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 help reduce the dependence on fossil fuels that are non-renewable and help to create a more resilient energy strategy.
To ensure efficient burning it is essential to use seasoned wood. Wood that is not seasoned or green may have a higher moisture content that can create creosote and reduce performance.
Efficient
Outdoor wood burners (OWBs) have been around for a long time and are an extremely eco-friendly and energy efficient method to heat your home. The typical design of OWBs promotes an older, cooler fire which results in less efficient combustion, and more smoke and creosote. These unburned fuels could cause health issues, fire hazards, and deteriorate the surrounding environment.
Furthermore, the visible smoke plume that OWBs produce can make neighbors complain. This may result in DEC (Department of Environmental Conservation) and taking enforcement actions. This type of issue can affect your property value and even result in your OWB being shut down.
Crown Royal Stoves offers a range of EPA Certified outdoor wood furnaces called the Pristine Gasification Series that utilizes technology to boost the efficiency of combustion for a clean, smokeless burning. This is accomplished with a negative-pressure air system that pulls fresh, dry, heated, filtered air from the bottom and pushes it out through the chimney faster than traditional outdoor wood boilers. This is accomplished by the unique design of an encapsulated, multi-pass heat exchanger constructed from 409 Titanium Enhanced Stainless Steel.
When used properly when properly used, the Pristine Gasification Series OWB can reach the highest efficiency of combustion, which is 99% for a cleaner, smokeless fire that requires less wood and produces less carbon dioxide than traditional OWBs. To enhance the effectiveness of your OWB it is crucial to burn dry, clean, and seasoned wood. It is recommended to season your wood for six months or one year prior to burning it. This will result in an efficient and clean burn.
You can increase the efficiency of your wood-burning stove by performing every week a "dry burn". This method reduces creosote, increases boiler efficiency and prolongs the life of your boiler. Additionally by adding a creosote-removing stick each time you load your stove, you can significantly reduce the amount creosote you use. This product is available from Wisconsin Wood Furnace.
Clean
The soot particles that are left in the aftermath of burning wood can make a wood stove look very dirty. They are difficult to clean and therefore, you must clean any buildup on your stove's glass immediately. If the soot isn't removed, it will harden, making it even more difficult to remove. It is essential to use the right cleaners however, you must avoid damaging the glass surface by using anything that can scratch it. This could leave a weak spot that could break the glass when exposed to extreme temperatures.
Before you begin cleaning your wood stove, it is important to ensure that it is not lit and completely cool. Be sure you protect the area around it with newspaper. This will prevent any spillage of ash which could stain and mark surfaces.
Depending on the quality of the wood that you choose to use, it could take up to one year for your stove to be properly and seasoned. The wood that has been treated with a seasoned finish will not only burn more efficiently, but also produce less creosote. This is the kind of material that accumulates on your chimney, reducing efficiency and posing an hazard for fire. If you're using unseasoned wood or are just making a fresh fire in your outdoor wood burner the best thing you can do is to open the back door to the lower part and scoop the ashes into a non-combustible container every week.
A sediment flush should be performed on your boiler every four years. This is a simple flush lasting five seconds from the bottom drain valve on your boiler. This will remove any debris that has accumulated inside the system, and will keep your boiler in great operating condition.
After you have cleaned the exterior of your fireplace that is outside it is time to clean it. Before starting, it's crucial to cover the floor around the stove with newspaper. Wearing wood burning stoves small and eyewear is also a good idea. Also, you should have a shovel, a metal container for ash, and an instrument for scraping. To safeguard the refractory, you need to lay down a piece of cloth to protect it from damage as you scrape away ash and coal deposits.
Easy to operate
Outdoor wood boilers (also known as outdoor furnaces, outdoor wood hydronic heating systems, or outdoor wood heaters) are often misunderstood despite their acclaim. They were among the "it" trends of the 1990s, alongside mullet hairstyles. They're not like the popular EPA wood stoves, which are designed to burn at low temperatures and run continuously. They are able to produce a higher rate of burning and generate more smoke. Certain local governments restrict or prohibit their use.
OWBs are best suited to homes with high levels of insulation. The smoldering, visible smoke is also a source of complaint with neighbors and has resulted in many OWBs being shut down or sued in the past. For OWBs, dry wood with lower moisture content is required to perform properly. Green or unseasoned wood will reduce efficiency, causing creosote to build up, and shorten the lifespan of the burner. Drying wood takes time and a moisture meter is a must for the homeowner.
In contrast dual-stage wood gasification boilers (OWGB) employ three steps of process that uses more of the available energy from the wood and results in a lesser amount of smoke. These types of furnaces are more efficient than conventional OWBs and can be used with a greater variety of fuel. Wood gasification boilers need dry, seasoned wood. The majority of wood can be seasoned over the course of a year. Oak and other hardy trees may take as long as two years to mature. They are less watery and have a larger mass. This allows them retain heat for longer, thus increasing efficiency and reducing pollution. The EPA's "Burn Wise" website and Cornell Cooperative Extension can help homeowners learn more about burning wood efficiently in order to reduce pollution to the air.
Low Maintenance
Modern outdoor wood furnaces have been designed with the environment in mind. Modern outdoor wood furnaces do not produce excessive CO2 or heat. 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 forgiving of wood moisture content than wood burning stoves that are indoor. Outdoor wood burners are only suitable for wood that has been properly "cured" or seasoned. It can take a year or more for certain types of wood. It is crucial 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 check the system regularly for the build-up of creosote. Creosote is a byproduct from combustion and can build up in the chimney and flue if it is not cleaned on a regular basis. It can be removed by pouring a creosote-removing product into the fire. Regular cleaning of the chimney and flue will eliminate dangerous creosote, and boost efficiency.
Crown Royal Stoves developed a new airflow technology known as Negative Pressure Gasification to ensure 99% efficiency in combustion. This technology is utilized in our EPA certified Pristine Series Outdoor Wood Furnaces to pull air up from the bottom and force all the gases through an sealed secondary combustion chamber, that is surrounded by water and easy-to-clean turbulators. The result is a smokeless and pollutant free combustion.