Every fireplace user has the responsibility to burn correctly. There are several factors that contribute to a more efficient burn: simply throwing anything in your wood burner is not the correct behavior.
We need to understand how poor fuels impacts your burn can help you act responsibly and ensure you are burning optimally and safely.
Choose the right fuels:
Selecting the correct wood for your fireplace, you can be certain you will achieve a cleaner and safer burn. When burning poor quality or wet wood causes a less efficient burn with significantly increased emissions.
To burn responsibly and safely, make sure your firewood is:
Ready to burn
– wood sold with a label that says “Ready to burn” has a moisture content of 20% or less. Burning dry wood results in a cleaner burn that heats up your room better and produces considerably less pollutants than wet wood. You can use a moisture meter to measure your wood’s moisture content before each use, this also ensures that the wood you are burning has remained dry throughout storage.
– Ready to burn wood ensures domestic burning and is cleaner and safer; wet wood burns with more smoke, produces more harmful particulates, and causes significantly more air pollution. Burning ready to burn wood helps you avoid the risk of chimney fires and carbon monoxide poisoning, keeping you safe and notably reducing your wood burners environmental impact.
Suitable for safe and clean burning
There are certain types of wood that are not suitable for domestic burning; they can emit toxic chemicals, produce significantly more smoke, and create much higher levels of air pollution.
Wood that is not suitable for burning includes, but not limited to:
– Treated or painted wood
– Chemically treated wood (plywood or chipboard for example)
– Wood containing plastics
– Wood containing resins or glue
– Wet wood
– Waste paper or cardboard
Caring for your firewood and fireplace
A cleaner choice fireplace and ready to burn wood doesn’t guarantee you will always be responsibly burning. Always check regularly and maintain, to ensure that your fuel and appliance are operating optimally and safely.
Log storage
Store your wood correctly, it is essential to ensure they remain dry and free of rot. Following our advice on how to store your firewood correctly and safely helps you get the most out of your wood and keep burning responsibly.
Appliance Maintenance
The regular upkeep of your fireplace and chimney system is integral to keeping your burns safe and clean. Getting your chimney swept, reporting any issues with your fireplace and always following the manufacturers guidance keep your fires burning optimally and your air pollution minimal.
Burning responsibly is easy – making sure you have ready to burn firewood, storing your logs safely, and appropriate use of your appliance significantly reduces the air pollution emitted by your log burner. Burning responsibly benefits the environment, your health, and the health of those around you.