Appliances of Wood- and Pellet-Heating (Burning) | Choosing-Installing

According to energysavers.gov; almost 90 percent of Americans used wood as fuel to warm up their homes (before the 20-th century). In line with the popularity of fossil fuel, the popularity of wood for heating decrease drastically. The energy crises in the 1970s, the popularity of wood as source energy for heating resurfaced with the nice slogan of renewable and more affordable energy alternative.

And eventually pellet fuel appliances are discovered which use the amount of small pellets (1 to 2.9/7.9 – for the length) to be burned. Most of pellets are usually made and produced from waste paper, compacted sawdust, agricultural friendly crop waste, bark, wood chips or other organic properties. There are some popular wood- and pellet-burning appliances, including fireplaces, pellet stoves (boilers), masonry heaters, pellet fuel appliances, and so on! And there are also available some types of pellet fuel appliances that can be used to burn different biomass fuels, such as; beet pulp, soybeans, dried-cherry pits, wood chips (small chips), beet-pulp, cherry pits (dried), corn-cornels, etc. And

Like mentioned before, appliances of wood- and pellet-burning are available in several types with different powerful size, more efficient performance, and cleaner burning. Let’s to the point, below are some helpful checklists on choosing, selecting and installing wood- and pellet-heating appliances:

1. Like while using regular heaters, size is so crucial. Your wood- and pellet-burning must be sized correctly to the large space that will be heated. Don’t think that bigger size is better! Too big size will lead to inefficiency performance of the burning system while it is heating the space. Moreover, bigger size also tends to burn fires improperly (at a not-high smolder in order prevent overheating condition) that eventually will make the system produce more air pollution and waste more fuel (higher cost). According to Energysavers.gov; stoves that have size around 24,000 BTUs are designed to heat around 1,300 sq-ft, and 60,000 BTUs for around 2,000 sq-ft.
2. In fact, using wood fireplaces or wood-burning will produce large quantities of unfriendly chemical compounds that can be pollutants (particularly for rural areas), such as CO (carbon monoxide), Nitrogen-Oxides, unfriendly organic gases, and so on. Theses unfriendly chemical compounds also will be adverse to the health of human body, especially for human respiratory organs. Therefore, not all regions or areas permit to use wood-burning appliances. So before deciding to choose and install wood- and pellet-heating appliance, make sure your local area is qualified to use it! Ask to a local building code department or state environmental agency if necessary.
3. How about if you have an older unit and you want to replace or update it with the new one that has newest technology and friendlier either for environment or for your pocket (you pay lower cost for the monthly utility bills during winter). Well, make sure you consider and upgrading to one that is qualified with the newer technology certified by EPA (U.S Environmental Protection Agency).
4. If there is available a wood-heating appliance (non-catalytic) with a catalytic combustor and you have a plan to retrofit it, one of the best recommendations is by purchasing a catalytic damper. Don’t forget to also install and use at least 1 heat sensor and install it on the stove pipe or stove body. This sensor has function to monitor the temperature of the stove, especially after adding and installing a catalytic combustor. In addition, there are also available retrofit kits and you can find them in the wood stove retailers of your local area. But, not all of them are supported to be used for all models of stoves! Don’t miss to read again the manual’s guidelines for the proper installation & operation.
5. Consider also the location for the installation (especially chimney) and make sure you choose the right location or position that can distribute and conserve the heat maximally and properly. For better result, there must be a way for the heat to be able to circulate properly to the rest of the home.
6. Wrong installation can lead to poor performance of the system (inefficient performance) or even can lead to potential risks like fire accident! Chose the right contractor or professional to make sure your wood- or pellet-heating appliance is properly, correctly and safely installed.

Other Guides: Removing ice dams during winter, Basic & simple guide on how to install electric hot water heater, and Types of radiant heating systems!

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