How to heat?

Helps when heating with dry firewood.

The first and most important rule is dry firewood. Other characteristics of firewood (such as the type of wood) are not so important. Dry firewood ignites easily and quickly, burns cleanly and transfers the heat energy contained in the wood to the stove with good efficiency.

Burning wet firewood is troublesome and expensive. According to the laws of physics, part of the energy in wet firewood is spent on the evaporation of moisture, and an even larger part escapes through the chimney in the form of unburned flue gas. The heating element becomes sooty and becomes sooty, which in turn weakens the heat energy binding capacity of the entire heating system and thus shortens the service life of the heating element.

Obtaining dry firewood depends on several factors.

The drying speed depends on the type of tree, drying conditions, the thickness of the firewood and storage. The moisture of firewood remains longest under the bark in the middle of the tree trunk, as the bark prevents moisture from escaping from the trunk. Birch requires more than a year to dry. Alder dries the fastest, while coniferous trees dry out a little slower than alder. Aspen wood dries properly in two summers.

Relatively dry firewood can be obtained in one summer if the trees are split into logs and stacked in a pile in early spring, protected from rain, and the drying area has been windy and sunny, and the summer has been relatively dry.

The moisture content must be below 20%.

The moisture content of usable firewood must be below 20%. Such a log feels light in weight and is slightly faded. A reddish alder log means that the wood is still raw and cannot be burned. Damp wood cannot be stored tightly in a woodshed or basement, as it will mold. Mold results from the high moisture content of the wood and the humidity and slow air exchange in the basement.

In a cold storage location in autumn and winter, the surface moisture of the wood easily rises to 22%, although the wood was much drier than this at the end of summer. Firewood must be brought from the cold room into the room 1-2 days before burning, so that the wood has time to warm up and give up excess surface moisture. Such preheating easily dries the wood to 10-15% moisture by the time it is lit. Such wood ignites quickly and burns cleanly and efficiently from the start.