Wood for Fuel
There are many benefits to using wood as a resource for heat which we have found over the years to our surprise. We initially bought our woodburning stove because we liked the idea of a woodburning stove with the heat and the atmosphere which comes with it. However, over the years we have become a little more aware of the environment and the fact that burning wood is environmentally friendly and perhaps one of the greenest fuels available today.
Types of wood available
In simple terms there are two main types of wood available which are seasoned wood, which is relatively dry, and unseasoned wood, which will have a relatively high moisture content. The best type of wood for your woodburning stove is seasoned wood because this will create the most heat and the vapours will flow freely through your stove, through your flue and into the atmosphere.
The situation is slightly different with unseasoned wood which can be relatively damp and often very difficult to burn. We found it does have a major impact upon the efficiency of our stove and the heat output to our room. There is also some concern regarding the buildup of smoke and soot in your woodburning stove and your flue which can in some cases have safety implications. Therefore, we do not take any chances anymore and simply use seasoned wood to get the best out of our stove and to save us money in the long term on the cost of fuel.
Renewable energy
The very fact that it is very easy to plant a tree for every tree which is used makes wood perhaps one of the best renewable energy sources available today. It is also worth noting that our carbon footprint has reduced dramatically since we started using our woodburning stove on a regular basis and indeed as the cost of electric, gas, etc continues to increase we have also seen an impact on our heating bills.
Like many people, we also believe that the government will introduce an array of new green taxes in the future and indeed we do not want to be in a situation where we are depending upon fuel types which will be heavily taxed. Wood fuel is seen by many as carbon neutral, environmentally friendly as well as one of the best and most reliable renewable energy sources available today. We strongly agree with these comments!
Be careful with your wood fuel
We have in years gone by learnt to our expense that you need to check every wood delivery to see what the moisture meter reading is and to ensure that it is seasoned rather than unseasoned wood. We have on some occasions received unseasoned wood which has been sold as seasoned wood and this has obviously had an impact upon the efficiency of our stove. We will not be falling into this trap again!