Instruction Manual

Page 13
500IH-I05-020320
Summarising we can say that it is always sensible to buy this year for next years
fuel supply and that it is very handy to have both soft and hardwoods. You can
use the softwoods to start a good fire and you will have additional control over
the fire (in addition to the cookers controls) by adding slower burning wood to
fast ones if you want to leave the cooker without tending it for a while.
Alternatively you can add some fast burning softwood logs to the slower
hardwood logs to instantly revive a fire, which has been neglected.
The Wood Burning Process
Understanding what happens when wood is burnt will enable you to burn wood
in a more environmentally friendly way, reduce the maintenance required for
your chimney and get more out of your wood. There are 3 stages in the wood-
burning process:
Evaporation
When you light the cooker a lot of energy will be needed at first to boil away any
moisture, which is left in the wood. Using energy to drive off excess water in
firewood robs the cooker of energy needed for an efficient and clean burn. Also,
much of the energy wasted in evaporating water is energy that could have
heated the hotplate and oven. This is a waste of wood, money and effort. The
presence of all that moisture tends to keep "putting out" the fire, and therefore
making it burn very poorly, which tends to produce a lot of creosote and
pollution.
Emissions
As the heat of the fire intensifies, waste-gases (smoke) are released from the
wood.
Unburned smoke is emitted into the air either as pollution, or condensed in the
chimney causing creosote build-up. It takes time for the air in your chimney to
heat up. When it is still cold you get an effect similar to the condensation of hot
breath on a colder window or mirror. So when the by-products of combustion
(smoke in the form of gases) exit the cooker, and flow up into the relatively
cooler chimney, condensation occurs.
The resulting residue that sticks to the inner walls of the chimney is called
creosote. Creosote is formed by unburned, flammable particulates present in
the smoke. It is black or brown in appearance. It can be crusty and flaky, tar-like,