[Greenbuilding] Fireplace questions

[Norbert Senf]

At 09:55 AM 11/11/2006 -0500, Speireag Alden wrote:
>(sni)
>
>      I've often felt that one of the unsung virtues of masonry stoves
>is that they burn so hot that you can put just about anything in them
>and there's no creosote build-up, because the secondary products get
>combusted, too.

Yes, and no.

For the cleanest burn, it is best to set up the air supply on the heater for a
particular fuel. Softwood requires more air than hardwood. Smaller pieces
of wood with more surface area require more air than larger pieces of wood.
Coal requires a grate. Cardboard and paper ash tends to plug things up.

Too much air -- your efficiency drops. Too little air -- you burn rich and
get soot. The limits are fairly broad, but wood fuel can take a really wide
variety of forms.

Creosote itself is really hard to produce in a 
masonry heater. I've only seen it once
-- the clients ran out of wood, and went outside and cut green trees and
burned them. My neighbour, on the other hand, has been burning his heater
for 25 years now without ever cleaning the chimney, and the chimney is still
clean.

Norbert

-------------------------------------------
Norbert Senf---------- mheat(at)heatkit.com
Masonry Stove Builders
25 Brouse Rd.
RR 5, Shawville------- www.heatkit.com
Québec J0X 2Y0-------- fax:-----819.647.6082
---------------------- voice:---819.647.5092