Beginners Guide to Wood Burning Stoves
This quick overview of wood burning stoves covers the background and basics behind wood burning, looks at the pros and cons of owning a wood burning stove and suggests how you might set about installing one.
A wood burning stove (or wood burner as they are sometimes also termed) is little different in principle from a regular open fireplace other than the obvious difference that it is fully enclosed. The familiar black cast metal fire boxes now associated with most traditional style wood burners are all based in some way on the Franklin Stove, first developed by Benjamin Franklin (yes, the famous one) in the USA nearly 250 years ago.
Enclosed woodburners greatly improve combustion and hence are much more efficient than an open fire in a hearth, they also disperse the smoke to the outside via a stovepipe (often fitted inside a chimney) which itself helps distribute more heat into the house.
Like most products, wood burning stoves are available in a range of basic designs. At one end you have what are called fireplace inserts, also called cassette fires or fireboxes of which JetMaster Fireplaces are a well known example. These are what they sound like – a means of enclosing an ordinary fireplace behind a glass panel to improve thermal efficiency, cleanliness and safety.
Traditional standalone wood burning stoves are typically black, heavy cast metal boxes connected to a stove pipe venting to the outside. These may be partially sealed (cheaper more basic versions) or completely airtight. The latter allow far more control and efficiency since the airflow is entirely controlled and the fire can therefore be regulated either manually or automatically.
The state of the art for modern wood burning stoves is the wood pellet stove. As the name implies, wood pellet stoves use manufactured pellets of a uniform size made from compressed waste sawdust (they may also be fuelled by size graded wood chips). Because wood pellets can be in effect “poured” (unlike logs) most pellet burning stoves are also fitted with automatic fuel feed hoppers, with the whole fire regulator system and fuel supply typically connected to an electronic control system that makes these wood burners as easy and clean to use as for example mains gas.
So what use is a wood burning stove? Well, all are very good as room heaters, so if you want space heating and the aesthetics of a real fire without the hassle then a wood burning stove is an excellent choice. Some also double as kitchen ranges and/or boilers (Rayburn provides a classic example of this sort of versatility). So, a wood burner can cover a range of heating requirements from direct space heating, to cooking and running household radiators and providing hot water.
But what are the advantages that a wood burning stove has over conventional gas, oil or electric heating? Like so much else in life it actually boils down to looks and money. Most people are instinctively drawn to a real fire and when they also find out that it can be considerably more economic to run a wood burning system than using conventional gas, oil or electric heating that really gets their attention.
That’s before we get onto the ecological bonus points for using recyclable, renewable, carbon neutral woody biomass (a category of bio-fuel). Then there are other considerations to do with modern legislation governing carbon emissions and heat loss where installing a wood burning stove can make it very much easier to comply with the various building regulations in this area. And finally, you can even attract grants and other incentives to install a wood burning stove.
So wood burners can manage the full range of domestic heating tasks, save money, are ecologically sound, and attract government support. What about any disadvantages?
Well, there’s no getting away from the fact that unlike turning on gas or electricity, wood logs and even pellets need to be delivered (or cut down) and physically loaded into the wood burner or fuel hopper. Also, the whole system, including the chimney stack, will need cleaning annually at the very least. And unless you happen to live close to a reliable supply of logs or wood pellets then the cost savings disappear because of the cost of transporting heavy wood biofuel. Finally, there is of course the cost and disruption of installing a wood burning stove and ensuring compliance with whatever environmental and building regulations apply in your neighbourhood.
So, having examined the detailed advantages and problems associated with wood burning stoves, your final consideration is how to install a wood burning system. This is a whole topic unto itself and you would be well advised to check out a guide to installing a wood burning stove to consider your options in more detail.
About the Author Hermione Williams is fascinated by the symbiotic relationship between technology and society.
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