What You Need to Know About Outdoor Wood Burners
Outdoor wood burning stoves are a cost-effective way to heat homes and businesses. They also reduce the need for fossil fuels that are not renewable and help to create a more resilient energy strategy.
Wood that is well-seasoned is crucial for efficient burning. Unseasoned or green wood has higher moisture content and may cause creosote accumulation, which can affect performance.
Efficient
Outdoor wood burners have been in use for a long time. They are a cost-effective and environmentally friendly way of heating your home. However, the standard design of OWBs, which promotes an unsteady, cooler fire, causes less combustion and a higher amount of smoke, creosote, and particulates. Unburned fuels can lead to health issues, fire hazards, and deteriorate the surrounding environment.
Moreover, the visible smoke plume that OWBs generate could cause neighbors to voice their concerns. This could result in DEC (Department of Environmental Conservation) taking enforcement action. This kind of public relations issue could be a significant 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. very small wood burner utilizes technology to maximize combustion efficiency and create an unburned, clean and smoke-free. This is done with a negative-pressure air system that draws fresh, dry, heated, filtered air from the bottom and pushes it through the chimney faster than traditional outdoor wood boilers. This is accomplished by a unique design which uses a multi-pass water filled heat exchanger made from 409 Titanium Enhanced Stainless Steel.
When properly used, when used correctly, the Pristine Gasification Series OWB can attain the highest efficiency of combustion, which is 99% for a cleaner, smoke-free fire that requires less wood and generates significantly fewer emissions than traditional OWBs. It is important to use dry, clean, and seasoned wood in order to maximize the performance of your OWB. Seasoning your wood for six months or more prior to burning is recommended and will ensure a more efficient and more efficient burn.
You can increase the efficiency of your wood-burning stove through each week a "dry burn". This method reduces creosote, increases boiler efficiency and extends the life of your boiler. By adding a creosote-removing stick to your stove every time you fill it, you can dramatically reduce the amount of creosote that you use. This product is available from Wisconsin Wood Furnace.
Clean
A wood burning stove can be very dirty due to 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 harden, making it even more difficult. Using the right cleaning products for the job is essential and you should also make sure you're not damaging the surface of the glass with anything that might scratch it. This could cause a weak point that will shatter glass when exposed to extreme temperatures.
Be sure to let your wood burner cool completely before cleaning it. Also, make sure that the surrounding area is covered with newspaper. This will prevent any spillage of ash which could stain and mark surfaces.
It can take up to one year for your stove's seasoning to be complete, based on the quality of the wood you use. The wood that has been treated with a seasoned finish will not only burn more efficiently, but also produce less creosote. This is the material which accumulates on your fireplace, decreasing its efficiency and posing a potential fire hazard. If you're using unseasoned wood or are just beginning a fire in your outdoor fireplace, it's best to open the lower backdoor, and scoop out all the ashes into a nonflammable container each week.
It is also recommended to perform a sediment flush on your boiler at least every four years. This is a quick five-second flush from the bottom drain valve of your boiler. This will remove any sediments that have accumulated up in the system and keep your boiler working well.
After you've completed the sediment flush, it's time to clean the exterior of your outdoor wood burner. Before you begin, it's important to cover the area around the stove with newspaper. Wearing protective eyewear and gloves is an excellent idea. Also, you should have an ash container, a shovel ash container and a scraping tool. You can make use of a cloth as an insulator to protect the refractory while you take off coal and ash deposits.
Simple to operate
Despite their popularity (they were one of the 1990s' "it" trends, along with mullet haircuts) outdoor wood boilers, also known as outdoor furnaces or outdoor wood hydronic heaters are still often misunderstood. Contrary to the EPA's popular wood stoves, which are designed to burn at low, constant temperatures, these units use a higher fire rate and emit more smoke when they operate. Certain local governments restrict or prohibit their use.
OWBs work best for homes that have high levels of insulation. The smoldering, visible smoke is also a source of complaints from neighbors and has led to many OWBs being shut-down or being sued in the past. To allow OWBs to function properly, they must be used with dry wood that has low moisture content. Utilizing unseasoned or green wood can reduce efficiency, cause creosote build up and can shorten the life of the burner. Drying wood takes time and a moisture meter is a must for the homeowner.
Dual-stage wood gasification (OWGB) boilers however, use a three-step process which makes use of the energy available in the wood. This means less smoke. These types of furnaces are more efficient than traditional OWBs and can be used with a greater range of fuel. Wood gasification boilers require dry, seasoned firewood. The majority of wood will mature over the course of the course of a year. Oak and other tough trees may take as long as two years. This is because they have less amount of water and a higher density. This allows them retain heat for longer, thus increasing efficiency and reducing pollution. The EPA "Burn Wise" website and Cornell Cooperative Extension are great sources for homeowners to understand how to burn wood efficiently to reduce air pollution.
Low Maintenance
Modern outdoor wood furnaces have been designed with the environment in mind. In contrast to indoor wood burners which produce significant smoke, modern outdoor furnaces burn cleanly and without the production of excessive heat or carbon monoxide. They also use less wood to produce the same amount heat as traditional stoves.
Outdoor wood burners require less maintenance and are more forgiving of the moisture content of wood than indoor wood burning stoves. However, outdoor wood burners can only be used with properly seasoned or "cured" wood. This could take a whole year or more for some types of wood. It is important to use a moisture meter to measure the amount of water 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 of combustion and can build up in the chimney and flue in the event that it is not cleaned frequently. It can be removed using the use of a special creosote remover that is poured into the flame. Regular cleaning of the flue and chimney will remove dangerous creosote and improve efficiency.
To achieve 99% combustion efficiency, Crown Royal Stoves designed a brand new air flow technique known as Negative Pressure Gasification. This technology is used in our EPA certified Pristine Series Outdoor Wood Furnaces to pull air up from the bottom and push all gases through an insulated secondary combustion chamber that is surrounded by water and easy-to-clean Turbulators. The result is a smokeless & pollutant-free combustion.