What You Need to Know About Outdoor Wood Burners
Outdoor wood burners are an affordable way to heat homes and businesses. They also help reduce dependence on non-renewable fossil fuels and contribute to a resilient energy strategy.
A well-seasoned wood is vital for efficient burning. Unseasoned or green wood can have a higher moisture content that can cause creosote to build up and decrease performance.
Efficient
Outdoor wood burners have been around for a long time. They are a cost-effective and green method to heat your home. However, the design of OWBs that encourages an unsteady, cooler fire, causes poor combustion and more smoke, creosote, as well as particulates. These unburned fuels could lead to health problems as well as fire hazards, and can also harm the environment.
Furthermore, the visible smoke plume that OWBs produce can cause neighbors to complain and could lead to DEC (Department of Environmental Conservation) enforcement action. This type of issue can negatively impact the value of your property, and may result in your OWB being shut down.
Crown Royal Stoves offers a range of EPA Certified outdoor wood furnaces known as the Pristine Gasification Series that utilizes technology to maximize combustion efficiency to ensure a smokeless, clean burning. modern wood burning stove is done with a negative-pressure air system which pulls in fresh, dry heated, filtered air from the bottom and then pushes it through the chimney much faster than traditional outdoor wood boilers. This is accomplished through the unique design of a multi-pass, water filled heat exchanger made of 409 Titanium Enhanced Stainless Steel.
When properly used correctly, the Pristine Gasification Series OWB can reach a 99% combustion efficiency for a cleaner, smoke-free fire that uses less wood and produces less emissions than traditional OWBs. To maximize the effectiveness of your OWB it is essential to burn only clean, seasoned, dry wood. Seasoning your wood for six months or a year prior to burning is recommended. It will ensure a more efficient and more efficient burn.
You can increase the efficiency of your wood-burning stove by executing every week a "dry burn". This method lowers the amount of creosote in your home which improves boiler efficiency and extends the life of your boiler. By affixing a creosote-removing stick to your stove each time you fill it up, you can drastically reduce the amount of creosote you use. The product is available through Wisconsin Wood Furnace.
Clean
The soot particles left behind after burning wood can make a wood stove look very dirty. They are difficult to get rid of, so clean any buildup that may be on the glass of your stove immediately. If not, the soot will begin to get harder and become more difficult to get off. It is essential to choose the right cleaner, but you should also be careful not to scratch the glass by using anything that can scratch it. This could lead to an area of weakness that could shatter glass when exposed extreme temperatures.
Make sure you let your wood stove cool completely before cleaning it. Make sure you surround it with newspaper. This will prevent any spillage of ash which could stain and mark surfaces.
Based on the quality of the wood that you use, it can take up to one year for your stove to get properly seasoned. Seasoned wood will not only burn more efficiently and last longer, but it will also produce less creosote. This is the substance that builds up on your fireplace, reducing its efficiency and posing an opportunity for fire hazards. If you are using unseasoned wood, or 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 each week.
You should also do a sediment flush on your boiler at least once every four years. This is a quick five-second flush from the drain valve on your boiler. This will get rid of any debris that has accumulated inside the system and ensure that your boiler is in good operating condition.
Once you have done the sediment flush, it's now time to clean the outside of your outdoor wood burner. Before you begin, it's important to cover the stove's area with newspaper. It is also beneficial to wear gloves and protective eyewear. You should also have an shovel, a metal container for ash and an instrument for scraping. To safeguard the refractory, you need to lay a cloth on it to protect it while you scrape away ash and coal deposits.
Simple to Operate
Outdoor wood boilers (also called outdoor furnaces and outdoor wood hydronic heating systems or outdoor wood heaters) are often misunderstood in spite of their acclaim. They were one of the "it" trends of the 1990s, alongside hairstyles for mullets. In contrast to their EPA-approved counterparts, popular wood stoves which are designed to burn at low, constant temperatures, these boilers have a higher fire rate and emit more smoke when operating. This is the reason why local governments regulate or even ban their use.
OWBs are ideal to heat homes with insulation levels that are high. The visible, smoldering smoke is also a cause of complaints from neighbors, and has led to many OWBs being shut-down or being sued in the past. For OWBs dry wood with lower moisture content is needed to function effectively. Utilizing unseasoned or green wood can reduce efficiency, cause creosote to build up and may cut down the life of the burner. Drying wood takes 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 that uses more of the available energy in the wood, resulting in less smoke. These furnaces are more efficient than conventional OWBs and can be used for a wide range of fuels. Wood gasification boilers need dry and seasoned wood. The majority of wood will be seasoned within a year, however oak and other species with a hardy structure could take two years or more to fully season. This is due to lower water content and denser mass. This allows them to retain heat 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, thereby reducing air pollution.
Low Maintenance
Modern outdoor wood stoves are engineered to be environmentally friendly. Unlike indoor wood burners that emit significant smoke, modern outdoor furnaces burn cleanly and without the creation of excessive heat or carbon monoxide. They also require less wood to produce the same amount of heat as traditional stoves.
Outdoor wood burners require less maintenance than indoor wood burners and are more accommodating when it comes to the moisture content of the wood. Outdoor wood burners are only suitable for wood that has been properly "cured" or seasoned. Certain types of wood may take up to a full year. It is important to use a moisture meter to check the water content of your wood prior to loading.
When operating, it is essential to examine the system on a regular basis for the accumulation of creosote. Creosote is an byproduct of combustion and can build up in the flue and chimney in the event that it is not cleaned frequently. It can be removed with the use of a special creosote remover that is poured into the fire. Regular cleaning of the chimney and flue will eliminate dangerous creosote buildup and improve efficiency.
Crown Royal Stoves developed a new airflow technology known as Negative Pressure Gasification to attain 99% efficiency in combustion. Our EPA certified Pristine Series outdoor wood furnaces utilize this technology to pull air from the bottom, directing all the gasses into an insulated water-surrounded secondary combustion chamber, which is easy-clean turbulators for a smokeless & pollutant-free burn.