Various usages of wood ashes

Whether you have a wood stove, an open fireplace or even a pellet stove; you will have to regularly remove the ash. One of the big complaints home owners have about heating with wood is the mess that can be generated - bark and dirt brought in on the fire wood or ash from clearing up. Is this also your complaint for your wood stove?

Modern stoves are usually designed with ingenious moving grates and trays to make ash clearing easier and some simple tools can help keep the place tidy. Do you know that even the wood ash? It also can make a huge difference. Today, I will introduce some main usages of wood ashes.

Fertilizer. If you have a garden, you can take your wood ashes and spread them on the garden before you till up your garden. Ash contains potash (potassium carbonate), phosphate, iron, manganese, boron, copper and zinc and can be quite beneficial as a natural fertilizer... sometimes. Ash of multi fuel stoves increases the PH or alkalinity of soil, so use sparingly. Ashes have a special element in them, lye. Some soils need added lye for better harvests. Lye is good for crops like potatoes. Healthy potatoes need lye in the soil.

Fire helper. Left over charcoal (the black chunks, not the grey/white ash) can be reused for your next fire building. Moreover, you also can use it in the summer barbecue.

Pest deterrent. Sprinkle the ash around the border of garden beds to repel snails and slugs. This will need to be applied after rain.

Ice. Wood ash can be used as an anti/de-icing agent - a little more environmentally friendly than salt or other chemicals used these days

Cleaning. Dip a damp rag into ash and use to clean silverware, brass and glass. Ash added to a scourer can also give your scouring a bit more oomph.

Know of any other uses for ashes of log burning stoves? Please share your ideas below. In addition, you can read these wonderful posts about stoves:

Main Wood Stove Parts

Main wood stove parts

Do you know the wood stove parts? When you are buying a stove, the salesperson or the boss will tell you. But do you really know them? Today, I will introduce the main wood stove parts here.

Once you buy your wood stove, you’ll want to do all you can to maintain it properly.

Probably, you just know that, certain parts need replacing in order to keep your cast iron fireplaces working properly or efficiently. Yes, in order to replace and maintain your stove for the best and safest performance possible, we need a variety of wood burning stove parts to help us.

We should know that, regular and proper maintenance will help you get the longest life out of your stove and will help you prevent any undue accidents from occurring, at the meanwhile, make it efficient. For a normal stove, it can last for more than 3 years, and it can be used more than 80 years if you maintain it properly, it is reported. This is something like, consistent maintenance on skin can make us keep young an charming.

What are the most important wood burning stoves parts, they are floor and wall protectors. These are usually made of heavy tile or cast iron. These floor and wall protectors will help protect your walls from warping from the radiating heat. They also do wonders for helping to prevent dry materials from catching on fire. Moreover, these protectors help keep your floor clean from dropped ash.

More related articles about stoves and beautiful images, if you’re interested, please read:
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how a wood stove blower work?

Many families in nowadays have a wood stove which is used as their only heat source, for extra heat to reduce other utilities and/or used for ambience but there may not be a wood stove blower installed. Do you have a wood stove blower at home?

We should know that, typically, a wood stove is used for heating, however there is a biggest problem that it will only heat the room that the stove is located in. Other rooms, like the bedrooms, reading room, are left untouched by the warmth and this is a very good reason as to why a wood stove blower is necessary. This is the biggest problem if you don’t concern for the issue of wood burning stoves.

Do you know how a wood stove blower work? Here, you can benefit.

It works by circulating the warm air and forcing it to move into other areas of your home. By this way, you are able to warm those cold areas at your home. So you can strategically add a blower either in front of your cast iron stoves, in the vents of the surrounding mantel or doorways, and meet your expectation of distributing the heat throughout your home.

Using a blower is really a cost effective way to make your stove to warm your home without any other method of heat. So, a good wood stove blower is a definite benefit to keeping your home warm and saving energy and money. You should have a try.

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Three Various Types Of Wood Stoves Or Fireplaces

Three various types of wood stove/fireplace

For a homeowner, you should know clearly about your furniture, home heating appliances, even everything at home. You should know where your children’s bag, slippers, your husband’s wallet, briefcase is. I think that this is every housewife should know. And I also think that this is his or her duties.

For the heating appliance maybe be used in the kitchen, there are actually 3 various types of wood stove/fireplace you should be clear before you plan to purchase it.

1. Simple wood stove of cast iron stoves on a heat resistant hearth with a pipe out the back or top for smoke. They are getting pretty complicated now to keep the particle matter out of the air. The most efficient use of wood for heating a house.

2. A fireplace, usually of brick, is usually built as part of the house when the house was built. They can have just screens to keep sparks out of the room or they can have glass doors to keep all the warm air in the room for going up the chimney. At this time, you can have purchase an inset stove and install it into the fireplace. This is the least efficient use of wood and the poorest to heat even the room it is located in. however, if you didn’t have a handy fireplace, you can consider buying a free standing wood stove and then hire a professional installer to help you install.

3. A fireplace insert is a wood burning stoves that is built to slide into the fireplace. It is all metal and is just as efficient as a free standing wood stove but it can be hard to find an insert for some fireplaces. Also because they must fit into the existing fireplace they frequently are too small to efficiently heat the whole house.

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Catalytic Wood Stoves And Non Catalytic Wood Stoves

Catalytic Wood Stoves And Non Catalytic Wood Stoves

This is my first time to hear of the catalytic wood stove. What is the catalytic wood stove? Versus the catalytic wood stove, there is the non catalytic wood stove. So what is the so-called catalytic wood stove and non catalytic wood stove, two major types of technology that are being used in the new Certified EPA standards stoves.

As we all know that, nowadays, more and more people are returning to the wood stove to heat their home or cooking the food. With all the advanced technology and science available on wood burning stoves, wood heat has become ever more affordable source of heat.

For the two types of stoves, catalytic wood stove and non catalytic wood stove, the two major methods used are the secondary combustion method and the catalytic converter method. Each technology has advantages and disadvantages. The basic premise is that smoke is nothing but unburned gases and particles, which these gases and particles have been proven to be harmful to human kind’s health.

A type of wood stove in which the smoky exhaust is passed through a coated ceramic honeycomb inside the stove where the smoke gases and particles ignite and burn. Catalytic stoves were introduced to comply with a 1988 EPA regulation that set mandatory smoke emission limits for wood stoves of 4.1 grams of smoke per hour for catalytic stoves and 7.5 grams per hour for non-catalytic stoves. Catalytic stoves are able to produce long, even heat output.

While non catalytic stoves, we can call it for short, non-cats can't match the even heat output of catalytic stoves, their owners can enjoy watching the beautiful fire they create. The baffle and some other internal parts of a non-catalytic stove will need replacement from time to time as they deteriorate with the high heat of efficient combustion.

Therefore, the goal of the clean air act is to remove these gases and particles from wood burning stoves and other solid fuel burning appliances before they are spewed into the atmosphere in the form of smoke. The concept of the new high tech log burning stoves incorporate is to burn these pollutants before they leave the stove.

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Why shopping online?

Some things you have to consider before installing stoves

Which kind of stove are you using at your present house, gas, electric, wood or multi-fuel burning stove? First, I want to announce that, I am using the wood stove at home. How about you?

If you're considering an electric fireplace, or wood burner in your living room, or in any room in your house, here are some things you have to consider before installing stoves.

If you live in an apartment or a condominium, or are simply limited for space, an electric fireplace is a smart, stylish choice. Electric fireplaces do not require chimneys or gas lines. At this time, electric stove is your best choice. What you need to do is simply plug them in. There's no need for a major remodeling job or costly installation.

Moreover, maybe, you know that an electric fireplace is portable, and can be moved from room to room. This is an advantage of electric stoves comparing with cast iron stoves, or other multi-fuel stove. Measure the fireplace, and measure your space. Some fireplaces are ultra compact and will fit anywhere. Others are large wall units.

In addition, an electric fireplace can and will provide warmth, but when shopping for an electric fireplace, consider the size of the room you are looking to heat as well as the fireplace's wattage.

Typically, electric fireplaces range between 700 and 1,500 watts. The former will heat a small room sufficiently, while a larger room will require 1,500 watts or more.

However, electric fireplaces utilize the electricity. You must pay the bills for the electricity you used. At this time, if you use the wood stove, you can obviously make the money on your electricity bill sharply decrease.

Other wonderful posts about wood stoves, please read more: Tips And Advice For Your Wood Stove

Why shopping online?

In many instances, shopping on the Internet is a quick and easy choice. Sometimes it enables you to do things that otherwise would be impossible for you, or can save you time, trouble and money -- lots of it.

There are some situations you can take shopping online into account as following:

The first situation, you know exactly what you want, and you want to get it over with -- with a minimum of hassle and time. For instance, you want to buy a wood stove before the cold winter’s coming. You don't want to spend an hour or more driving to a physical store and going through the usual routine there; and, if the stove model you want or like is out of stock at the first store you go to, you don't want to have to trek to another and another of multi burning stoves, or wait weeks for delivery.

Second situation, you need to buy something that is very expensive (a car or a house). You have to comparison shop because you aren't fabulously wealthy. But you'd like to do it as quickly and effectively as possible.

Third situation, you're curious. You don't have time to indulge your curiosity in the physical wood burning stoves world where it takes so long and costs so much to go from one place to another. On the Internet you can go from one side of the world to another with just a click of your mouse.
The last situation is, you can't get to the store for any reason, such as illness or taking care of a sick kid or age or bad weather or lack of transportation or lack of time or alien abduction.

Related information about stove, please read:

Factors to be considered while planning to buy a stove