Wood burning stove- A standard mode of heating in the household. With the efficacy and the benefits, it brings a lot of threatening danger to the lives and properties. Hence, whatever your wood burning system is, learn to burn correctly by improving its efficiency and decrease the air pollution.
Practice the skills for the right approach. You may think that only brushing off the loose specks of dirt and sweeping the dark outer layer can make the furnace well running. It is not that easy.
Firstly, you have to know about the process of wood burning. We have divided the complicated process into three categories:
- Evaporation of water:
Freshly cut logs contain enough moisture. After seasoning of the woods, the water content in the logs will be less than 20%. When you insert the wood in the firebox; first the water evaporates consuming the heat energy. More energy is needed for the wetter wood.
- The smoke of wood:
Smoke starts as the wood heats up. Smoke is the accumulation of tar droplets and combustible gases. If the temperature becomes high enough with an adequate supply of combustion air, it will burn. When the burning of smoke takes place, we get bright flames.
The danger that lies within:
If the smoke fails to burn, it will flow into the chimney pipe giving birth to condense creosote. It may get released outside as air pollution. It is a total waste as it contains an enormous part of the total energy present in the wood.
- The glowing charcoal:
Charcoal remains with the progression of fire and the vaporization of the tars and gases from the wood. It is a carbon that is almost pure. Little smoke, flame and a red glow are the most essential characteristics of charcoal. Charcoal burns quickly with the help of enough air. It is an excellent fuel and burns clean. High concentrations of carbon monoxide can be the result of the exhaust. Hence, complete ventilation to the outdoors is required.
The real challenge:
Your expertise will be judged on the boiling of the water rapidly and make sure of the burning of the smoke with bright flames prior its departure from the firebox.
- How can you understand that there is something wrong?
- Remember, when the wood burns, it is supposed to be flaming entirely till the only charcoal remains. If you can’t notice any flame, it means error.
- There should never be black firebricks in the fireplace. The color should be tan.
- The cast iron and the steel parts in the firebox should never be shiny black. Instead, they must be brown (light or dark).
- You need to have the appropriate air settings and loading orders. If the logs take a long time to ignite, be sure that some are not right.
- The glass door including the air wash must be bright. It can turn hazy but not black.
- The exhaust that arrives from the chimney top must be white or clear. If you see blue or gray smoke, it indicates poor combustion, smoldering, low system operating temperatures and air pollution.
- How will you start a fire impeccably?
- Get hold of the following materials for building and maintaining a good wood fire:
- Seasoned firewood
- Dry and finely split kindling of various sizes
- Dry newspaper (not the glossy and colored ones)
- A brief description:
Find out the entry point of the combustion air. In cases of most of the fireplaces and stoves with glass doors, much of the air take entry to the firebox via a narrow strip lying above and behind the glass panel. The air wash then flows down to the front of the fire due to its denser and cooler nature in comparison to the combustion gases. It is surveyed that most of the stoves without the glass air wash system contain the air inlets which is situated near the firebox’s bottom and inside the loading door. It affects the lighting procedure.
- Check the geometry of the fuel load:
Loosely arranged small firewoods burn quickly as the combustion air reaches all the logs simultaneously. Add three, four or more pieces to form a sheltered pocket of glowing coals that can sustain the fire.
- Rake the coals:
Rake them towards the air inlets. Use more prominent pieces of timbers and place them compactly in the firebox. It helps in preventing the heat and the flame from probing the load. It further saves the buried slices for the future in the entire burn cycle.
- Remove the ashes:
After an overnight burning, the first thing in the morning is to remove the ashes before making the stove ready for the next burn. Do it carefully as there may be some heat left in the firebox and also the chimney.
You don’t need a highly credited degree to do it yourself. Thus, follow the procedure and apply it to make your wood burning stove work smoothly and lasts longer.