When you understand the basic process involved in buying, preparing, burning and storing wood, you can make wood a more environmentally friendly fuel and get more value for money.
Many people believe wood is a truly green source of fuel, because, unlike fossil fuels, it does not release any extra carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. This is true, – only – if we replace the trees we use, preferably with a generous safety margin.
Wood is only an environmentally friendly fuel if it comes from well-managed woodlands and forests, where more trees are grown each year than are harvested. The reason why many more trees need to be planted than we cut down, is because the new young trees will of course be much smaller in size than those harvested. The CO2 absorbing capacity of a tree is very much dependent on its size and the amount of foliage it has.
Burning wood in a stove is more efficient than burning wood on an open fire and can easily cut down the amount needed by half.
By understanding the burning process it will help you to burn your wood with the least impact possible on the environment and also ensure less maintenance on your chimney, get more out of your wood and have a warmer fire.
Stages of wood-burning process:
Evaporation – When you intially light your fire a lot of energy is used boiling away moisture left in the wood and this robs the stove of energy needed for an efficient and clean burn. Using unseasoned or damp wood, is, therefore, not a good idea as it also creates a lot of creosote and pollution.
Emissions - As the heat of your fire intensifies, waste-gases (smoke) are released from the wood. Unburned smoke is emitted into the air as either pollution or condensed in the chimney causing creosote build-up. Creosote is black or brown in appearance, can be crusty, flaky tar-like, drippy, sticky or shiny and hardened and it sticks to the inner walls of the chimney.
If the wood you are using is rain logged, or green, the fire will tend to smolder and not warm the chimney sufficiently. Wet wood causes the whole system to be cool, and inefficient. In contrast, dry wood means a hot fire, which results in a hot flue, and a hot flue means much less creosote clogging up your chimney. If your fire is hot enought to burn up the gasses and particlal released from the wood, there will be less air pollution. Waste gases from wood need oxygen to burn, this is why starving a fire of air is the worst way to burn. – Always give a fire a generous supply of combustion air.
Improve this situation by insulating your chimney to make it easier to heat up, as well as starting the fire with a good supply of lovely dry kindling, which will also help to heat the air in the chimney.
Clean burn stoves
Cleanburn or Cleanheat stoves are incorportaed with a sophisticated system that allows warm air to be introduced just above the normal height of the fire. The effect is to allow the combustion of unburned hydrocarbons in the smoke stream. This provides both a leaner burn (ie less soot particles going up the chimney and into the atmosphere) and also generates up to twice the heat output from the same amount of fuel. In addition you will enjoy the sight of even more flames.
Smoke Control Areas
Under the Clean Air Act of 1956 and 1968 local authorities may declare the whole or part of the district of the authority to be a smoke control area. It is an offence to emit smoke from a chimney or a building, from a furnace or from any fixed boiler if in such a designated area. It is also an offence to acquire an “unauthorised fuel” for use within a smoke control area unless it is used in an “exempt” appliance. The current maximum level of fine is £1,000 for each offence.
Your local authority is responsible for enforcing the legislation in smoke areas and you can contact them for details of any smoke control areas in their authority. To find out if you are in a smoke Control Area simply visit the UK Smoke Control Area Website.