Heating your house, heating water and cooking are major users of energy in your home. Using wood to create some or all of this energy use can be one of the simplest ways to increase your household self-sufficiency. It’s efficiency as a renewable energy resource is value-added if you are using wood that is sustainably grown and harvested, or collected as waste and salvaged wood. This value particularly applies when the wood heater is properly maintained and is used correctly (burning dry, seasoned wood).
Wood burners can be cheap to run even if you have to buy firewood; and they work during power cuts – increasing your household’s resilience. Wood burners can fulfil many purposes including heating, cooking, heating water, drying your clothes, raising your sourdough bread before its baked and providing ash and charcoal for your garden. They are an efficient way to clear up fallen sticks and branches around your property. Learning to understand and safely use fire is a great skill to pass on to our children and brings us closer to our ancestors. Not least to mention is the wonderful atmosphere of having a ‘bush TV’ flickering in our loungerooms.
Decide On Your Needs
There are two types of wood burners: radiant heat and convective heat. Radiant heat wood burners heat up a solid mass and radiate the heat outwards. This is great for large rooms with high ceilings and rooms where the