Wood Stoves
Benefits of Having a Wood Stove at Home
Wood stoves are well remembered for being popular in the 19th century. Of course heaters and air conditioners weren’t there during that time. Heat was primarily emitted by these stoves. Hence, wooden stoves became a very popular heating appliance among people of the middle class and upper class. But do not be under the assumption that wooden stoves are useless today. They are still in frequent use by a large group of people.
Yes! Up the Heat with Wood Stoves
The basic concept of a wood stove is that heat is received by burning wood and the other gases released during their combustion would exit through a chimney. Usually wood stoves were built out of steel or iron. These stoves are chambers where inside the fire is burning. These chambers vary in size. One may find extremely big stove chambers or even small ones. Whatever their size is, they appear extremely heavy, and they were because a lot of iron or steel was used for their construction.
Inside the chambers burns the flame. The flame is of course burned with a flammable item. In the case of wood stoves, wood was used. Wood burns easily. That’s why wooden stoves were popular. And during the 19th century (long before we realized that global warming existed there might be a point where there may be lack of trees) wood was abundantly available. It was also the cheapest type of fuel. Thus the wood was brought and burned inside the chamber. When the flame was low, more wood was added to the chamber. The types of wood that were most commonly used were soft wood and hard wood. Both however differed in their availability and rate of burning. Hard wood burned slower than soft wood. But soft wood was found in places coniferous trees were present.
The wood that was used to burn in wooden stoves also depended on the moisture content. Freshly cut wood contains 30-200% moisture. The greater the moisture the slower the wood burns. Hence, there were certain kinds of woods that were never used for Wooden Stoves. Greenwood was one of them. Firewood should always have moisture content less than 20%.
The chimney is the exit path connected to the Wooden Stove. A chimney is necessary because, when wood burns, gases being extremely hot rise up and if there is not separate and isolated path for them, the gases remain in the enclosing where the Wooden Stove is and those present in there may inhale it which is dangerous for their lungs and other parts of the body.
Advantage of Using Wood
Wood stoves are still used today. This is because there are many benefits of having a wood stove today. These benefits are both personal and environmental. The first advantage is that wood is economical and ecological. Of course that doesn’t mean that we should be cutting trees for the firewood but not planting others to replace them. They are also one of the best sources of heat, even today with the competition coming from electronic and kerosene heaters.
Free Your Self from Hiking Bills
The main factor for them being preferred is that wood is still one of the cheapest fuels available. Other heaters that run on kerosene, petrol, propane etc are subject to constant price hikes. Hence in such unpredictable situations it is hard use a non-wooden stove. The advantage of using a wooden stove is that there will be no monthly expensive bills being sent to you. If there are trees near your house, you can take wood from there and plant new trees. You are benefiting the animals also. This is the easiest way of saving the environment. Apart from the environmental aspect, the aesthetic aspect is also very relevant with Wooden Stoves. They give an antique and exotic look to your living room. It would be a great addition to your house. In cold winters, the Wood Stove will emit a “homely” and “cozy” feeling to you.
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