What type of wood burners

When choosing firewood for your wood stove or fireplace, you have a lot of options. There are two main factors you must consider when choosing the best logs for a wood burning stove: wood type and wood moisture content. To learn about firewood moisture content, check out our how-to guide post Wood Stove Using Seasoned Firewood. Seasoned oak burning efficiently in the Catalyst wood stove.

Choosing firewood wood is more complicated than you think. Whether you harvest your own firewood or use a delivery service, you need to know about wood species when choosing firewood. Wood species affects how well your stove performs in several areas. Efficiency: The efficiency of your wood stove can depend significantly on the type of wood you are burning. Softwoods and resinous oily woods may burn inefficiently.

For this reason, pine, eucalyptus, birch, aspen, and a few other species do not make the best logs for a wood burning stove. Appearance: Choosing firewood from a typically resinous species may create thick black smoke, which clouds the front glass of your wood stove.

Once clouded, cleaning the glass can be more difficult. Stop fussing with your old, hard-to-use wood. Shop MF Fire today! Reliability: Choosing firewood that is soft and resinous also negatively affects the reliability of your wood burning stove. Softwoods and resinous firewoods produce chemicals that are harsh on the internal components of a wood stove.

Specifically, the catalytic combustor and the combustion fan of Catalyst can be negatively affected over time. For this reason, hardwoods provide much less wear and tear on wood stoves and make the best logs for a wood burning stove.

Safety: Burning resinous woods also creates a potential safety hazard in your home. Resinous woods produce significant amounts of creosote, which builds up within the chimney and is the main cause of chimney fires in wood stoves. However it must be seasoned for a long time — at least two years. It burns fairly slowly with nice flames and produces an excellent long lasting heat even when only the embers are left.

Pear Similar to Apple wood, burns slowly and steadily to provide a reasonable heat and, again, with a pleasant smell but disappointing flame. Pine or Deal Both common resinous softwoods which need to be well seasoned.

Usually acquired as joiners off-cuts which have already been kiln dried and therefore they will make good kindling. Burns fast with a bright flame, however because of the high resin content excessive use could eventually cause problems in the flue system with oily and sticky deposits.

Better to mix with other woods and do not burn slowly. Poplar Not recommended — even when very well-seasoned it burns poorly and produces an unpleasant black smoke. Spruce A softwood, which weighs around a third less than an equivalent oak log so it will burn very quickly. From our own experience it produces a low heat, can be smoky and produces some sparks, so it is really only any good for starting fires and should ideally be substituted with a harder wood on the first reload or generally mixed with hardwood.

It does however split relatively easily. Sycamore and other Maples Makes a good wood fuel log, burning well with a moderate heat output and good flame.

Willow Even when very well-seasoned Willow produces poor slow burning fire wood with little flame. Never use wet or unseasoned green wood as this will cause nuisance smoke and a very disappointing fire. It could quickly result in the build up of soot and creosote which, because of the higher temperatures of stove flue gases, could easily cause a flue or chimney fire.

In addition, burning wet wood creates other environmental problems, a less efficient fuel economy and can eventually quickly clog your flue system and cowl. We've know a clogged cowl happen within 6 to 8 weeks and if we hadn't seen it with our own eyes we would have found it hard to believe. Manufactured or finished wood products, such as plywood, MDF and chipboard, must be strictly avoided because of the high chemical adhesive or varnish content used in their production.

This will leave harmful residue inside the stove and flue system and possibly produce unhealthy and noxious fumes. We have a playground equipment manufacturer opposite our Cheshire showroom and they have an endless supply of tanalised wood cuts which unfortunately we cannot burn because of the fumes it produces and which catch in the back of your throat.

Add description, images, menus and links to your mega menu. A column with no settings can be used as a spacer. Link to your collections, sales and even external links. Add up to five columns. What is the best wood to burn? What does 'Hetas Approved Appliance' mean? Stove Installation Can I install a stove myself?

What is meant by 'minimum distance to combustible materials'? Do I need planning permission to install a stove? Which is the better chimney liner — or ? What's a safe distance a wooden mantel can be placed above a stove? Can I use a Boiler stove without connecting it to the water? What is a Flue Damper? What is a Clean Burn stove? What is an Airwash System? Crazed or Cloudy Stove Glass. Are wood burning stoves bad for indoor air quality?

What can I do to improve indoor air quality? What's the difference between multi-fuel stoves and wood burners? Should I choose a multi fuel or a wood burning stove? You may be able to get your wood already cut to size. However, if you need to chop the logs yourself, try to aim for around 16 inches 40 cm lengths, with inch cm diameters. Store your wood in a woodshed or, if storing unsheltered, on an old pallet or a couple of logs to keep your stack off the ground.

This allows air circulation which helps the drying process. Similarly, keep the wood away from walls to enable the movement of air. Keep the logs secure by stacking the layers at alternating 90 degree angles. There is some argument to suggest that covering is not necessary. But in Britain, where rain is common, it might be a good idea to cover your stack with a tarpaulin if it's not covered by a canopy. If using a sheet to cover your stack of wood, remember to leave a gap at the bottom to allow moisture to escape and air to circulate.

It's always a good idea to check your wood regularly. There are several simple tests you can use to determine whether or not the wood is ready for burning:. Use a wood moisture test meter to get an accurate reading of the current water content.

Look for cracks and splits in the wood. Cracks indicate dryness. Try to burn a log in a roaring fire. If it burns within 15 minutes, it's good to use. Knock two logs together. If the sound is like a ringing noise, it's probably dry.

A thudding sound is more likely the sound of wet wood. Once you're happy that your wood is dry enough, it's time to burn it. Simply load up your stove as directed, and enjoy the natural warmth given off. Earlier in this post, we briefly touched on hardwoods and softwoods. But what are these, and what impact do they have on your wood burning? Woods can be generally divided into two broad groups; softwoods and hardwoods.

Softwoods are those which come from coniferous, evergreen trees. Hardwoods, on the other hand, come from deciduous trees which lose their leaves every autumn. So, should you burn hardwoods or softwoods in your stove? In truth, you can use either or a mixture of both.

The two types of wood possess different properties, so you may need to consider exactly how you want to use the wood burner before you make your decision between hardwood and softwood. With these properties and benefits in mind, lets take a look at the best and worst woods for use in your stove.

These are some of the best and worst softwoods for burning in your stove. Best softwoods for burning. Worst softwoods for burning.

Provides a slow burn with a very good output of heat. Provides a decent heat output but spits and can cause oily deposits in the flue. Produces a good heat output, although it burns quickly. Produces a poor heat output and burns very quickly.

Provides a good heat output and burns over a long period of time. Douglas Fir. Produces a small flame and burns quickly.

Also causes oily deposits in the flue. These are some of the best and worst hardwoods for use in a wood burner. Best hardwoods for burning. Worst hardwoods for burning. Provides a steady flame and produces a good heat output. Provides a small flame and poor heat output. Similar to ash, it produces a steady flame and with a good heat output. Burns very quickly, and can leave oily deposits in the flue if not well seasoned.