What You Need to Know About Outdoor Wood Burners
Outdoor wood burning stoves can be an efficient and cost-effective method of heating homes and businesses. They also reduce dependence on nonrenewable fossils fuels and help in implementing a sustainable energy strategy.
Wood that is well-seasoned is crucial for efficient burning. Wood that is not seasoned or green may have a higher moisture content, which can create creosote and slow down performance.
Efficient
Outdoor wood burners (OWBs) have been around for years and offer a very energy efficient and environmentally friendly way to heat your home. The design of OWBs promotes an older, cooler fire which results in less efficient combustion and a higher amount of smoke and creosote. Unburned fuels can 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 could have a serious impact on the value of your property and may result in your OWB being shut down.
Crown Royal Stoves offers a range of EPA Certified outdoor wood furnaces known as the Pristine Gasification Series that utilizes technology to increase the efficiency of combustion for a clean, smoke-free combustion. This is achieved by using a negative-pressure air system that pulls fresh, dry, heated, filtered air from the bottom, and then pushes it up the chimney much faster 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.
Properly utilized, the Pristine Series OWB can achieve an efficiency of 99% for a cleaner and smokeless fire. It consumes less wood, and produces significantly less emissions than traditional OWBs. It is essential to use dry, clean and seasoned wood in order to enhance the performance of your OWB. It is recommended to season your wood for a period of six months or a year before burning it. This will result in a more efficient and cleaner burn.
In corner wood burning stove to improving the efficiency of your wood stove, you can also improve its efficiency by performing a "dry burn" every week. This technique eliminates creosote buildup, keeps your boiler running efficiently and increases its lifespan. By adding a stick for removing creosote to your stove each time you fill it, you can dramatically reduce the amount of creosote you use. This product is available at Wisconsin Wood Furnace.
Clean
A wood-burning stove can be extremely dirty due to burned soot particles. These are very hard to shift so if you notice any areas of build up on the glass of your stove, you must clean them right away. Soot that is not removed will become hard and make it more difficult. Using the right cleaners for the job is crucial however, you must also ensure that you're not damaging the surface of the glass with anything that might scratch it. This could result in an area of weakness that could shatter the glass when it's exposed to high temperatures.
Before you begin cleaning your wood stove, you must ensure that it is not lit and completely cool. Make sure to cover the area surrounding it with newspaper. This will prevent the ash from leaking and staining surfaces.
It could take up to one year for the seasoning process of your stove to be completed, based on the quality of the wood you select. The wood that is properly seasoned will not only burn more efficiently, but also produce less creosote. This is the substance that gets accumulated on your chimney, reducing efficiency and posing a fire hazard. If you're using unseasoned wood or just beginning a new fire in your outdoor wood burner, the best thing to do is to open the back door to the lower part and scoop out the ashes into a non-combustible bin every week.
A sediment flush is recommended on your boiler every four years. This is a straightforward flush lasting five seconds from the bottom drain valve on your boiler. This will get rid of any debris that has accumulated inside the system, and will ensure that your boiler is in good operating condition.
After you've completed the sediment flush, it's now time to clean the outside of your outdoor wood burner. Before you begin, it's essential to cover the floor surrounding the stove with newspaper. Wearing gloves and eye protection is also a good idea. You should also have a ash canister made of metal as well as a scraping tool and shovel. To protect the refractory you need to lay a cloth on it to protect it while you scrape away ash and coal deposits.
Simple to operate
Despite their popularity (they were among the 1990s' "it" trends, together with mullet hairstyles) outdoor wood boilers, referred to as outdoor furnaces or outdoor wood hydronic heaters are frequently misunderstood. These units are different from the popular EPA wood stoves, which are made to burn low temperatures and run continuously. They use more combustion and produce more smoke. Certain local governments restrict or ban their use.
OWBs are great to heat homes with insulation levels that are high. Smoke that is dense and smoldering can also cause annoyance to neighbors, which has led many OWBs to be shut down or sued. To ensure that OWBs to operate properly they must be operated using dry wood with low moisture content. The use of unseasoned or green wood decreases efficiency, causes creosote to build up and may shorten the life of the burner. A moisture gauge will allow you determine the time it takes for wood to dry.
Dual-stage wood gasification (OWGB) boilers however they employ a three-step procedure that utilizes more of the energy in the wood. This results in less smoke. These kinds of furnaces are much more efficient than traditional OWBs and can be used with a wider variety of fuel. Wood gasification boilers require dry well-seasoned and seasoned firewood. Most wood can be seasoned within a year, however oak and other hardy species can take two years or more to fully season. This is because they have less amount of water and a higher density. This lets them store heat for longer, thus increasing efficiency and reducing pollution. The EPA "Burn Wise" website and Cornell Cooperative Extension are great sources for homeowners to learn how to efficiently burn wood 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 emit excessive CO2 or heat. They also burn more efficiently than indoor wood stoves. They also require less wood to provide the same amount of heat as traditional stoves.
Outdoor wood burners require less maintenance and are more accepting of the moisture content of wood than wood burning stoves that are indoor. However outdoor wood burners should only be used with properly treated or "cured" wood. It can take a year or more for certain types of wood. Use a moisture meter before loading to check the amount of water in your wood.
During operation, it is necessary to regularly check the system for creosote build up. Creosote is a by-product of combustion, may build up in the flue and chimney when they are not cleaned regularly. It can be removed using a special creosote removal product that is poured into the flame. Regularly cleaning the flue and chimney will remove dangerous creosote buildup 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 utilize this technology to pull air from the bottom, pushing all gasses through an insulated water surrounded secondary combustion chamber that is easy to clean turbines for a smokeless and pollution-free combustion.