Stop your money going up in smoke.
1. Burn 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 its weight in water. A
reasonable log of firewood, if still green,
can contain about two litres 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 need to burn
more wood to achieve a reasonable
amount of heat. Therefore, burning dry
wood saves you money.
Two pieces of dry, seasoned wood
banged together will make a loud
hollow crack, whereas unseasoned
wood makes more of a thud.
2. Stack wood under cover in a dry
ventilated area
Wood is ready to burn when air dried for
at least 8 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) wood is stacked in
the open, 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, eg. ants or termites in some
regions of Australia.
3. Use small logs
Small logs burn brightly and do not
crowd the heater as larger logs can do.
Smaller logs will make a fire easier to
light and help in establishing a vigorous
fire quickly after refueling. This will
reduce smoke emissions.
Use at least two or three logs in the
heater - never one large log. However,
if a wood heater is stacked full of small
logs, there might be such a rapid
combustion that there is not enough
oxygen present to achieve complete
c o m b u s t i o n a n d s m o k e w o u l d
increase. Leave enough space over the
top of the fuel load to allow flames to
develop.
For slower burning, two or three larger
l o g s w i l l u s u a l l y p r o v e m o s t
satisfactory.
4. 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, not enough air, not enough
kindling or poor loading of logs (i.e.
blocking off combustion air) will cause
excessive smoke.
Run the heater on high burn (air control
fully open) for 5 minutes before and 15
to 20 minutes after adding more logs.
Check the heater chimney regularly for
smoke. If the heater is producing lots of
visible smoke for more than 15 minutes
after lighting or refueling, adjust the fuel
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. Testing has shown
that a poor fire can produce up to 10
times more smoke than a brightly
burning fire.
When lighting a cold heater, always use
sufficient dry kindling to establish a
good fire quickly.
5. Signs of wet wood
Black glass
Low heat output
High ash deposits
Strong wine like smell
6. Wood smoke: Causes and cures
When wood is heated, energy is
required to drive off any moisture
before higher temperatures can be
reached. As the wood continues to
increase in temperature, complex
chemical reactions begin to take place.
The wood begins to break down,
releasing a mixture of gases, such as
methane and hydrogen, and many
complex tars and oils.
HOT TIPS
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Summary of Contents for Edwardian Large
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