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 need for fossil fuels that are not renewable and contribute towards a resilient energy strategy.
Well-seasoned wood is essential for efficient burning. Unseasoned or green wood can contain more moisture that can cause creosote to build up and decrease performance.
Efficient
Outdoor wood burners (OWBs) have been around for years and are an extremely energy efficient and environmentally friendly way to heat your home. The typical design of OWBs promotes the slowing of the fire, making it cooler which results in less efficient combustion and more smoke and creosote. Unburned fuels can cause health problems as well as fire hazards, and can also harm the environment.
Additionally, the visible smoke plume OWBs create can make neighbors complain. This could result in DEC (Department of Environmental Conservation) and taking enforcement actions. This kind of public relations issue could cause serious damage to the value of your property and could even result in your OWB being shut down.
Crown Royal Stoves has a range of outdoor wood furnaces that are EPA Certified. The Pristine Gasification Series makes use of technology to improve the efficiency of combustion and produce smokeless, clean burning. This is achieved through the negative pressure air system that draws fresh, dry, hot, filtered air in from the bottom of the boiler and pushes it out through the chimney at a greater rate than traditional outdoor wood boilers. This is accomplished through an innovative design that makes use of a multi-pass, water filled heat exchanger made from 409 Titanium Enhanced Stainless Steel.
Properly used when properly used, When properly used, the Pristine Series OWB has a 99% combustion rate for a cleaner and smokeless fire. It requires less wood, and produces a lot less emission than traditional OWBs. To further maximize the effectiveness of your OWB it is crucial to burn dry, clean, seasoned wood. It is recommended to prepare your wood for six months or one year before burning it. This will ensure a more efficient and cleaner burn.
In addition to maximizing the efficiency of your wood burner, you can also improve the efficiency of your wood burner by performing the "dry burn" every week. This method reduces creosote, increases boiler efficiency and extends the lifespan of your boiler. In addition, by adding a creosote removal stick each time you fill your stove, you can drastically cut the amount of creosote you use. This product is available from Wisconsin Wood Furnace.
Clean
The soot particles left behind after burning wood can make a stove appear very dirty. These are very hard to shift If you notice any areas of build up on the glass of your stove, you must clean them as soon as you notice them. Any soot that is not eliminated will begin to harden and make it more difficult to remove. It is essential to choose the right cleaner, but you should also be careful not to scratch the glass with anything that may scratch it. This could result in a weak spot that could break the glass when exposed to high temperatures.
Be sure to allow your wood burner to cool completely before cleaning it. Make sure to cover the area surrounding it with newspaper. This will prevent the ash from spreading and staining surfaces.
It can take up to one year for your stove's seasoning to be completed, based on the quality of wood you choose to use. The wood that has been properly seasoned will not only burn more efficiently, but also produce less creosote. This is the material which accumulates on your fireplace, reducing its efficiency and creating a potential fire hazard. If you're using wood that's not seasoned or you're just starting a fire in your outdoor fireplace, you should open the lower backdoor and scoop the the ashes into a non-combustible container every week.
A sediment flush is recommended on your boiler every four years. This is a quick five-second flush from the bottom drain valve of your boiler. This will get rid of any sediments that have accumulated up in the system, and keep your boiler working efficiently.
Once you have done the sediment flush, it's time to clean the outside of your outdoor wood burner. Before you begin, make sure to cover the area around the stove with newspaper. Wearing protective gloves and eyewear is an excellent idea. You should also have a shovel, a metal container for ash and an instrument for scraping. To protect shed wood burner need to lay down a piece of cloth to protect it from damage as you scrape away coal and ash deposits.
Easy to Operate
Outdoor wood boilers (also known as outdoor furnaces and outdoor wood hydronic heating systems or outdoor wood heaters) are often misunderstood, despite their popularity. They were one of the "it" trends of the 1990s, alongside mullet hairstyles. In contrast to their EPA-approved counterparts, popular wood stoves, which are designed to burn at constant, low temperatures, these boilers have an increased fire rate and generate more smoke when operating. This is why some local governments regulate or ban their use.
OWBs work best in homes with high levels of insulation. 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. For OWBs, dry wood with a lower moisture content is needed to work properly. Utilizing unseasoned or green wood reduces efficiency, leads to creosote build up and can reduce the lifespan of the burner. A moisture meter will help you determine the time it takes for wood to dry.
Dual-stage wood gasification (OWGB) boilers are, on the other hand, use a three-step process that utilizes more of the energy in the wood. This means less smoke. These furnaces are more efficient than conventional OWBs and can be used for various fuels. Wood gasification boilers require dry well-seasoned and well-seasoned firewood. The majority of wood will season within a year. Oak and other tough trees can take up to two years. They are less watery and have a greater density. This enables them to hold heat for longer, thereby increasing efficiency and reducing pollution. The EPA "Burn Wise" website and Cornell Cooperative Extension are great sources for homeowners to understand how to efficiently burn wood to reduce air pollution.
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 use less wood to generate the same amount heat as traditional stoves.
Outdoor wood burners require less maintenance and are more forgiving of moisture content in wood than wood burning stoves that are indoor. However outdoor wood burners can only be used with properly seasoned or "cured" wood. It can take a year or more for some types of wood. Use a moisture gauge prior to loading to determine the amount of water present in your wood.
When the system is in operation, it is necessary to check the system regularly for the accumulation of creosote. Creosote is a byproduct from combustion that can build up in the flue and chimney if it is not cleaned regularly. It can be removed using a special creosote removal product that is poured into the fire. Regular cleaning of the chimney and flue will remove dangerous creosote and improve efficiency.
To get 99% efficiency from combustion, Crown Royal Stoves designed a brand new air flow technique called Negative Pressure Gasification. Our EPA certified Pristine Series outdoor wood furnaces utilize this technology to pull air from the bottom, forcing all gasses through an insulated, water-surrounded secondary combustion chamber with easy-clean turbulators for a smokeless & pollution free combustion.