Woodheating Tips
Hot Tips For Better Wood Heating
Stop Your Money Going Up in Smoke, Follow These Easy Steps- Burn only dry, seasoned, untreated wood
- Stack wood under cover in a dry, ventilated area
- Use small logs
- Burn the fire brightly
Burn only dry, seasoned, untreated wood
Wet and green (or unseasoned) wood will not burn properly and produces a lot of smoke.
Freshly cut wood contains about half it’s weight in water; an average sized log can contain about two liters of water. Energy and money are wasted in boiling the water in each log, the fire does not get as hot as it should and excessive smoke is produced. Burning wet wood also means you will need to burn more wood to achieve a reasonable amount of heat output; burning only dry wood saves you money.
To test the moisture content of a log bang two logs together. Seasoned wood will make a loud, hollow crack, whereas unseasoned wood sounds more like a thud.
Stack wood under cover in a dry, ventilated area
Wood is ready to burn when it has been air dried for at least eight months to a moisture content less than 20%. Store wood under cover in a dry, ventilated wood shed, in a fashion to allow the wood to continue to dry out. If freshly cut (green, unseasoned) wood is stacked in the open air, it will dry out and eventually reach about 15% moisture content.
Stack wood away from the house walls as the wood can act as a pathway for insects, for example ants or termites in some regions of Australia.
Signs of wet wood:
- Black Glass
- Low Heat Output
- High Ash Deposits
- Strong Wine-Like Smell
Use small logs
Small logs burn brightly and do not crowd the heater, as can larger logs. Smaller logs will make the fire easier to light, and help in establishing a vigorous fire quickly after refueling. Importantly, this will help reduce smoke emissions. Use at least two or three small logs in the heater, never one large log.
Be careful to avoid over stacking the heater however, as if the heater is stacked full of small logs there might be such a rapid combustion that there is not enough oxygen present to achieve complete combustion. Over-stacking causes smoke to increase and should be avoided. Leave enough space over the top of the fuel load to allow flames to develop.
For slower, more efficient burning, two or three smaller logs will usually prove most satisfactory.
Burn the fire brightly
A robust fire produces less smoke than a slow or smoldering fire. A smoldering fire at any time, whether caused by wet wood, insufficient air, not enough kindling, or poor loadings of logs which blocks off combustion air, will cause excessive smoke.
Run the heater on a high burn rate (air control fully open) for five minutes before and fifteen to twenty minutes after adding more logs. Check the heater chimney regularly for smoke. If the heater is producing lots of visible smoke for more than fifteen minutes after lighting or refueling, adjust the full load and increase the air settings. Just a little bit of attention to the fire will make a big difference to how much smoke is produced.
Heater testing has shown that a poor fire can produce up to ten times more smoke than a brightly burning fire.