Morsø's advice on how the householder can maximize the fuel efficiency of their wood-burning stove.

The Danes today, more than ever, buy wood-burning stoves to help cut down on domestic heating costs. However, with a few pieces of good advice these expenses can be reduced even further.

Morsø – the largest and oldest producer of wood-burning stoves have been offering good advice to householders for years on how best o get the maximum benefit from their wood-burning stove. Some advice extracts the maximum heat energy from the fuel and some ensures that a clean, efficient combustion is maintained. Achieving both of these points makes for a clearer view of the fire, a cleaner chimney and is also kinder to Mother Earth.

According to Morsø, the secret to high fuel efficiency is to create as high a firebox temperature as possible; the best environment in which to achieve a cleaner, more complete combustion. Clear flames without smoke optimizes the extraction of heat energy from the wood.

When wood fuel is heated-up, flue gases are driven off and circulate around inside the firebox. The idea of clean combustion is to burn down these gases in the best possible way.

Firstly, the stove has to be heated up as quickly as possible. Start by opening all of the air inlets to the stove. Once the fire is lit this will help to drive heat into the chimney quickly and establish a good chimney draft. By using Morsø fire starters or crumbled newspapers and about 1-2 kg of dry kindling, light the fire. Gradually build the fire by adding slightly larger pieces until a good glowing ember bed (6-8 cm thick) is established. It is by the way, a good idea to keep 2-3 cm of ashes in the bottom of the stove as they act as an insulation and will help to increase the inner firebox temperature. An air gap between the wood fuel and the inner walls of the firebox should be maintained. This helps to heat the wood and will aid combustion.

Once the fire is well established, it is time to add the logs, making sure that they have been properly seasoned. Do not fill the firebox over halfway. If too much wood is put into the stove the combustion process will be inhibited and will become unclean. This can be demonstrated by looking at the level of smoke emissions coming from the chimney pot outside. If the smoke is almost invisible or looks like steam, everything is OK. However, if it is is black or brown, the combustion process is incomplete.

When the flames have died away in the stove, and only glowing embers are left (the charcoal stage), the air supply can be correctly controlled. By allowing more air into the stove, a greater heat output is achieved, but the burn time reduced.

By sticking to these basic principles the user is assured of many years of efficient woodstove heating AND reduced heating costs.