The Often Unknown Benefits Of Wood Burning Stove
Why a Wood Burning Stove Should Be Properly Sized and Installed
Wood stoves can be an excellent, safe method of heating your home. A wood stove must be installed and sized properly to ensure maximum efficiency.
Do not open and shut the wood stove door frequently. This creates a vortex which pulls smoke and unburned volatile compounds into the room.
Energy Efficiency
A wood-burning stove makes use of radiant heat to warm your home, rather than relying on hot air being blown in through the home's ventilation system. This is an efficient method of heating as it provides massive warmth that radiates out across the entire stove, warming your entire house rather than only a central area.
Modern wood stoves are designed to be as energy efficient as possible. Manufacturers have to meet stricter standards regarding emissions and the best method to do this is to make their stoves more energy efficient. Our stoves are certified with an efficiency rating of 70% or greater. This means that a larger percentage of the heat generated will be used to heat your home, rather than being lost to the chimney.
A wood burner can also be an energy source that is totally independent. A wood burner can provide warmth during a power cut or gas shortage, if you have enough logs.
Wood burning stoves also provide a more reliable heating option than other heaters, as they don't rely on oil or electricity to operate. This is especially important in remote locations where other energy sources could be disrupted for prolonged periods of time.
A high-quality log burner will provide heat to your home at an 80% efficiency. This is a significant improvement over older stoves which generally operated at less than 20% efficiency and is one of the main reasons why a new stove could be a good investment.
A catalytic wood-burning stove will re-burn unburned gases and smoke that escape the firebox by secondary combustion, further improving efficiency. However,
wood burning fireplace -catalytic stoves are becoming more popular because they don't require expensive catalyst technology to achieve similar levels of efficiency and can be considerably cheaper to purchase. This is particularly beneficial for those looking to reduce their carbon footprint and save money on fuel costs.
Clean Burning
Wood stoves use wood to generate heat, but they also release particulates and gases into the air. This can lead to poor air quality in certain regions and impact our health. It is important to make use of clean-burning technology for your wood stove.
If you have a brand modern, contemporary wood stove equipped with Clean Burn technology, it drastically reduces airborne dust and particulate emissions. This not only makes your home more healthy and safe, but it also can save you money as you can get more heating for each log.
ECO stoves today have one of strictest emission requirements in the world - they can only emit 5 grams of particles per kilogram of wood that is burned. At Jotul we have greater goals - we want to offer you the absolute highest quality in terms of the environment and your health. We've developed a technical solution, which means our wood stoves are less than half the statutory requirement and in some instances less than 1 grams!
Modern stoves have many ways to maximize the efficiency of wood combustion. It is crucial to keep track of air flow and only reduce it after the fire has become hot and well-established.
Cleaner burning stoves also create less creosote. It is a sticky substance that builds up on the inside of the chimney and can be a serious fire hazard. The lower production of creosote can also save you time and money on your chimney sweeping expenses.
The pre-heated tertiary atmosphere in our new wood stoves is an additional factor in their top-level performance. This is an additional level of air that is introduced above the fuel load, and helps ensure that all particles are combusted. This feature is responsible for a significant portion of the exceptional performance you can find in our latest stoves like the Defra approved Hi-Flame Graphite 5.
You must make sure that your wood stove is used only in smoke control zones (or exempt areas) in areas that permit to use it. Smoke from the wood stove isn't only harmful to those within the immediate vicinity however, it can also travel far distances and contribute to poor air quality in neighbouring communities.
Eco-Friendly
Wood burners are a low carbon alternative to stoves that use fossil fuels. Trees absorb carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and release it back when they are burnt as part of a closed CO2 cycle. This is less harmful to the environment than releasing CO2 into air through gas, oil, or electricity for home heat.
Modern stoves have a greater efficiency than earlier models, meaning that you can heat your home with far less firewood. Some models are so efficient that they release almost no smoke, produce less ash, and require 70 percent less logs than traditional stoves. Modern EPA certified stoves also include safety features such as an automatic shut-off to avoid overheating.
Eco-friendly stoves can aid in saving money on energy bills. Gas and electricity prices seem to be increasing each year. With a wood-burning stove you can take control of your heating needs and eliminate the middlemen.
You can also use recycled or salvaged wood to make your stove to make it more sustainable. Many people salvage wood from construction projects that would otherwise be thrown out or disposed of. However, it's important to make sure it's completely dry prior to burning. This is particularly important when you are in a smoke-control zone where it's an offence to use wet or damp wood.
The green aspect of a wood stove extends to the fact that it is a renewable energy source. If you purchase your wood from a sustainable forest then one tree will be planted for each one that is cut down to be used and helps stop the destruction of forests caused by fossil fuel production.
Although wood burning stoves emit fewer emissions than other stoves, they emit fine particulate pollutants. These are small, toxic particles that can penetrate deep into your lungs and can be extremely harmful to your health. HETAS, an independent standards body for heating appliances has been leading an effort to improve wood stoves to lessen the air pollution as much they can. A number of manufacturers have come up with eco-friendly wood burning stoves that are compliant with the latest standards.
Cooking
Wood stoves are safe when employed correctly. However, if you're familiar with wood burning, you should to get a professional to check your fireplace and ventilation system to ensure that they're operating properly. Modern wood burners use a firebox and chimney to draw in air and release smoke. The ventilation pipe and chimney work together to regulate the amount of creosote produced by burning wood. Creosote accumulation in the chimney could cause a decrease in efficiency and a fire hazard It is therefore essential to maintain your stove.
The crackle of the fire and the scent of burning wood create a warm atmosphere that can transport you back to simpler days. Additionally, cooking on a wood burning stove adds a unique flavor that cannot be replicated by electric or gas stoves. The smoky taste of roasted meats, and soups with a hearty flavor provide meals with a distinctive and unforgettable taste that cannot be achieved by other cooking methods.
It is also well-known that cooking with wood-burning stoves is healthier than other forms of cooking. The heat of the flames can help to preserve the nutrients you consume when you roast meats or vegetables in your wood-burning oven.
Many people use a wood-burning stove to heat their homes instead of using gas or electricity. It is a reliable method of heating that is particularly beneficial during power outages or in areas where fossil fuels are in short supply. Furthermore, the majority of people find that using wood stoves are the most cost-effective method to heat their homes, as opposed to buying and installing a conventional electric or gas stove. It is also more eco sustainable as wood is a renewable fuel source and emits less CO2 into the air when it is gathered and burned properly.