Rules and subtleties of heating stoves with wood in a private house

Even good stokers do not fully know all the subtleties and nuances of how to properly heat the stove with wood in order to get the most out of them. Often, such important points as the consumption of solid fuel and the correctness of its installation are overlooked. Taking into account the increased cost of firewood in the domestic market, special attention should be paid to the correct heating of the stove in a private house.

What kind of firewood is suitable

Before preparing the hearth for laying fuel, it is advisable to understand the rules for lighting it up and find out which firewood is best for the stove. For classic Dutch and Russian stove structures, the type of wood is selected depending on the following factors:

• the level of heat transfer from one bookmark;
• duration and intensity of combustion;
• smoke production rate;
• the amount of ash formed during combustion.

Good firewood should melt quickly, have a high heat transfer and burn almost to the end, without leaving a noticeable amount of waste. All these indicators of "wood" fuel depend on the type of wood and on the quality of its drying.

A completely fresh, just sawn-off combustible material is not suitable for burning a furnace, since when it is disposed of, a lot of smoke is generated and it will burn for a very long time.

Another unpleasant consequence of the use of damp or insufficiently dried firewood is the possibility of severely burning out from saturation of the air with carbon dioxide. To get rid of the accumulated moisture, the wood must be thoroughly dried beforehand. To check the readiness of firewood for use, there is a very simple technique: just knock one log on another and listen to the sound being emitted. Well-dried wood billets, in contrast to raw logs, have a sonorous sound.

When choosing firewood, it is important to take into account the time of harvesting (winter or summer). The highest quality dry fuel is obtained from trees cut down in winter, when the internal movement of sap in them is severely inhibited. It is strongly discouraged to stock up on inexpensive aspen firewood harvested in the spring and summer months, since the tree has high humidity during this period and needs long drying.

The best tree species for collecting firewood

Hardwoods are considered to be the most suitable for melting the stove. Firewood from them is distinguished by a high density of fiber structure. They guarantee long burning and high heat transfer. The following types of wood belong to the category of deciduous varieties:

• oak;
• Linden;
• willow, ash and a number of other trees, including expensive alder, which is rarely found in most regions of Russia.

A good result is noted when using poplar, which grows everywhere. It is customary to include some types of fruit trees in this category - apple trees, for example.

The listed types of firewood are suitable for a stove, a garden smokehouse, as well as a fireplace or buleryan installed in a country house. Due to the special properties of these deciduous trees, a unique aroma is felt when they burn.

The second place in quality is occupied by coniferous wood - pine and spruce logs.As a rule, they burn well, but very often they smoke and, when burned, form a large amount of soot - this is due to their high resin content. Other disadvantages of spruce and pine wood include a high rate of burning, which limits the amount of heat received.

Stacking firewood and lighting them

The traditional approach to stacking firewood and heating the stove involves preparing a pyramid of logs with a crumpled piece of dry paper in the center. Finely planed chips are added there, and then all this is set on fire.

Chips first of all ignite from the lit paper, after which the fire spreads first to small, and then to large logs. The disadvantage of this method of kindling is the impossibility of controlling the combustion process. Firewood "seizes" all at once and burns out entirely, and the process itself is uneven and fast. After burning part of the logs, new portions of firewood are thrown into the stove, which also quickly ignite and immediately burn out.

The burning time can be artificially increased by changing the method of stacking firewood in the firebox. One way to light your oven is as follows:

1. The bottom row of logs is placed in the firebox.
2. From above, with an offset to one of the sides by 5-10 cm, a second row is placed, forming a small protrusion in relation to the first.
3. Next, the third and all the following rows fit.
4. From the edge in the area of ​​the ledge, a piece of paper is placed along with birch chips, after which all this is set on fire.

It is more convenient to consider the correct laying in the oven using the example of briquettes. This type of solid fuel usually does not ignite immediately and completely, but burns very slowly. In this case, the epicenter of combustion gradually shifts to one side (from left to right, for example). For this reason, a briquette filling from individual lamellas is disposed of for a rather long time and generates a greater amount of heat.

When stacking solid fuel based on sawdust, as well as any other dry fuel, individual workpieces are not placed close to each other. A small gap is necessarily left between them for the free movement of air masses.

Fuel reloading rules

Regular heating of a brick oven is rarely limited to just one fill, which is usually only enough for 6-8 hours of continuous burning. Therefore, most experienced stokers, before lighting the stove, stock up on an additional portion of firewood in advance. After the first bookmark burns out, they do not wait for the "blue lights" to appear on the coals and proceed to reload solid fuel into the working area.

Before lighting the stove, it is important to immediately calculate the number of prospective bookmarks and prepare an appropriate supply of firewood. The next time you load them, you will need to follow the rules that allow you to preserve the accumulated heat and exclude the possibility of carbon monoxide penetration into the dwelling. To quickly ignite new portions, the remnants of the previous bookmark are raked together with embers in the central part.

Stopping the furnace

With sufficient heating of the heated room, the furnace is completed according to certain rules:

• wait until the last portion of firewood, coal or pellets is completely burned out;
• make sure that there is no carbon monoxide by the color of the flame over the coals (without a bluish tint);
• completely close all the doors of the furnace (firebox, blower and valve).

After that, it is recommended to thoroughly ventilate the room and let it sit for several hours.

Safety regulations

Safe methods of igniting the stove will allow the user to avoid unpleasant consequences, the most innocuous of which is burn through the floorboards in the house.Particular attention is paid to safety issues in buildings associated with high temperatures. These include baths, where ideal conditions for accidental fire are created.

Before starting to heat the stove with wood in flammable rooms (including the dressing room), it is important to understand the following safety requirements:

• an attack near the stove must be upholstered with a metal sheet of at least 50x70 mm in size, which is recommended to be painted with a high-quality fire retardant;
• the distance from the door of the combustion chamber to the nearest unprotected objects and walls should be kept within at least 1.25 meters;
• it is not allowed to store flammable materials and combustible substances near a home or bath furnace;
• solid fuel is stored in a separate room or at designated sites;
• the firebox ends at least two hours before going to bed or completely leaving the room;
• it is forbidden to operate the stoves if there is the slightest suspicion of their malfunction.

It is best to place a heating bath tank with control elements on the side of the oven (they are usually taken out to the washing room). This technique will eliminate accidental contact with hot parts.

During the furnace, it is strictly forbidden to:

• use kerosene, diesel fuel, gasoline, as well as other flammable and combustible liquids for ignition;
• store in a heated room a supply of firewood that exceeds the daily requirement;
• leave a burning stove unattended;
• dry and store firewood and other combustible materials on it;
• to heat furnace structures with coal or coke that are not suitable for their use;
• use wood blanks, the length of which is much larger than the size of the firebox, and also operate the stove with completely open doors.

It is forbidden to heat the stove if there are cracks or other damage on its base or chimney pipe.