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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Goderich Signal-Star, 1986-11-19, Page 43PAGE 6B—GODERICH SIGNAL -STAR, WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 19, 1986 yon �frtlomeandtiier Follow basic guidelines for safe wood burning Each year, thousands off Canadians in- stall wood stoves in homes and cottages — and quickly learn that wood burning in- volves more than simply stoking -a, roaring fire; but those who burn wood properly find it is an efficient, comfortable and economic heat source. There are three basic guidelines for safe wood heating: • buy an appropriately sized, well designed and approved stove; • install the stove and chimney properly; and • burn dry wood in hot fires. Combustion of wood is almost never complete and some unburned and partly burned gases exhaust into the flue pipe and chimney. Since these unburned gases and tars can contain up to one half the original energy content in the wood, incomplete combustion is inefficient, wastes firewood and will cause creosote buildup in the flue pipe and chimney. The creosote may build lip to a point where it resembles a layer of tar. A hot fire may then ignite the creosote, resulting in a chimne fire that may cause damage to the c ' ey, and if the flames escape through damaged areas in the flue, the house ay catch fire. To re uce creosote production burn well seasone firewood in a stove sized for the area to a heated. A stove that is too large for the area to be heated will put out too much heat. To com- , pensate, homeowners may keep the air in- let closed, allowing the wood to smoulder and produce large amounts of creosote. A small stove will almost always be cleaner (due to hotter fires) and, except on the very coldest days, will produce adequate heat. A continuous series of small,, hot fires is preferable to a few long -burning ones with the air cut back. Reload while there iS still a bed of I hot coals and use small pieces of split wodd rather than large unsplit pieces. Run a brisk fire for the first 20 to 30 Minutes, after each fuel reloading. The new catalytic stoves are equipped with a device that aids in burning off the partly burned exhaust products from the wood fire, thus reducing the chances of creosote buildup. Catalytic stoves require a brisk initial fire to "light off" the catalyst, after which the air inlet should be closed down to a good operating level. With sufficient information about your heating requirements and proposed stove location, informed dealers can recom- mend an appropriate size and type of stove for your particular needs. Although creosote is the common enemy, carbon monoxide — an odourless, colourless and tasteless gas.— is the most dangerous product of incomplete wood combustion. Under certain conditions (for example, on calm nights when the stove is burning very slowly, particularly if the chimney is partly blocked by creosote) the house may become a better chimney than the chimney itself, and carbon monoxide can silently flood the home. This condition is accentuated if the stove is located in the basement and the chimney runs up the out- side of the house. To ensure a proper draft, avoid ex- cessively slow -burning fires and keep the flue pipe and chimney clean. Chimneys located on the inside of the house have im- proved draft and the walls of the chimney are warmer, lessening the chances for creosote deposition. A flue pipe ther- mometer indicates what temperature is necessary to keep the flue pipe free of creosote. Keep the following points in mind when buying and installing a wood -heating system: • The stove should bear a certification label from the Canadian Standards Association (CSA), the Underwriters Laboratories of Canada (ULC), Warnock Hersey Professional Services or other ac- credited laboratory. • The stove must be installed in accor- w dance with required clearances from com- bu ;tible materials (details are available in the owner's manual or in CSA Standard B-365). • A flue pipe or chimney connector should connect the stove to a chimney with a cross-sectional area not significantly greater than that of the stove's exit collar. If necessary, insert a liner into the existing chimney flue. A double -walled flue pipe is preferable to a single -walled pipe to keep the flue gas temperature high and lessen the chance of creosote deposition. • Whenever possible, install the chimney inside the house. • Have the chimney inspected regularly and cleaned when necessary. Fireplaces lose most of the heat As attractive as it may be, your open fireplace may become less appealing when you consider that as much as 700 m3 of warm household air is going up the chimney every hour. This heat loss, when combined with in- terior air leakage, can destroy any appeal of an open fire. More often than not, the effect of an open fire is to cool the space it serves. But this doesn't mean you have to seal it up. Instead, you can satisfy your fondness for flames with a fireplace insert, a small airtight stove designed to fit into the ex- isting hearth. For a $1000 to $1400 investment, you can improve your fireplace's performance while adding to its elegance. While most modern fireplaces are not designed to replace a home's heating system, they can provide supplementary heat if retrofitted with inserts. Inserts make the most of heat from burning wood and pre- vent heated room air from escaping through the fireplace and up the chimney. Most inserts are designed for controlled combustion, so that the flow of air feeding the fire is precisely regulated. Inserts equipped with double walls and circulating fans are even more efficient. All types of inserts are relatively easy to install and look great, too. The only problem with inserts, as with open fireplaces, is the possibility of fire hazards. Two areas of concern associated particularly with fireplace inserts are creosote buildup and overheating. Both, hazards . can be minimized by avoiding low-temperature fires, using only dry, well seasoned wood, checking for creosote deposits monthly (more often in spring and fall), ensuring that the insert has ' an insulated outer skin to minimize heat transfer to the fireplace cavity, and by cleaning the chimney regularly. Before installing an insert, have a , qualified chimney sweep check the condi- tion of the chimney ost oil furnaces are much more energy efficient today You can now buy oil furnaces with steady-state efficiencies of more than 90 Rer dnise d ed upgrading can the stay-stateffi- ciency of an older oil furnace to nearly 80 per cent' Steady-state efficiency is a measure- ment of the heat a furnace delivers during peak stages of ,operation. A second measurement, seasonal efficiency, rates the performance of a furnace over the en- tire heating season. The latter can only be calculated under controlled conditions in a laboratory. Determining the steady-state efficiency of your furnace is as simple as requesting an efficiency test by a service technician. The tests can usually be worked into a routine service or maintenance call and will outline how much work is needed to achieve optimuin furnace performance. Annual servicing is the key to ongoing ef- ficient and safe performance. During a typical visit the technician will perform .,-thefollowing routine tasks, all of which af- fect furnace efficiency. • Inspect and clean the flue pipe and chimney base: These must fit tightly, be clean and be in good repair. • Clean the heat exchanger: Oil furnaces produce a certain amount of soot that col- lects on a variety of surfaces, including the heat exchanger. • Adjust fan drive belt tension: This en- sures more efficient circulation of heat. • Clean or replace air filters: Generally part of a service call, this should also be done monthly during the heating season. • Adjust the oil burner: A properly ad- justed burner is essential for energy- efficient operation. Downsizing the oil burner nozzle may also be recommended if the furnace is generating more heat than the house re- quires. Reducing, the size of the oil burner nozzle, which injeas a fine spray of fuel in- to the furnace's combustion chamber, can often result in ftiel savings of 5 per cent or more. A smaller nozzle produces less heat in the combustion chamber but allows the furnace to work more efficiently. The smaller nozzle also causes the furnace to operate slightly longer when it comes on — so it needs to come on less often. This is im- portant since the start-up and wind -down are the least efficient stages of the heating cycle. Finally, the technician may adjust the fan control temperature setting so the fan will start earlier in the firing cycle and run longer after the furnace has shut off. This ensures that warm air remaining in the furnace is distributed throughout the house rather than being lost up the chimney. There are several steps you can take yourself to make the furnace operate more efficiently. Air filters should be changed or cleaned every month during the heating season. Keep air registers clean and unobstructed, insulate all duct work that passes through cool areas and tape the joints of all duct work. You can also effectively lower you: heating bills by insulating basement wally and turning down the thermostat at night or when the house is unoccupied. If these measures do not produce the desired steady-state efficiency rating, con- sider a furnace retrofit. Retrofits should be undertaken only when all other measures have failed; not all retrofit op- tions are applicable or safe for every fur- nace. A fuel supplier or service technician should have more information. Most conventional oil furnaces have standard burners, which are generally quite inefficient. Flame retention head burners promote better mixing of fuel and air and require ,much less excess air to, operate than the conventional units. These burners improve steady-state efficiency and can cut fuel costs by more than 10 per cent. Check with a service technician to see if your furnace is suitable for this retrofit. A delayed action solenoid valve can in- crease efficiency by reducing the amount of soot produced in the furnace. This valve prevents oil from reaching the nozzle until the oil pump achieves the correct pressure. At the end of the heating cycle, the valve immediately stops the flow of oil through the nozzle, reducing the produc- tion of soot -laden smoke and fumes. A clutch coupling can be equally effective in reducing soot production. 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