If you decide to heat your home with wood, there are a few factors you should consider. Nowadays, this renewable energy source can be a cheap and environmentally friendly alternative, but it can also bring complications. To help you make a fire and use the fuel correctly, here is some useful information and environmentally friendly heating methods.
Is heating with wood worth it and what you should definitely pay attention to
Firewood has always been an effective way to heat a home. Furthermore, wood is the epitomerenewable energy, ensures independence from fossil fuels such as crude oil, natural gas or coal, offers security of supply and, when burned correctly, remains completely integrated into the biological cycle. The material also performs very well in terms of price compared to other fuels. Although it is a renewable resource, it makes sense to take a few simple steps to use it efficiently.
Given the effort involved in wood heating, it just makes sense to have oneUse heat sources as efficiently as possible. The result can be lower heating costs if you buy your firewood and less work if you process the fuel locally. Correctly installing a chimney and wood stove or fireplace will provide greater comfort and energy efficiency, and there will be less chance of smoke escaping when you open the stove door. Additionally, lower costs, less maintenance and better indoor air quality are some of the many benefits of heating with wood. Therefore, it can definitely be worth trying out new options for wood heating.
Environmentally friendly and economic benefits
Heating a home with wood can be pleasant, efficient, safe, easy and environmentally friendly. Done right, this heat source can keep you and your family warm during a winter power outage and even allow you to cook your food for an extended period of time. In addition, heating with wood can transform a dreary heating period into a cozy, enjoyable time. In addition to the economic aspect, the increased use of wood fires and systems operated with them in recent years is also based on an environmentally friendly basic idea. This is primarily about fireplaces, pellet stoves and hybrid boilers, which can be very advantageous due to their sustainability. Like wind and sun, wood is a natural and renewable energy source that grows almost unlimitedly in many latitudes.
The main advantage is that, unlike other fossil fuels, wood is an easy-to-harvest raw material. When sourced regionally and following a few basic rules when burning, heating with wood has little impact on the environment. When wood is burned, only the amount of carbon dioxide that was captured during the growth process is released, meaning that wood can be carbon neutral.
Tips for sustainable heating with wood
- Correct lighting:The right fuel is crucial so that as few emissions as possible are produced when burning the wood. In order to quickly reach a sufficient firebox temperature, thinly split kindling and conventional means of lighting make sense.
- Good wood matters:Suitable firewood is air-dried and has a residual moisture content of 15 to 20 percent. Untreated, dry wood is particularly suitable forfireplaces. Low-resin hardwoods such as beech, oak and birch are characterized by a particularly calm flame. Such types of wood burn optimally and for a longer period of time and are therefore ideally only applied in small quantities. Fine white ash and little soot in the fire indicate environmentally friendly combustion. During the burning process, they store the heat given off and only gradually release it into the room, so that the heat is used particularly efficiently.
- Clean ovens mean more heat energy:Stoves that work properly and are well maintained ensure that the wood to be burned is optimally converted into heat and that little of it is released into the atmosphere unused. Regular cleaning and checking of the fire by a specialist guarantees proper and environmentally friendly combustion.
Observe precautionary measures and rules when heating with wood
If you heat your home with wood, there are a few rules you should follow to minimize the costs, health and environmental impacts of burning wood indoors. The fuel must first be dry. If the firewood is damp, it will not ignite and burn optimally. It dries from the surface inwards, so unsplit parts burn very slowly. The more surface wood is exposed through splitting, the faster it will dry. Also, stack your firewood loosely to promote air circulation. By dry it means that the moisture content of the wood must be less than 20 percent. Also, never burn materials such as:
- Plastics
- Glossy magazines or newsprint
- Lacquered or treated wood
- Foil or metal coated gift packaging
- chipboard
- Household waste (diapers, plastic bags, etc.)
- plywood
- Cloths or fabrics made from synthetic materials
These items release toxic chemicals into the air that can harm your health and damage your wood stove or fireplace. But how much firewood do you need to keep your home warm in winter by heating with wood? This depends greatly on your climate, the area being heated, the level of insulation, and the airtightness of the home. The most common heating devices and their fuel requirements are listed below.
Wood requirements for different heating devices with their advantages and disadvantages
- Pellet stovesBurn between 7 and 9 tons of wood pellets annually and can certainly meet the efficient and easy-to-use aspects of successful wood heating. However, such devices have limitations that you should take into account. Pellets are considered environmentally friendly, but require manufacturing to get into the appropriate form. You also have to constantly refill pellet stoves to heat the living spaces. They also require electricity to operate and would not be suitable for keeping your home warm during a power outage without backup power.
- Wood stovesThey operate and function like pellet stoves and you can purchase logs. The expected wood consumption for a wood stove is between 20 and 30 m³ of logs per year. Harvesting that much wood requires a lot of work, but is cheaper than wood pellets. If you buy the right wood stove, you may be able to heat water or cook on the surface. A wood stove is more beneficial during a power outage. However, the efficiencies are different. Additionally, a wood stove cannot retain heat, and much of it goes directly into the chimney. This leads to constant recharging to maintain heating performance. This is the reason why so much wood is needed for the heating season.
- Hybrid boilersare at the top of the list with an average of 30 to 40 m³ of logs. This is an enormous amount of work and storage due to the inefficient use of the wood. But you can use it to heat both your home and your water. The advantage is that you don't have to see a fire or have a fireplace in the house. The disadvantage is that they emit more emissions and you have to fuel them continuously. However, a wood boiler holds significantly more wood than a wood stove and you don't have to reload it as often. However, they require electricity to operate and therefore, like pellet stoves, cannot function without an emergency power supply in the event of a power failure.
Optimal chimney construction and air supply for heating with wood
A suitable chimney system is crucial to the enjoyment of your wood stove. The last thing you want is smoke and toxic gases lingering in your home. Not only is this dangerous, but it also prevents you from enjoying your fire comfortably. The first step in designing a good chimney system is to install the chimney within the envelope of the home. This means that a chimney should be in the heated area of the house for as long as possible. In the best case, it penetrates the apartment at the highest point of the heated area.
Another and less understood reality that impacts draft is where the chimney is located. Thinking of the chimney as a column of air is understandable, but the house itself is often overlooked as a column of air, it's just a wider one. For this reason, even in it there is a slight pressure. This air pressure is higher or positive near the roof of the house and slightly negative near the basement. This pressure, which is created in a house by the temperature difference from inside to outside, is called the chimney effect. The greater the temperature difference, the greater the stacking effect. The greater the chimney effect, the more impact it has on your heater. If it is located upstairs, which is not very convenient, it will help remove smoke. However, if it is at the bottom it will make it difficult for airflow.
The center of the house is generally where the neutral pressure plane is. This is the area where the chimney effect of the house has no influence on the draft as the pressure is neither positive nor negative, it is neutral. This is the best area of the house to place a wood burning appliance as there is nothing blocking the flow of air. The ground floor is of course the most difficult place to create a good draft with a wood stove.
Use properly seasoned wood and avoid possible penalties
The next tip is to make sure you only burn properly seasoned firewood. This is the most important aspect of heating efficiently with wood once you have chosen your heater. The first reason is that wood with high moisture content cannot reach a high enough temperature to burn efficiently. Another reason is that too much moisture causes excess pollutants to enter the atmosphere. This will also cause creosote to build up in your chimney and wood stove. Properly seasoned firewood requires advanced preparation that will pay off when the weather turns cold. Ideally, you harvest your firewood in early spring for the following season.
However, in Germany there are high fines when it comes to the consumption of wood from forests. This is mainly due to the increasing amounts of wood from forest areas due to the rising prices of heating gas. This leads to a shortage of firewood and fireplace wood, with most forests either owned by the state or by a company or a private owner. In addition, in most cases a permit or a wood collection certificate is required. Otherwise, unauthorized wood collection can be categorized as theft. Anyone who cuts down trees, saws them down, or tears out branches, or collects firewood for commercial purposes, faces high penalties. It is therefore best to find out about the respective state forest laws or inform the private owner of the forest area before collecting firewood.
