What You Need to Know About Outdoor Wood Burners
Outdoor wood burners can be a cost-effective solution for heating homes and businesses. They also reduce the dependence on non-renewable fossil fuels and aid in a sustainable energy strategy.
To ensure efficient burning, it is important to use seasoned wood. Green or unseasoned wood may have a higher moisture content, which can cause creosote to build up and slow down performance.
Efficient
Outdoor wood burners (OWBs) have been around for a long time and offer a very energy efficient and environmentally friendly method of heating your home. However, the design of OWBs, which promotes an unsteady, cooler fire that results in less combustion and a higher amount of smoke, creosote and particulates. These unburned fuels could cause health issues, fire hazards, and cause harm to the environment around it.
Furthermore, the visible smoke puffs that OWBs create can make neighbors complain. This could result in DEC (Department of Environmental Conservation) and taking enforcement actions. This type of public relations issue can have a serious impact on the value of your property and could even lead to your OWB being shut down.
Crown Royal Stoves has a range of outdoor wood furnaces that are EPA Certified. understanding utilizes technology to maximize combustion efficiency and produce an unburned, clean and smoke-free. This is done through a negative pressure air system which pulls fresh, dry heated, filtered air from the bottom and then pushes it up the chimney at a much faster rate than traditional outdoor wood boilers. This is accomplished through an innovative design that utilizes a multi-pass water filled heat exchanger made of 409 Titanium Enhanced Stainless Steel.
When properly used properly, the Pristine Series OWB can achieve an efficiency of 99% for a cleaner and smoke-free fire. It consumes less wood, and produces a lot less emission 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 period of six months or a year before burning it. This will ensure a more efficient and cleaner burn.
You can improve the efficiency of your wood-burning stove by performing each week a "dry burn". This method eliminates creosote accumulation, makes your boiler running efficiently and increases its lifespan. Additionally, by adding a creosote-removing stick each when you load your stove, you can dramatically reduce the amount of creosote that you use. This product is available from Wisconsin Wood Furnace.
Clean
The soot particles that are left behind after burning wood can make a stove look very dirty. They are extremely difficult to move If you notice any areas of build up on the glass of your stove, clean them right away. If not, the soot will begin to harden and be even more difficult to get off. It is essential to choose the right cleaner however, you must be careful not to scratch the glass with anything that could scratch it. This could result in a weak spot that could break the glass when exposed to high temperatures.
Before you begin cleaning your wood stove, you should make sure that it's not lit and completely cool. Be sure that you surround it with newspaper. This will stop the ash from spreading and staining surfaces.
It could take up to one year for your stove's seasoning to be completed, based on the quality of the wood you choose to use. The wood that has been seasoned will not only burn more efficiently, but will also produce less creosote. This is the kind of material that builds up on your chimney, decreasing its effectiveness and creating a fire hazard. If you're using unseasoned wood or you're just starting an outdoor fire fireplace, you should open the lower backdoor and scoop out the ashes into a non-combustible container every week.
It is also recommended to perform an annual sediment flush on your boiler at a minimum every four years. This is a simple flush lasting five seconds from the drain valve on your boiler. This will eliminate any sediment that has built up in the system, and ensure that your boiler is operating efficiently.
After you have cleaned the outside of your fireplace that is outside, it is time to clean it. Before you begin, it's important to cover the area around the stove with newspaper. Wearing gloves and eye protection is also a good idea. Also, you should have an shovel, a metal container for ash, and an instrument for scraping. To protect the refractory you must lay a cloth on it to protect it while you scrape away 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 known as outdoor furnaces or outdoor wood hydronic heaters, are frequently misunderstood. They are not the same as the well-known EPA wood stoves, which are made to burn low temperatures and continuously. They use more fire and produce more smoke. This is the reason why local governments regulate or ban their use.
OWBs are best used to heat homes with a high insulation level. The visible, smoldering smoke is also a source of complaint with neighbors and has led to many OWBs being shut-down or sued in the past. To ensure that OWBs to operate properly they must be operated using dry wood that has a low moisture content. Wood that is not seasoned or green will reduce efficiency, causing creosote build-up and decrease the life of the burner. Drying wood takes time, and the use of a moisture gauge is essential for every homeowner.
Dual-stage wood gasification (OWGB) boilers however they employ a three-step procedure which makes use of the energy contained in the wood. This means less smoke. These furnaces are more efficient than traditional OWBs, and are suitable for various fuels. Wood gasification boilers require dry, seasoned wood. Most wood will season within a year, however oak and other species that are hardy can take two or more years to fully season. They are less water-based and have a denser mass. This allows them to hold heat for longer, thus increasing efficiency and decreasing pollution. The EPA "Burn Wise" website and Cornell Cooperative Extension are great resources for homeowners to learn how to efficiently burn wood to reduce pollution to the air.
Low Maintenance
Modern outdoor wood stoves have been designed to be eco-friendly. Modern outdoor wood furnaces do not generate excessive heat or CO2. They also burn cleaner than indoor wood stoves. They also require less wood to produce the same amount of heat as traditional stoves.
Outdoor wood burners require less maintenance and are more tolerant of the moisture content of wood than wood burning stoves that are indoor. However outdoor wood burners should only be used with properly seasoned or "cured" wood. Certain types of wood may take up to a full year. It is essential to use a moisture meter to check the water content of your wood prior to loading.
In the course of operation, it is important to periodically inspect the system for the build-up of creosote. Creosote is a byproduct from combustion and can build up in the chimney and flue in the event that it is not cleaned regularly. It can be eliminated by pouring a creosote-removing product into the fire. Regular cleaning of the chimney and flue will remove dangerous creosote, and boost efficiency.
In order to achieve 99% combustion efficiency, Crown Royal Stoves designed a new air flow technology known as Negative Pressure Gasification. Our EPA certified Pristine Series outdoor wood furnaces make use of this technology to draw air from the bottom, forcing all gasses through an insulated water-surrounded secondary combustion chamber that is easy to clean turbulators for a smokeless & pollutant-free burn.