What You Need to Know About Outdoor Wood Burners
Outdoor wood burning stoves can be a cost-effective solution for heating homes and businesses. They also reduce the dependence on fossil fuels that are non-renewable and help to create a more resilient energy strategy.
Well-seasoned wood is essential for efficient burning. Unseasoned or green wood has a higher moisture content and can create creosote accumulation, which can affect performance.
Efficient
Outdoor wood burners have been in use for many years. They are an energy-efficient and environmentally friendly way to heat your home. However, the standard design of OWBs, which promotes a slow, cooler fire, results in poor combustion and more smoke, creosote, and particulates. These unburned fuels could cause health problems as well as fire hazards and affect the environment around them.
Additionally the visible smoke plume that OWBs emit can make neighbors angry and result in DEC (Department of Environmental Conservation) enforcement action. This kind of public relations issue can cause serious damage to the value of your property, and could even result in your OWB being shut down.
Crown Royal Stoves offers a line of EPA Certified outdoor wood furnaces known as the Pristine Gasification Series that utilizes technology to boost the efficiency of combustion for a clean, smokeless burn. This is achieved by using a negative pressure air system that draws fresh hot, dry and filtered air from the bottom of the boiler and then pushes it back out through the chimney at a much higher rate than conventional outdoor wood boilers. This is accomplished through an innovative design that utilizes a multi-pass water filled heat exchanger made from 409 Titanium Enhanced Stainless Steel.
If properly used when properly used, the Pristine Gasification Series OWB can achieve a 99% combustion efficiency for a cleaner, smokeless fire that uses less wood and generates significantly fewer emissions than traditional OWBs. It is essential to use dry, clean, and seasoned wood in order to maximize the performance of your OWB. It is recommended to prepare your wood for a minimum of six months or one year before burning it. This will result in a more efficient and cleaner burn.
In addition to improving the performance of your wood burner, you can also improve its efficiency by executing a "dry burn" every week. This technique reduces creosote which improves boiler efficiency and extends the life of your boiler. By affixing a creosote-removing stick to your stove each time you fill it up, you can drastically reduce the amount of creosote that you use. This product is available from Wisconsin Wood Furnace.
Clean
The soot particles that are left on the stove after burning wood may make a wood stove look very dirty. These are very hard to shift so if you notice any spots of soot build-up on the glass of your stove, you must clean them right away. Otherwise the soot will get harder and become more difficult to remove. Using the right cleaning products for the job is vital and you should also make sure you're not damaging the surface of the glass by using anything that could scratch it. This could leave a weak spot that could break the glass if it's exposed to extreme temperatures.
Make sure you let your wood stove cool completely before cleaning it. Also, be sure that the area around it is covered with newspaper. This will prevent any spillage of ash that could stain and mark surfaces.
Based on the quality of the wood you choose to use, it could take up to one year for your stove to get properly seasoned. The wood that is treated with a seasoned finish will not only burn more efficiently, but also produce less creosote. This is the material that builds up 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 you can do is open the back door to the lower part and scoop out the ashes into a non-combustible container each week.
A sediment flush should be performed on your boiler every four years. This is a simple flush of five seconds from the drain valve on your boiler. This will remove any accumulation of sediment within the system and help keep your boiler in great functioning condition.
After you have cleaned the outside of your fireplace that is outside, it is time to clean it. Before you begin, it's crucial to cover the stove's perimeter with newspaper. Wearing gloves and eye protection is also a good idea. Also, you should have a shovel, a metal container for ash, and scraping tools. To protect the refractory you must lay down a cloth to protect it from damage as you scrape away ash and coal deposits.
Easy to operate
Despite their popularity (they were among the 1990s' "it" trends, as were mullet haircuts) outdoor wood boilers, also known as outdoor furnaces or outdoor wood hydronic heaters, are frequently misunderstood. In contrast to their EPA-approved counterparts, popular wood stoves which are designed to burn at low, constant temperatures, these boilers have a higher fire rate and produce more smoke when they operate. Some local governments limit or ban their use.
OWBs are ideal for heating homes with insulation levels that are high. Smoke that is dense and smoldering may be a nuisance for neighbors, which has led many OWBs to be shut down or even sued. For OWBs, dry wood with lower moisture content is needed to work properly. Unseasoned or green wood can reduce efficiency, cause creosote to build up, and shorten the lifespan of the burner. Drying wood can take time and an instrument to measure moisture is essential for every homeowner.
Dual-stage wood gasification (OWGB) boilers are, on the other hand utilize a three-step process that makes use of more energy in the wood. This means less smoke. These types of furnaces are far more efficient than conventional OWBs and can be used with a wider range of fuel. Wood gasification boilers require dry and well-seasoned firewood. The majority of wood can be seasoned within the course of a year. Oak and other hardy trees may take as long as two years. This is because they have lower amount of water and a higher density. This enables them to hold heat longer, thus increasing efficiency and reduce pollution. The EPA "Burn Wise' website and Cornell Cooperative Extension are great resources for homeowners to learn how to efficiently burn wood in order minimize pollution to the air.
Low Maintenance
Modern outdoor wood furnaces are constructed with the environment in mind. Unlike Indoor wood burner; italianculture.net, wood burners that generate significant smoke, modern outdoor furnaces burn cleanly 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 than indoor wood burning stove wood burners and are more accommodating in regards to the moisture content of the contemporary wood burners. However outdoor wood burners should only be used with properly seasoned or "cured" wood. This can take a year or more for certain kinds of wood. It is important to utilize a moisture gauge to measure the amount of water of your wood before loading.
When the system is in operation, it is necessary to periodically inspect the system for the build-up of creosote. Creosote is a byproduct of combustion that can build up in the chimney and flue if it is not cleaned frequently. It can be removed by pouring a creosote removal product into the fire. Regular cleaning of the chimney and flue will eliminate dangerous creosote accumulations and improve efficiency.
To achieve 99% combustion efficiency, Crown Royal Stoves designed an innovative air flow technology called Negative Pressure Gasification. This technology is employed in our EPA certified Pristine Series Outdoor Wood Furnaces to draw air from the bottom and force all the gases through an sealed secondary combustion chamber, surrounded by water with easy-to-clean turbulators. The result is a smokeless and pollution-free burning.