual-stage wood gasification boilers (OWGB) make use of a three step process that uses more of the available energy in the wood and results in much less smoke. These furnaces are more efficient than conventional OWBs, and can be used to fuel various fuels. Wood gasification boilers require dry and seasoned wood. Most wood can be seasoned within a year, but oak and other hardy species can take two years or more to fully season. They are less watery and have a denser mass. This enables them to hold heat longer, increasing efficiency and reduce pollution. The EPA's "Burn Wise" website and Cornell Cooperative Extension can help homeowners understand how to burn wood efficiently in order to reduce air pollution.
Low Maintenance
Modern outdoor wood stoves are engineered to be eco-friendly. Unlike indoor wood burners that produce significant smoke Modern outdoor furnaces burn cleanly and without the production of excessive carbon monoxide or heat. They also require less wood to produce the same amount of heat as traditional stoves.
Outdoor wood burners require significantly less maintenance than indoor wood burners and are more accommodating when it comes to the moisture content of the wood. However outdoor wood burners can only be used with properly treated or "cured" wood. This can take a year or more for some types of wood. Make use of a moisture meter prior to loading to check the amount of water present in your wood.
When operating, it is essential to examine the system on a regular basis to check for accumulation of creosote. Creosote is a byproduct from combustion and can accumulate in the flue and chimney if it is not cleaned regularly. It can be removed using the use of a special creosote remover that is poured into the fire. Regular cleaning of the flue and chimney will eliminate dangerous creosote, and boost efficiency.
Crown Royal Stoves developed a new airflow technology called Negative Pressure Gasification to achieve 99% combustion efficiency. This technology is utilized in our EPA certified Pristine Series Outdoor Wood Furnaces to draw air from the bottom and push all gases through an sealed secondary combustion chamber, that is surrounded by water and easy-to-clean Turbulators. The result is a smokeless and pollutant-free combustion.