What You Need to Know About Outdoor Wood Burners
Outdoor wood burners are an efficient and cost-effective method of heating homes and businesses. They also help to reduce dependence on fossil fuels that are not renewable and help to create a more resilient energy strategy.
Well-seasoned wood is essential for efficient burning. Wood that is not seasoned or green may have a higher moisture content which can cause creosote to accumulate and decrease performance.
Efficient
Outdoor wood burners have been in use for many years. They are a cost-effective and green method of heating your home. The typical design of OWBs encourages an older, cooler fire which results in poorer combustion and a higher amount of smoke and creosote. These unburned fuels could cause health problems, fire hazards, and cause harm to the environment around it.
Furthermore, the visible smoke plume OWBs generate could cause neighbors to voice their concerns. This could lead to DEC (Department of Environmental Conservation) taking enforcement action. This kind of problem can affect the value of your property, and may result in your OWB being closed down.
Crown Royal Stoves offers a line of EPA Certified outdoor wood furnaces known as the Pristine Gasification Series that utilizes technology to maximize combustion efficiency for a clean, smokeless burn. This is achieved through the negative pressure air system that pulls fresh hot, dry, filtered air in from the bottom of the boiler, and pushes it out through the chimney at a much higher rate than conventional outdoor wood boilers. This is accomplished through an exclusive design that uses a multi-pass water filled heat exchanger made of 409 Titanium Enhanced Stainless Steel.
Properly used, When properly used, the Pristine Series OWB can achieve a 99% combustion rate for a smoke-free and cleaner fire. It requires less wood and produces a lot less emission than traditional OWBs. It is important to use dry, clean, and seasoned wood in order to maximize the performance of your OWB. It is recommended to season your wood for a period of six months or a year prior to burning it. This will ensure a more efficient and cleaner burn.
You can improve the efficiency of your wood-burning stove through every week a "dry burn". This method reduces creosote, increases boiler efficiency and prolongs the life of your boiler. By adding a creosote-removing stick to your stove every time you fill it up, you can drastically reduce the amount of creosote you use. This product is available through Wisconsin Wood Furnace.
Clean
A wood-burning stove could be extremely dirty due to burned soot particles. These are very hard to remove, so if you see any spots of buildup 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. Using the correct cleaners for the job is vital however, you must also ensure that you're not damaging the glass's surface with anything that might scratch it. This could lead to an area of weakness that could shatter glass when exposed extreme temperatures.
Before you begin cleaning your wood burner you should make sure that it's not lit and completely cool. Make very small wood burner to cover the area surrounding it with newspaper. This will stop any ash spillage that can stain and mark surfaces.
Depending on the quality of the wood you choose to use, it could take up to an entire year for your stove to be properly seasoned. The wood that is treated with a seasoned finish will not only burn more efficiently, but will also produce less creosote. This is the material that builds up on your chimney, decreasing its efficiency and creating the risk of fire. If visit my website using unseasoned wood, or just starting an outdoor fire fireplace, it's best to open the lower backdoor and scoop out the ashes into a non-combustible container each week.
It is also recommended to perform an annual sediment flush on your boiler at a minimum every four years. It is a simple flush that takes five seconds from the bottom drain valve on your boiler. This will get rid of any sediment that has built up inside the system, and will keep your boiler in top operating condition.
After you've completed the sediment flush, it's time to clean the outside of your outdoor wood burner. Before starting, it's essential to cover the floor area surrounding the stove with newspaper. It is also helpful to wear protective eyewear and gloves. You should also have a metal ash container along with a scraping tool as well as a shovel. You can use a cloth for shield to protect the refractory while you scrape away coal and ash deposits.
Easy to operate
Outdoor wood boilers (also called outdoor furnaces and outdoor wood hydronic heating systems, or outdoor wood heaters) are often misunderstood, despite their acclaim. They were one of the "it" trends of the 1990s, as were hairstyles with mullets. These units are different from the popular EPA wood stoves, which are designed to burn at low temperatures and run continuously. They use an increased rate of burning and produce more smoke. This is the reason why local governments regulate or even ban their use.
OWBs are ideal to heat homes with insulation levels that are high. The visible, smoldering smoke is also a cause of complaint with neighbors, and has led to many OWBs being shut down or sued in the past. For OWBs, dry wood with a lower moisture content is needed to perform effectively. The use of unseasoned or green wood reduces efficiency, leads to creosote build up and can reduce the lifespan of the burner. Drying wood takes time, and a moisture meter is a must for the homeowner.
Dual-stage wood gasification (OWGB) boilers are, on the other hand they employ a three-step procedure that makes use of more energy contained in the wood. This results in less smoke. These kinds of furnaces are far more efficient than traditional OWBs and can be used with a wider variety of fuel. Wood gasification boilers require dry and seasoned firewood. Most wood can be seasoned within a year, however oak and other hardy species may require two years or more to fully season. This is due to lower volume of water and a greater density. This lets them store 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 pollution to the air.
Low Maintenance
Modern outdoor wood stoves are designed to be environmentally friendly. Modern outdoor wood furnaces don't emit excessive CO2 or heat. They also burn cleaner than indoor wood stoves. They also use less wood to generate the same amount of heat as traditional stoves.
Outdoor wood burners also require significantly less maintenance than indoor wood burners and are more forgiving when it comes to the moisture content of the wood. However outdoor wood burners can only be used with properly prepared or "cured" wood. This could take a whole year or more for some types of wood. Use a moisture gauge prior to loading to determine the amount of water contained in the wood.
During operation it is important to inspect the system periodically 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 removal product into the fire. Regularly cleaning the flue and chimney will help eliminate dangerous creosote accumulations, and increase efficiency.
In order to get 99% efficiency from combustion, Crown Royal Stoves designed a new air flow technology known as Negative Pressure Gasification. This technology is utilized in our EPA certified Pristine Series Outdoor Wood Furnaces to draw air from the bottom and force all the gases through an insulated secondary combustion chamber which is surrounded by water, with easy-to-clean turbines. The result is a smokeless, pollution-free combustion.