Wood Burning Stoves : Which Logs To Use
With multi-fuel stoves, if your lucky enough to live in an area not covered by our current clean air acts you can burn logs. Logs are fantastic on wood burning stoves. See and hear the the flames consume a chunk of a tree as it heats your room and if you've got a stove with boiler, your whole house.
Like most things, keeping a multifuel stove is very easy once you know what your doing. Hopefully this won't sound patronizing as an article. I say this because some of this will be new and useful and some blindingly obvious, if you know. But this is to help the person who's looking at the idea of wood burning stoves as a way to cut costs, help to save the planet and just as importantly have an amazing central feature.
Firstly, lets talk about logs baby!
Easy way for people not to get the full benefit of their stove, the wrong wood.This means more cost ,more wood.There's only so many trees.Less enjoyment. Cold!
Log burning the easy way:
Best wood:
Apple (great aroma)
Ash
Beech
Chesnut
Hawthorn
Oak
These will give you a decent burn rate, great flames and some great snap crackle & pop sounds. As you get more familiar with your own particular multi-fuel stove try doing a cocktail of wood. Sounds lame try it
you might like it.
Wood to avoid:
Birch
Elm
Fir
What you'll find is your either piling the logs on or for ever poking round to get more than a lazy ember. Please take this piece of advice keep away from the B E F.The more of this wood you buy the more you spend and utility bills are high enough. If you use the best performing wood you save money, simple.
I'll cover the next two very quickly,
Log size. Sorry, size is important .The excepted wood burning stoves industry standard length is 14 inches or 36 cm. This means that to get the best results from the best wood it should be this size. Always quarter your logs so that you can stack the logs in the stove to maximize your heat output. To do this you should cross the logs over each other. Each stove or stove with boiler manufacturer will have a slightly different spec. So general rule of thumb build the wood up as a log cabin in the grate area.
The next wonderful thing about log & multi-fuel stoves is, if they are used correctly, they have a minimal impact on the environment. Not only do they save money as they heat your room, if your lucky enough to have a boiler stove you can heat your entire home.
Wood either left to rot or used as a fuel uses up exactly the same earth harming stuff that it stored during its life. If you source your wood from a reputable supplier, he'll be re-planting two for every one.Its in his business interests to have a renewable supply
The dryness of wood is very important to get the best use from your stove. Its generally agreed that at least a year or for the very best results two years is the length of time that your wood should be stored in a dry, warmish store. In Europe we are seeing the rise of kiln dried wood. This is all I know ,they take virgin freshcut wood, then dry it in a kiln like those used in the pottery industry. Not sure how that impacts the environment.
Finally, a few words on stoves with boilers. All the benefits of a stove but with the added extra of heating your entire home or workspace. Think about that, your radiators run off the logs your burning in your wood burning stoves. Suddenly you'll sit higher in your chair,why? The money you will not be paying to the utility company will still be in your back pocket. Its relatively easy to hook your wood burning stove up to your existing system. So in the summer you can have a quick warm from your gas boiler and the rest of the year, your house is heated by the logs you burn in your stove.