Is Wood Burning Stove As Important As Everyone Says?
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 correctly to ensure maximum efficiency.
Avoid opening and closing the wood stove door often as this can create an atmosphere that draws smoke and unburnt volatile compounds back into the room.
Energy Efficiency
Radiant heat is used to heat the home instead of hot air forced into the house through its ventilation system. This is an efficient method of heating as it provides radiant warmth that radiates from all sides of the stove, heating your entire house instead of just one central area.
Modern wood stoves are designed to be as energy efficient as possible. Manufacturers are having to meet increasingly stringent requirements regarding emissions and the best way to do this is by making their stoves more efficient. Our stoves have an efficiency rating of 70% or greater. This means that a higher proportion of the heat produced is used to heat your home, rather than being lost to the chimney.
A wood burner is also warmth that is totally independent. A wood burner can provide warmth during power outages or gas shortage, provided you have enough logs.
Wood burning stoves are more reliable than other forms of heating because they don't rely on oil or electric power to operate. This is especially important in remote areas where other energy sources are susceptible to disruption for a long time.
A high-quality stove will heat your home at 80% efficiency. This is a huge improvement over older stoves that operated at less then 20% efficiency. It is also one of the reasons a new stove is a good investment.
A catalytic wood stove can recycle the gasses and smoke that leaves the firebox through secondary combustion to further increase efficiency. However non-catalytic stoves are becoming more popular since they don't require expensive catalyst technology to achieve the same efficiency levels and are considerably less expensive to purchase. This can be particularly advantageous for those looking to save money on fuel costs and reduce their carbon footprint.
Clean Burning
A wood stove is a device that burns wood to generate heat however it also releases particles and gases into the air. This can cause poor air quality in some areas and affect our health. This is why it is important to make use of clean burning technology for your wood burner.
When you have a modern, brand new wood stove that has Clean Burn technology, it dramatically reduces the amount of airborne dust and particulate emissions. This will not only make your home more healthy, but you can also save money because you will get more warmth from each log.
ECO stoves are today able to meet the most stringent emission requirements in the world. They can only emit 5 grams of particles per kilogram of wood burnt. At Jotul we have more ambitious goals - we'd like to give you the very highest quality in terms of the climate and your health. We have created a solution that lets our wood stoves emit less than half of the statutory requirements - in some instances, it's even less than one grams!
Modern stoves offer a variety of ways to optimize the efficiency of combustion. It is important to monitor the air flow and only decrease it once the fire is hot and established.
Cleaner stoves produce less creosote. This sticky substance can cause serious fire dangers. The reduced production of creosote can save time and money in chimney cleaning.
The pre-heated tertiary air in our wood stoves is an additional element in their performance to the highest level. This is an additional level of air that is introduced above the fuel load, and assists in ensuring that all particles are burned. This feature is responsible for a large portion of the outstanding performance of our latest stoves, like the Defra-approved Hi-Flame Graphite 5
You should always make sure that your wood stove is used only in smoke control zones (or exempt zones) in areas where it is permitted to use it. Smoke from wood stoves isn't only harmful to those who live in the immediate vicinity but it can be transported over long distances, causing poor air quality for residents in the vicinity.
Eco-Friendly
Wood burners are a low carbon alternative to fossil fuel stoves. As part of a closed carbon cycle, trees absorb CO2 from the air and release it when burned. This is less damaging to the environment than releasing CO2 into air using gas, oil, or electricity for home heat.
Modern stoves are greater efficiency than earlier models, meaning that you can heat your home using much less firewood. Certain models are so efficient they emit little smoke, produce very little ash and use 70% less wood than traditional stoves. The latest EPA-certified stoves come with additional safety features, such as an automatic shutoff to avoid overheating.
Eco-friendly stoves can also help you save money on your energy bills. The cost of electricity and gas seems to rise year after year. With wood-burning stoves, you can cut out the middlemen and take control of your heating needs.
You can also make use of reclaimed or salvaged wood for your stove to make it even more environmentally friendly. Many people gather wood from construction projects that would otherwise be thrown out or disposed of. However, it is important to make sure it's completely dry before burning. This is especially important if you reside in a smoke-control zone where using damp or wet wood is not permitted.
The eco-friendly aspect of a wood stove is due to the fact that it is a renewable source of energy. If you buy your logs from sustainable forests, one tree is planted for every tree cut down for use. This helps to stop the destruction of forests caused by fossil fuel production.
It is important to remember that even though wood-burning stoves emit less carbon dioxide than other stoves, they still produce some fine particulate pollution. These are tiny, harmful particles that can penetrate deep into your lungs and are extremely harmful to your health. The independent standards body for heating appliances HETAS has led a campaign to improve wood stoves so that they minimize this kind of pollution as much as possible and a variety of manufacturers are working on eco-friendly wood stoves that comply with the latest standards.
Cooking
If used properly when used correctly, wood stoves can be very secure. If you are not familiar with wood burning, it's best to hire a professional to check your fireplace and ventilation systems to make sure they are working correctly. Modern wood burners make use of a chimney and firebox to draw in air and then release smoke. The chimney and the ventilation pipe work to control the amount of creosote (a volatile organic compound) produced when wood burns. The accumulation of creosote in the chimney can lead to reduced effectiveness and even a fire hazard therefore it is essential to keep your stove in good condition.
The scent of burning wood and the crackle of the flames create a warm atmosphere that transports you back to simpler times. Additionally, cooking with modern wood burning stoves burning stoves adds an unique flavor that can't be replicated with gas or electric stoves. The smoky taste of roasted meats and soups that are hearty give meals a unique and unforgettable taste that cannot be replicated by other cooking methods.
It is also well-known that cooking with a wood-burning stove is healthier than other forms of cooking. The heat generated by the flames can help to preserve the nutrients you consume when you roast meats or vegetables in your wood-burning oven.
Many people opt to use a wood-burning stove as an alternative to gas or electricity to heat their home. It is a reliable method of heating that is especially useful during power outages and in regions where fossil fuels are scarce. Furthermore, the majority of people find that a wood stove is the most cost-effective method to heat their homes, as opposed to buying and installing a conventional gas or electric stove. It is also environmentally friendly because wood is a renewable resource, and when it is harvested and burned in a responsible manner, it releases less carbon dioxide into the atmosphere than fossil fuels.