Wood heating: choosing your wood

2023-11-29 23:00:00

Get help installing a wood boiler

Choose your wood wisely

Two large families can be distinguished among our species: that of hard deciduous trees (oak, beech, ash, chestnut, hornbeam, walnut, fruit trees, etc.) and that of conifers and soft deciduous trees (spruce, fir, poplar, willow, etc.). ). Hard hardwoods are recommended for domestic heating, because they provide better heat output. Be careful, burning poor quality wood (for example recovered from a construction site, old furniture, etc.) is dangerous because it releases the pollutants from this waste (varnish, paint, etc.).

No to damp wood

Burning damp or green wood has bad consequences on the environment and on your savings: on the one hand, its combustion releases polluting substances, on the other hand, damp wood produces half as much energy as ‘dry wood. Finally, your equipment risks becoming clogged if the wood is not dry. To obtain dry wood with 20% humidity, you need 15 months for 33 cm logs in a sheltered quarter, 17 months for 33 cm logs in logs (still under shelter). In the open air, allow 18 months for a cubic meter of 1 meter quarters and more than 24 months for a cubic meter of one meter logs.

Tips for purchasing your wood

Firewood is often sold by volume, the unit of which is the stere. But be careful, a cubic meter of wood cut into one meter takes up more space than one cubic meter cut into 0.3 meters. In addition, do not buy your wood by weight because damp wood (which will therefore heat less well) will necessarily be heavier and therefore more expensive!

Which device should you equip yourself with?

Performance of stoves and chimneyss

• open fireplace: less than 10% old or modern appliances
• insert, closed hearth: 30 to 50% / 70 to 85%
• log stove, steel/cast iron: 40 to 50% / 70% to 85%
• cast iron / refractory log stove: 40 to 50% / 70% to 85%

Boilers

• Rising combustion boilers are simple but they do not provide complete combustion.
• Horizontal combustion boilers reduce the rate of unburned products and combustion is improved.
• Reverse combustion boilers allow the flames to develop through the grate, which supports the fuel, and the quality of combustion is further improved.
• “turbo” boilers are among the most recent, they perfect the system of reverse combustion boilers, and are equipped with a turbine which allows optimal efficiency.

Interview

It is imperative to completely clean and empty your boiler store at the end of the heating season, leaving their doors open in the summer. For chimneys, the flues must be swept at least twice a year, it is compulsory (ask for a chimney sweeping certificate).

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Aides

• Financial aid can help you equip yourself (tax credit), reduced VAT rate, possible assistance from the ANAH. Consult ADEME (www.ademe.fr) for any details and/or consult one of the Espaces INFO&ENERGIE advisors.

The “Green Flame” label

This is the quality label for wood heating, with the assistance of ADEME and the SER (Syndicat des Energies Renouvelables), the main manufacturers of domestic wood heating appliances have signed the “Flamme Verte” quality charter. . The signatories undertake to market economical devices, providing security and energy and environmental performance.

Article produced in collaboration with ADEME –
www.ademe.fr

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