Improving The Performance Of Your Wood Heater

Improving The Performance Of Your Wood Heater

Wood heaters are coming back into vogue with the increase in costs of other fuel sources, and a wood fire adds ambience to a house. However, there are ways to increase the cost effectiveness of the wood heaters performance, and also cut back on green house gas emissions.

When buying a wood heater, get one that is suitable for space that it is required to heat. If you buy a heater that is too big for the area, you will need to keep cutting back oxygen to the flame, causing excess smoke. This will result in creosote build up in your flue and an overall diminished performance. Therefore size does matter and is the first consideration to maximize your wood heater performance.

When considering what type of wood heater to buy, consider getting a convection heater, or a fan forced convection heater. These are designed with a cavity between the firebox and an outer casing made of either tile, heat resistant glass or metal and enamel. These are more efficient that the radiant wood heaters that heat the air via contact, and are also safer.

Next, make sure you get a good quality hard wood, as hard wood burns longer than the softwood varieties. The wood must also be seasoned and dry. Dry wood is far better to burn as it emits little if any smoke once the fire is going. Storage of the wood is therefore an important consideration. You need to keep the wood dry and allow air to circulate through it.

When building a fire, start with small kindling. This will burn quickly with little smoke. Next, place small pieces of wood on the fire and slowly increase the size of the wood, until the fire can sustain large logs. Always stack the wood so there are gaps between pieces. This allows oxygen to get around the wood and fuel the fire. Building a fire this way will noticeably decrease the amount of smoke that is produced, and also cut back on the amount of creosote build up. This in turn will ensure that your fire performs optimally for a longer period of time before you need your flue cleaned.

Always leave the air vents fully open for the first 20 to 30 minutes to allow enough oxygen to fuel the fire and minimize smoke. After the fire has established itself, the you can regulate the heat generated by adjusting the air vent.

If you are not sure if you are doing it right, just go outside and check the amount of smoke coming out of your chimney.

At night time, don't close the air vents off fully as this will cause the fire to smolder and generate more smoke than necessary. Allow some oxygen in to keep the coals burning efficiently.

There are a few tips to help you improve your wood heater performance and ensure that it performs optimally for many years to come.

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