What You Need to Know About Outdoor Wood Burners
Outdoor wood burners are a cost-effective solution for heating homes and businesses. They also help reduce dependence on fossil fuels that are not renewable and help to create a more resilient energy strategy.
For efficient combustion for efficient burning, it is crucial to use well-seasoned wood. Unseasoned or green wood has higher moisture content and can create creosote that can reduce performance.
Efficient
Outdoor wood burners have been in use for a long time. They are an energy efficient and eco-friendly method to heat your home. The design of OWBs promotes a slower, cooler fire which results in less efficient combustion, and more smoke and creosote. Unburned fuels can lead to health problems and fire hazards. They also degrade the environment.
Furthermore, the visible smoke plume that OWBs generate can make neighbors complain. This could lead to DEC (Department of Environmental Conservation) taking enforcement action. This type of issue can have a negative impact on the value of your property and could result in your OWB being closed.
Crown Royal Stoves offers a range of EPA Certified outdoor wood furnaces that are referred to as the Pristine Gasification Series that utilizes technology to increase the efficiency of combustion for a clean, smoke-free burning. This is achieved through a negative pressure air system that pulls fresh, dry, hot and filtered air from the bottom of the boiler and pushes it out of the chimney at a much more rapid rate than traditional outdoor wood boilers. This is accomplished by a unique design that utilizes a multi-pass, water-filled heat exchanger made of 409 Titanium Enhanced Stainless Steel.
When properly utilized, when properly used, the Pristine Series OWB has an 99% efficiency in combustion for a cleaner and smokeless fire. It requires less wood, and produces significantly fewer emission than traditional OWBs. It is essential to burn dry, clean and seasoned wood to increase the performance of your OWB. It is recommended that you prepare your wood for a period of six months or a year prior to burning it. This will ensure the most efficient and clean burn.
You can improve the efficiency of your wood-burning stove by executing every week a "dry burn". This method eliminates creosote accumulation, makes your boiler efficient and extends its lifespan. By affixing a creosote-removing stick to your stove each time you fill it up, you can dramatically reduce the amount of creosote that you need to use. The product is available from Wisconsin Wood Furnace.
Clean
A wood-burning stove can become very dirty from burnt soot particles. They are difficult to clean so make sure you clean any buildup on the glass of your stove as soon as you notice it. If the soot isn't removed, it will begin to harden, making it even more difficult to remove. Using best wood burning stove for the job is crucial, but also be sure you're not damaging the glass's surface with anything that might scratch it. This could cause a weak spot that can shatter glass when exposed to extreme temperatures.
Before you begin cleaning your wood burner you must ensure that it is unlit and completely cool. Make sure to surround it with newspaper. This will prevent any spillage of ash that can stain and mark surfaces.
It can take up to one year for the seasoning of your stove to be completed, based on the quality of the wood you use. The wood that has been seasoned will not only burn more efficiently, but also produce less creosote. This is the material that builds up on your chimney, reducing effectiveness and creating 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 container each week.
It is also recommended to perform a sediment flush on your boiler at a minimum every four years. This is a simple five second flush from the drain valve on your boiler. This will remove any sediments that have built up in the system, and ensure that your boiler is operating efficiently.
Once you've completed the sediment flush, it's time to clean the outside of your outdoor wood burner. Before starting, it's crucial to cover the floor area around the stove with newspaper. It is also advisable to wear protective eyewear and gloves. Also, you should have an ash container, a shovel container for ash, and scraping tools. You can make use of a cloth as a shield to shield the refractory from damage while you take off coal and ash deposits.
Easy to operate
Despite their popularity (they were among the 1990s' "it" trends, together with mullet hairstyles) outdoor wood boilers, also referred to as outdoor furnaces or outdoor wood hydronic heaters are still often misunderstood. Unlike their cousin the EPA's popular wood stoves, which are designed to burn at low, constant temperatures, these units use an increased fire rate and generate more smoke when they operate. This is the reason why local governments regulate or ban their use.
OWBs are best suited to homes with high levels of insulation. The visible, smoldering smoke is also a source of complaints from neighbors, and has led to many OWBs being shut down or being sued in the past. For OWBs, dry wood with less moisture content is required to function properly. The use of unseasoned or green wood can reduce efficiency, cause creosote build up and can cut down the life of the burner. Drying wood can take time and an instrument to measure moisture is a must for the homeowner.
In contrast, dual-stage wood gasification boilers (OWGB) employ a three step process which makes use of the available energy in the wood and results in less smoke. These furnaces are more efficient than traditional OWBs and can be used for various fuels. Wood gasification boilers need dry well-seasoned wood. The majority of wood will be seasoned within a year, but oak and other hardy species can take two years or more to fully season. They are less watery and have a greater density. This lets them store heat for longer, increasing efficiency and decreasing pollution. The EPA "Burn Wise' website and Cornell Cooperative Extension are great resources for homeowners to learn how to burn wood efficiently to reduce pollution to the air.
Low Maintenance
Modern outdoor wood furnaces are constructed with the environment in mind. Contrary to indoor wood stoves that emit significant smoke, modern outdoor furnaces burn cleanly and without the production of excessive heat or carbon monoxide. They also require less wood to generate the same amount heat as traditional stoves.
Outdoor wood burners require less maintenance and are more accepting of moisture content in wood than wood burning stoves for indoor use. Outdoor wood burners are only suitable for wood that has been properly "cured" or seasoned. Certain types of wood may last for up to a year. It is crucial to make use of a moisture meter to check the water content of your wood before loading.
During operation it is important to examine the system on a regular basis to check for accumulation of creosote. Creosote is a byproduct from combustion and can build up in the flue and chimney if it is not cleaned frequently. It can be eliminated using a special creosote removal product that is poured into the fire. Regularly cleaning the chimney and flue will eliminate dangerous creosote accumulations and improve efficiency.
Crown Royal Stoves developed a new airflow technology called Negative Pressure Gasification to ensure 99% efficiency in combustion. 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 Turbulators. The result is a smokeless & pollutant free combustion.