G. Burning Process
In recent years there has been an increasing concern about air quality. Much of the blame for poor air quality has been placed on the burning of wood for home heating.
In order to improve the situation, we have developed cleaner- burning wood appliances that surpass the requirements for emissions established by our governing agencies.
These wood appliances must be properly operated in order to ensure that they perform the way they are designed to perform.
NOTICE: Improper operation can turn any wood appli- ance into a smoldering environmental hazard.
1. Kindling or First Stage
It helps to know a little about the actual process of burning in order to understand what goes on inside the appliance. The first stage of burning is called the kindling stage.
In this stage:
•Wood is heated to a temperature high enough to evapo- rate the moisture present in all wood.
•Wood will reach the boiling point of water (212°F) and will not get any hotter until the water is evaporated.
This process takes heat from the coals and tends to cool the appliance.
Fire requires three things to burn:
•Fuel
•Air
•Heat
If heat is robbed from the appliance during the drying stage, the new load of wood has reduced the chances for a good clean burn.
It is always best to burn dry, seasoned firewood. When the wood isn’t dry, you must open the air controls and burn at a high burn setting for a longer time to start it burning.
The heat generated from the fire should be warming your home and establishing the flue draft, not evaporating the moisture out of wet, unseasoned wood, resulting in wasted heat.
2. Second Stage
In the secondary stage wood gives off flammable gases which burn above the fuel with bright flames.
During this stage of burning:
•The flames must be maintained and not allowed to go out to ensure the cleanest possible fire.
•If the flames tend to go out, it is set too low for your burning conditions.
The air control located at the upper right hand corner is used to adjust for burn rates. This is called the Burn Rate Air Control. Figure 10.1 on page 10.
3. Final Stage
The final stage of burning is the charcoal stage. This occurs when the flammable gases have been mostly burned and only charcoal remains. This is a naturally clean portion of the burn. The coals burn with hot blue flames.
•It is very important to reload your appliance while enough lively hot coals remain in order to provide the amount of heat needed to dry and rekindle the next load of wood.
•It is best to open the Burn Rate Air Control before reloading. This livens up the coalbed and reduces excessive emissions (opacity/smoke). Figure 10.1 on page 10.
•Open door slowly so that ash or smoke does not exit appliance through opening.
•Break up any large chunks and distribute the coals so that the new wood is laid on hot coals.
Air quality is important to all of us, and if we choose to use wood to heat our homes we should do so responsibly.
We need to learn to burn in the cleanest way possible al- lowing us to continue using our wood appliances for many years to come.
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