There’s nothing like a lovely, wood-fueled fire in the fireplace on a cold winter’s evening to provide crackling, cozy ambiance for the holidays. But wood burning in fireplaces and even most appliances is not nearly as efficient as other forms of heating and it has the added disadvantage of severely diminishing your indoor air quality. Read on and learn what you need to know about wood burning and your IAQ.
What’s in Wood Smoke?
When you burn wood for heating, it gives off smoke, which is made up of microscopic particulate matter that can enter the lungs. The particulates can cause asthma, bronchitis, pneumonia and other respiratory problems. The smoke particles can also aggravate lung disease and chronic heart problems, causing premature death.
Wood smoke is produced by burning wood in fireplaces and wood stoves. Pellet stoves burn a form of compressed wood, but are generally much cleaner than other wood-burning appliances.
More Efficient Wood Burning
While old-fashioned wood stoves are known for burning inefficiently and giving off particulates harmful to the respiratory system, newer types of stoves are available that remedy these problems. A wood stove with a catalytic combustor burns at a much lower temperature than a non-catalytic stove, at about 500 degrees F. These stoves burn cleaner at low burn rates, with less wood consumption and greater efficiency. The drawback for these stoves is they are usually more expensive than non-catalytic models, as the catalyst, a chemically coated honeycomb that promotes the lower temperature for burning, breaks down and must be replaced.
Non-catalyst stoves, which comprise about 80 percent of the market, are much less energy efficient, although their efficiency has risen in recent years. Improvements such as firebox insulation, the addition of tiny holes above the fuel in the firebox to allow in pre-heated combustion air, and a larger baffle to promote hotter, longer gas flow path, have all helped lower emissions. These stoves are cheaper, simpler to operate and don’t need maintenance or cleaning of the catalyst.
For more about wood burning and indoor air quality, contact Energy 1 Heating and Air Conditioning of Lorain.
Our goal is to help educate our customers in Lorain, Ohio about energy and home comfort issues (specific to HVAC systems). For more information about other HVAC topics, download our free Home Comfort Guide or call us at 440-201-2959.
Energy 1 Heating & Air Conditioning
1 (440) 246-5440
Serving the Lorain, OH Area