December 20, 2011
7047-148C
Page 9
51I ACC Wood Insert
R
F. Burning Process
In recent years there has been an increasing concern about
air quality. Much of the blame for poor air quality has been
placed on the burning of wood for home heating.
In order to improve the situation, we at Quadra-Fire have
developed cleaner-burning wood appliances that surpass
the requirements for emissions established by our governing
agencies.
These wood appliances must be properly operated in order
to ensure that they perform the way they are designed to
perform.
1. Kindling or First Stage
It helps to know a little about the actual process of burning in
order to understand what goes on inside the appliance. The
first stage of burning is called the kindling stage.
In this stage:
•
Wood is heated to a temperature high enough to evapo
-
rate the moisture present in all wood.
• W
ood will reach the boiling point of water (212°F) and will
not get any hotter until the water is evaporated.
This process takes heat from the coals and tends to cool the
appliance.
Fire requires three things to burn:
• Fuel
• Air
• Heat
If heat is robbed from the appliance during the drying stage,
the new load of wood has reduced the chances for a good
clean burn.
It is always best to burn dry, seasoned firewood. When the
wood isn’t dry, you must open the air controls and burn at a
high burn setting for a longer time to start it burning.
The heat generated from the fire should be warming your
home and establishing the flue draft, not evaporating the
moisture out of wet, unseasoned wood, resulting in wasted
heat.
2. Second Stage
In the secondary stage wood gives off flammable gases which
burn above the fuel with bright flames.
During this stage of burning:
•
The flames must be maintained and not allowed to go out
to
ensure the cleanest possible fire.
•
If the flames tend to go out, it is set too low for your burn
-
ing conditions.
The air control located at the upper right hand corner is used to
adjust for burn rates. This is called the Burn Rate Air Control.
Figure 10.1 on page 10.
3. Final Stage
The final stage of burning is the charcoal stage. This occurs
when the flammable gases have been mostly burned and
only charcoal remains. This is a naturally clean portion of
the burn. The coals burn with hot blue flames.
•
It is very important to reload your appliance while enough
lively hot coals remain in order to provide the amount of
heat needed to dry and rekindle the next load of wood.
•
It is best to open the Burn Rate Air and Start-Up Air Con
-
trols
before reloading
. This livens up the coalbed and
reduces excessive emissions (opacity/smoke).
• Open door slowly so that ash or smoke does not exit ap
-
pliance through opening.
•
Break up any large chunks and distribute the coals so
that the new wood is laid on hot coals.
Air quality is important to all of us, and if we choose to use
wood to heat our homes we should do so responsibly.
We need to learn to burn in the cleanest way possible al
-
lowing us to continue using our wood appliances for many
years to come.
NOTICE:
Improper operation can turn any wood appli
-
ance into a smoldering environmental hazard.
