Comparing Wood Burning Stoves
by Green Living on May 8, 2009
in Alternative Energy, Eco-Friendly
I had always been under the impression that burning wood for heat was inefficient, caused pollution in the form of smoke, and was therefore not a green solution to heating. But then I moved into my current home in the country and a wood burning stove was already installed in the house. I love wood heating. It really warms you, helps counteract the damp that usually comes with winter, and as a bonus you can use it for cooking and heating water for tea. A ‘wetback’ can be installed so you get hot water as a by-product of your heating, allowing you to save all the energy and money it takes to provide hot water to your house. So, could it really be all that bad and inefficient? I decided to find out.
What I discovered was that using a wood stove for heating has a neutral carbon footprint. The ‘cost’ of burning wood as fuel offsets the benefits of the tree growing and absorbing carbon dioxide during it’s life. So, it’s actually a green alternative to coal powered electricity (which is what we get through the power grid here). Considering we use the stove top for cooking as well, instead of using the slow-cooker, it’ turns out it’s pretty efficient after all. So if you’re interested in making the switch to wood heating, read on for some good tips to comparing and buying a wood stove.
Many things need to be kept in mind when you decide to use a regular wood burning stove or choose a corn or pellet burning stove. It’s essential that you know the type of fuel that your exact model of stove can burn and what types of fuel you cannot use safely. You also need to be aware of the reason your model of stove uses the fuel type that it does to burn.
Although regular wood stoves do burn very hot, they don’t burn nearly as hot as other alternative stoves like those that burn corn or pellets. Because regular wood stoves don’t burn as hot as the alternatives you need to be sure to consider all of your options if you plan on using your stove as the primary heating method for your home.
Radiant heat is what is responsible for the efficiency of wood burning stoves. Corn and pellet burning stoves give off heat using an electric motor that blows the heat produced from the burning corn or pellets into the room that the stove is in. The exhaust from corn and pellet burning stoves is normally vented to the outside through exterior walls.
Although in our descriptions we’ve been treating corn and pellet burning stoves as one in the same that does not mean that they are interchangeable. You don’t want to automatically assume that you can use corn in a pellet burning stove or vice versa. You need to be fully aware of the manufacturer’s requirements before interchanging corn and pellets. Although using corn in place of pellets or pellets in place of corn will probably work it may void your manufacturer’s warranty so you need to be very careful or you may find yourself out of luck if you have technical problems in the future.
One huge mistake some people have made is in buying a stove for which their preferred fuel method is not available in their area. Imagine how bad it would be to buy a corn burning stove, have it installed in your home and then coming to realize that corn is not available in your area in the appropriate form to be used in your corn burning stove! Normally you will only have this problem if you live in a small town, especially one in a desert climate where corn must be imported, but it’s something to research before buying just in case.
There are now several stoves on the market that burn both corn and pellets, either at the same time or separately. If you are undecided this may be an option to consider.
The most important thing you can do before buying a stove is EXTENSIVE RESEARCH! Once your stove is installed in your home it is not easy to remove or replace with another model so do your homework before jumping into the wood burning market.
After your new wood burning stove is up and running, enjoy your lower heating bills!
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