What You Need to Know About Outdoor Wood Burners
Outdoor wood burning stoves can be an economical solution to heat homes and businesses. They also help reduce the dependence on fossil fuels that are not renewable and help in implementing a sustainable energy strategy.
To ensure efficient burning it is essential to use seasoned wood. Green or unseasoned wood has higher moisture content and can create creosote that can reduce performance.
Efficient
Outdoor wood burners (OWBs) have been around for many years and offer a very green and efficient method to heat your home. However, the design of OWBs, which promotes the slow and cooler burning that causes poor combustion and more smoke, creosote and particulates. These unburned fuels could cause health issues and fire hazards. They also degrade the environment.
Additionally the visible smoke plume OWBs generate can cause neighbors to complain. This could lead to DEC (Department of Environmental Conservation), taking enforcement action. This type of public relations issue can be a significant impact on the value of your property and could even result in your OWB being shut down.
Crown Royal Stoves has a line of outdoor wood furnaces that are EPA Certified. The Pristine Gasification Series makes use of technology to maximize combustion efficiency and create smokeless, clean burning. This is done with a negative-pressure air system that pulls fresh dry heated, filtered air from the bottom, and then pushes it through the chimney faster than traditional outdoor wood boilers. This is achieved through a unique design that utilizes a multi-pass, water-filled heat exchanger constructed from 409 Titanium Enhanced Stainless Steel.
When properly used properly, when properly used, the Pristine Series OWB has a 99% combustion rate for a cleaner and smokeless fire. It uses less wood, and produces a lot less emission than traditional OWBs. To enhance your OWB's performance it is crucial to burn clean, seasoned, dry wood. It is recommended to prepare your wood for a period of six months or a year prior to burning it. This will result in the most efficient and clean burn.
You can boost the efficiency of your wood-burning stove by executing every week a "dry burn". This technique reduces creosote which improves boiler efficiency and extends the lifespan of your boiler. By affixing a creosote-removing stick to your stove each time you fill it, you can drastically reduce the amount of creosote that you use. The product is available through Wisconsin Wood Furnace.
Clean
A wood-burning stove can become very dirty from burnt soot particles. They are extremely difficult to remove If you notice any spots of soot build-up on the glass of your stove, you must clean them as soon as you notice them. In the event that the soot is not removed, it will get harder and become more difficult to get rid of. It is crucial to choose the right cleaner, but you should also be careful not to scratch the glass with anything that could scratch it. wood burning fires could result in a weak spot that can shatter glass when exposed to extreme temperatures.
Before you begin cleaning your wood stove, you must ensure that it is unlit and completely cool. Also, ensure that the surrounding area is covered with newspaper. This will stop any spillage of ash that could stain and mark surfaces.
It could take up to one year for the seasoning process of your stove to be complete, based on the quality of wood you choose to use. Seasoned wood will not only burn more efficiently and last longer, but it will also produce less creosote. This is the substance that gets accumulated on your chimney, reducing effectiveness and creating an hazard for fire. If you are 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 is recommended on your boiler every four years. This is a quick five-second flush from the bottom drain valve of your boiler. This will remove any accumulation of sediment inside the system and keep your boiler in great operating condition.
Once you've completed the sediment flush, it's now time to clean the exterior of your outdoor wood burner. Before starting, it's crucial to cover the floor surrounding the stove with newspaper. It is also helpful to wear protective eyewear and gloves. Also, you should have an ash container, a shovel ash container and scraping tools. To protect the refractory you need to lay down a cloth to shield it as you scrape away coal and ash deposits.
Easy to operate
Despite their popularity (they were one of the 1990s' "it" trends, together with mullet hairstyles) outdoor wood boilers, also known as outdoor furnaces or outdoor wood hydronic heaters, are often misunderstood. They are different from the popular EPA wood stoves, which are built to burn at low temperatures and run continuously. They use a higher rate of fire and produce more smoke. Some local governments limit or prohibit their use.
OWBs work best for homes that have high levels of insulation. Smoke that is dense and smoldering can also be a nuisance to neighbors, which has led many OWBs to be shut down or even sued. To ensure that OWBs to function properly, they must be used with dry wood with low moisture content. Unseasoned or green wood can decrease efficiency, cause creosote to build up and decrease the life of the burner. Drying wood can take time and a moisture meter is a must for any homeowner.
Dual-stage wood gasification (OWGB) boilers, on the other hand, use a three-step process that makes use of more energy available in the wood. This results in less smoke. These types of furnaces are far more efficient than conventional OWBs and can be used with a greater range of fuel. Wood gasification boilers require dry, well-seasoned firewood. Most wood can be seasoned within a year, but oak and other species that are hardy can take two years or more to fully season. This is because they have a lower water content and denser mass. This lets them store heat for longer, thereby increasing efficiency and decreasing pollution. The EPA's "Burn Wise" website and Cornell Cooperative Extension can help homeowners learn more about how to burn wood efficiently, thereby reducing pollution to the air.
Low Maintenance
Modern outdoor wood furnaces are constructed with the environment in mind. In contrast to indoor wood burners which produce 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 heat as traditional stoves.
Outdoor wood burners also require less maintenance than indoor wood burners, and are more tolerant in regards to the moisture content of the wood. However outdoor wood burners should only be used with properly treated or "cured" wood. Some types of wood can take up to a year. It is essential to make use of a moisture meter to measure the amount of water of your wood before loading.
In the course of operation, it is crucial to check the system regularly to check for accumulation of creosote. Creosote, a by-product of combustion, can build up in the chimney and flue if they are not cleaned regularly. It can be removed by pouring a creosote-removing product into the fire. Regular cleaning of the flue and chimney will eliminate dangerous creosote buildup and improve 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 pull air up from the bottom and push all the gases through an insulated secondary combustion chamber that is surrounded by water and easy-to-clean Turbulators. The result is a smokeless, pollutant free combustion.