Did You Know Burning Wood Logs Wastes Energy!

Many people have logs stoves in their front room as an additional source of heat and an attractive centre piece for their room. However burning logs is not ideal, as it can produce quite a lot of smoke and it very difficult in some cases to get the fire going. The reason for this is that many of the logs used still contain a lot of moisture. Moisture reduces the efficiency of the fire and also the temperature. A lower combustion temperature is why smoke appears. To reduce smoke production and generate more heat the fuel you use should have a much lower moisture content. Virgin timber contains around 50% moisture, so this means half of your fuel is not actually fuel at all, and it reduced temperature.

The Issues Of Burning Wood Logs Over Wood Fuel Pellets

If you do manage to source seasoned wood, this will have been dried for at least 6 months or even a few years. The best you will come across are logs with a moisture content around 20%. While this is much better than trying to burn virgin timber, we can still do better. If you look at pellets for example, they will always have a moisture content below 10% and in many cases it is around 6%. This makes a huge difference to the temperature of the fire and also once the fire is established no visible smoke is produced. Pellets also have a much higher density than logs, so contain more energy within a smaller space. This means less fuel storage is required. You may think pellets can only be used in pellet stoves and boilers, however this is not the case and can be used.

Using Wood Logs For Heat

Wood Pellet Boiler Benefits

The Issues Of Burning Wood Logs Over Wood Fuel Pellets

Wood pellets and any fuel pellets for that matter can be used in standard log stoves, the best option is to use a pellet basket. A pellet basket is simply a mesh holder which holds the pellets and gets more air to them which makes combustion more efficient. A small amount of gel will be enough to get the pellets going, and they will last much longer than logs. For instance 1 kilo of wood pellets will produce 5 Kw's of heat, which is the rating of most log stoves. Therefore just one 20Kg bag of pellets will provide you with 20 hours of heat! Now if you used logs, it would be a significant amount of logs to generate that same amount of heat. While you can use wood pellets in your standard log stove, pellet stoves and boilers offer you a highly automated heating solution. To lean more on burning pellets and pellet stoves and boilers please click below.

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