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Wood stove: how to choose the right stove or fireplace?
How to choose the most suitable solution for heating our home with wood? What are the undeniable advantages of a wood stove? Why heat with wood?
What can we wish for when it's cold outside, maybe it's raining, or it's a gloomy winter day in which a bit of fog appears?
A warm cast iron radiator to keep warm? This does not seem to be an inviting solution….
The solution to warm the heart as well as the environment is certainly the warmth of a beautiful wood-burning stove or fireplace, the crackling of the wood that relaxes us and the flame that hypnotizes us until we become so lazy that we don't want to get up.
To dream of such a relaxing day we must anticipate the cold and equip ourselves with the most suitable heat source for our home; we at Brichome.it therefore recommend a wood-burning stove or fireplace.
The chimney
First of all if we don't have a stove or fireplace or we have them but they have been out of use for some time we must make sure that the chimney is in good condition. The latter are the favorite places for animal and insect nests which obstruct the passage of air and fumes and therefore do not allow our heating source to work.
If we are faced with old soot that has deposited over the years, just use simple ones products “chimney sweeper” easily available on the market, a good blaze of powders or logs paves the way for a good season in the heat.
If we are faced with more complex obstructions, we must intervene with great caution is for our safety than for those who have thought of building their own bed in our fireplace! In fact, very frequently we come across wasp or hornet nests which, if disturbed, can create significant problems.
However, if you are faced with nests of birds or other country animals, you should be careful when removing them to avoid the risk of breaking eggs or injuring the babies inside. In this case, if you feel unsure, it is advisable to contact competent people who, with the appropriate tools, can solve the problem.
Which solution to choose for our home?
Once you have ascertained the correct functioning of the chimney, you are faced with the purchase of a wood heat source we must evaluate which environments we want to heat.
For kitchens or open spaces between kitchen and living room, if you love the cuisine of the past we can think of a classic wood stove with plate and oven for cooking (putagé in Piedmontese), or a beautiful column stove with oven.
If we need to heat the living area or the sleeping area There are many solutions, both in terms of heating capacity and aesthetics. It is natural that here the tradition of the place in which you find yourself comes into play and depending on what the market offers in that area, you can indulge yourself both with materials (cast iron or ceramic) and with types of stove (columns , classic cast iron stoves, Trentino stoves, etc.) or fireplaces and fireplace inserts.
One of the latest innovations that allows you to make the most of the calories generated by wood combustion is the double combustion that is, a real recirculation of fumes inside the stove or fireplace which allows:
- make maximum use of the heat resulting from combustion
- a saving in the use of wood
- a release of much colder fumes into the flue.
Thanks to tempered glass resistant to very high temperatures, seals around doors and the use of resistant steel, modern stoves are a true agglomeration of technology whose use allows for considerable savings. In fact, those who have firewood, if well dried and maintained throughout the year, heat their home with significant savings compared to common fossil fuels, as well as not causing damage to the environment.
Big environments and big savings? It's possible.
The solution is wood boilers today also available in the form of stove, kitchen or fireplace insert. Boilers allow you to heat large rooms thanks to the coils of pipes inside them which heat the water that is inserted into the home's heating system.
Clearly they are solutions that require careful planning and attention; however, if, for example, operated in combination with inertial accumulations of water, puffer, allow for huge savings that can really make a difference for our wallet.
Lately, firewood is being contrasted with fossil fuels due to the considerable savings achieved in using it. Furthermore, many are rediscovering its aesthetic value, in addition to the heat it can generate if used properly with a good stove.
A fireplace or a wood stove also fixes a bad, cold and gloomy day and if we have someone who loves to cook, they can surprise and cheer us up with a dish cooked on the stove as per tradition.
All we have to do is choose the stove best suited to our environment and face the winter with a different spirit!
