The History of a Wood Burning Stove

The history of a is very interesting as the Wood burner as we know it today has come a long way since the original fire chambers used in the 17th century. However, the similarity is that they were both used to create heat and warm the heart of your home.

The First Use

Using fire for heating and cooking is obviously not a new thing to humans, this has been used for hundreds of thousands of years. But the use of the domestic fire first began around the Middle Ages and were simply an open fire in the middle of the room. Houses in this period were purely just one big room with an open roof. The fire would be lit in the middle and the smoke vented through the roof. Doing this created a lot of smoke within the room and heat being wasted in such a large space.

As the years went by and more and more research were done, the domestic fire was placed against the wall using a chimney to vent the smoke. The use of the chimney not only improved efficiency but also made the fire a lot safer to use. This then went on to prove that it was helping to retain heat within the home meaning it was keeping the area warmer for longer.

Having said that, even after these improvements, an open fire was still not efficient enough. It continues to lose valuable hot air whereas stoves only use the necessary air for burning then circulates the remaining to the room.

The process to get to where we are today really started in the 17th century. The first enclosed fire was said to be used in 1642 and was made up of 3 brick walls and an iron plate cover. This was then improved in 1735 to the ‘stew stove’. This consisted of stonework that had pierced ironed plates over its holes.

The ‘Franklin’ Stove

In 1744, the enclosed fire was developed even more. The US president at the time, Benjamin Franklin, invented the ‘Franklin Stove’. Constructed using cast iron, the stove is getting more and more like the ones we recognise today. Being air tight meant that it had greater efficiency and created more freedom for the controller.

Nevertheless, the stoves of this era were still subject to criticism with many believing it was releasing pollutants into the atmosphere. Further improvements have been made to control this, even to the ‘Franklin Stove’ itself.

Today’s Stove

As you know, the stove has been developed much further since then. However, the basic principles of an airtight firebox, controlled air flow and high efficiency is still there. But now, on average, the efficiency rating of a stove is 80% or greater.

Not only has the design behind the scenes changed, the aesthetics of a stove have been enhanced dramatically. When you are trying to picture a stove, I bet the first thing that comes into your head is a traditional square box. This is not the case now, with many modern designers introducing curved and inset stoves with options of single or double doors and even a place to store your days logs. You also have that option there now to get hassle free heat from a gas or electric stove. These can be controlled by a remote.