Freestanding wood-burning stoves are generally more competent compared to fireplace inserts. Moreover, they are also comparatively less hazardous and control fuel usage better.
The recent increases in the cost of energy have made the people purchase fuel and energy-efficient vehicles. Along with that wood pellets purchase has been on the rise too. Wood pellets are composed of wood shavings and sawdust used as a fuel to warm homes. Many people used these and around 800,000 people are still using it.
Benefits
Pellets can also be used for providing heat to the whole house, but mostly fuel is used for freestanding stoves and fireplace inserts. While you are sitting in one room, you may ignite your stove and switch off the thermostat controlling the rest of the house in order to save money. You can easily turn waste wood into energy and use the wasted heap of wood. Also, the palletized wood and other solid wood is eco-friendly compared to fossil fuels like coal, oil and natural gas. The Edinburgh wood burning stoves are the ones which can be functional using a variety of fuels including wood and are used widely all over.
Drawbacks
When finally giving the wood-burning a try, look at its drawbacks. Most people avoid the extra cost of installing thermostat in all rooms. Although the heat emitted by the insert may wrongly land you into believing that the temperature is even throughout, but it actually makes the adjacent rooms colder. Subsequently, the temperature in those rooms has to be increased, which will use up more energy, making the energy-saving scheme a flop.
Thus, the saving is directly proportional to the cost and amount of the fuel that is used. Wood pellets don't burn cleanly like natural gas and/or oil does, which can be problematic for people with respiratory disorders. Wood and wooden pellets burning also require piling, kindling, cleaning. They cannot compete with instant start appliances such as the Edinburgh wood burning stoves that are very convenient to use.
Tips On Choosing The Best Wood
When picking the finest wood burning, keep a few tips in mind. Few of them have been enumerated below.
- If there is a fireplace at your home, and you don't often use it. This will cause your house to get cold except for the room in which you are. The effectiveness of the hearth is also quite low. Getting an insert is a good idea. The firebox that is self-contained allows the circulation of air and heats up the whole place. The smoke emits from the chimney which connects to the insert. If you don't have a specific place that you want your fireplace to be placed, you can have freestanding stoves that can be placed almost everywhere. The freestanding stove necessitates a vent that is of the design which suits it and installs a chimney that is appropriate to the place of the stove. Whichever appliance you pick, you need to pay an amount of around $750 and the installation fees and the charges might also increase. There should be some professional hired to install such appliances.
- Heat content is calculated in Btu/h or thermal units/hour. Heat loss is dependent upon the living area and the fitting in the exterior wall space and the ceiling. It hinges on the number as well as the spaces of the windows. This is subject to the size of the stove you buy. You can evaluate the Btu/h that is needed for a specific area and buy a stove accordingly.
- The fuel worth and cost depends on two aspects: the monetary value and the warming value. This is dependent on the effectiveness of the appliance. It has been calculated that it costs approximately $15.15 in order to yield one million Btu employing pellets while $9.09 when solid wood is in use.
There are many differences between pellets and wood debated:
- Cord wood is more often used because of a dearth of wood pellets. Cord wood is available in most areas of the US and while purchasing it, you need to know that you are buying the right cord wood or not. A genuine cord is 8 feet in length, 4 feet in-depth and 4 feet high.
- You can store the wood that is available in your part and arrange it. Wood pallet is of two types. Standard grade contains ash while the premium grade is more costly but burns clean. There are different stoves for different burnings. In some stoves, you can use either type; while in others, you can only burn pellets that are made of wheat, corn and other such materials. Inserts and stoves that allow multiple fuels to be used allow pellets composed of wood and its substitutes.
- The old and traditional fireplaces that use wood emit less smoke but are incompetent. The modern stoves and wood burnings are superior and provide a good amount of heat. In some places, solid wood burning is restricted while burning of pallet is not forbidden.
- Wood burnings require handwork. They need to be loaded and lighted by hand. Pallet burning however, can also be automated. However, they need electricity to function. There are battery backups available in the market or you can connect to a generator. Whatever it is that you burn, you need to clean out the cinders and the chimney and vent connector, fuel ways and do the basic maintenance. You also need to get your unit inspected usually by some certified contractor.
- Solid wood burns may produce sparks, ashes and/or creosote, which is a combustible liquid that accumulates and clogs vents. Wood can spread mould and similar things in the house and the heaps of cords can protect you from spiders and insects, termites and rodents. There are also risks that carbon-monoxide might poison the air and there may be fire, so a regular check on the smoke is required.
Sometimes the inserts and stoves are bought for decorative purposes also. They occupy public space and come in all styles, polishes and sizes. They can be of cast-iron or stainless-steel that can also match home decor.
Freestanding wood-burning stoves are generally more competent compared to fireplace inserts. Moreover, they are also comparatively less hazardous and control fuel usage better.
