Choosing The Right Wood Burner For You

The key to choosing a wood burning stove that will work well for you is to first be honest about your expectations and secondly understand what this technology can and cannot deliver. That way you have a chance that the two sides will meet harmoniously in the middle.

It’s a simple fact of human nature that most of us feel drawn to the appearance and feeling of a real fire, and that’s certainly a good enough reason to want one. But, as the very name suggests, a wood burning stove relies on wood. Wood that is bulky and heavy and has to be bought or cut, kept dry and physically brought to the burner (which itself will require periodic cleaning to remove ash).

Are you genuinely prepared for all this – it’s not like flicking a switch to turn on gas or electric heating. The next thing to consider is what exactly do you want from your wood burner other than looking good as a focal point in your lounge?

Wood burners are endlessly versatile and can perform as auxiliary space heaters, run the main hot water and central heating radiators, and even cook your food. How much or little of all this do you want? You need to have all this nailed down before you go any further.

Another issue to sort out up front is that of fuel; determining what types of fuel can be supplied locally and whether you have any preferences. Modern wood burning boilers for example are often engineered to accept special wood pellets, usually via an automatic fuel feed hopper, where other wood burners are less particular about the type of wood they will accept.

Now then we reach the crucial factor, that of heat output. It doesn’t matter if your plan is to heat the entire house or just one room; you must still work out roughly how much heat will be required for the intended purpose. The calculation is quite simple: square footage to be heated multiplied by forty. The resulting number is what you need expressed in British Thermal Units (Btu).

Taking a house with 900 square feet of floor space, the required nominal heat output would be 36,000 Btu. If you want the figure in kWh instead the conversion is 3,413 Btu = 1 kWh. For regions colder than say New England or (old) England then adjust the 40 constant up towards 50 and for warmer areas adjust down towards 30.

It is important when choosing a wood burner not to err on the side of over capacity. Buying a wood burning stove that is too powerful for your needs means that you won’t be able to run it at full capacity where it is most efficient.

Running a wood burner below its nominal output results in increased fuel consumption, soot deposits, condensation in the flue and smaller, less attractive flames. The net result is extra cost and maintenance. You would be better to either try and exactly match your heat requirements or choose a slightly under powered burner and run it at full rate.

If you found this interesting then you won’t want to miss this follow-on article about installing wood burning stoves.