Make Your Wood Burner Eco-Friendly

Content: One conversation that surrounds wood burners is how eco-friendly they can be. At Logs Direct, we’re experts on all things log burning, and we’re here to offer you advice on how to make your stove eco-friendly for sustainable burning.

Choosing the right firewood for burning

While you might think you can put any wood or flammable objects on the fire as fuel, this is highly unadvised. Particularly when it comes to firewood, you should be choosing well-seasoned logs that have a moisture content below 20%. Anything above is considered wet wood, which releases PM2.5 particles that are harmful to the lungs and linger in the air for a while after burning. At Logs Direct, we offer a range of kiln-dried hardwood logs which are the perfect choice for efficient home burning. They’re cut and dried with plenty of time to reduce the moisture content and offer a clean burn. We’re also Ready to Burn certified, which is a scheme by the Department for Environment, Food, and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) to ensure you know which wood has the required moisture levels.

Clean and maintained chimneys are more eco-friendly

After your fire has died down, ash and soot can build up which can starve your burner of oxygen. This prevents combustion from being completed and produces harmful emissions, which is why regular maintenance and cleaning is so important for your burning to be eco-friendly. This can be as simple as sweeping the flue and checking the physical condition of the stove to identify whether there are any cracks you hadn’t previously seen. This makes sure that smoke and emissions aren’t seeping into your home. Chimneys can also clog, and major blockages can stop smoke from escaping and lead to carbon monoxide returning into the room. While you might be tempted to try and save money and tackle the cleaning yourself, having a professional check your burner means you’re less likely to miss potentially important things. It also means you’re getting industry-level cleaning, and we advise going through the Guild of Master Chimney Sweeps. Having it checked annually keeps your peace of mind that fire risk is low and burning efficiency is high.

Using your log burning stove at the right time and temperature

It’s great using your burner when it gets cold, but before you set up a fire and start burning, it’s important to note whether it’s necessary for your home or just an impulsive idea. Picking the right time to use your log burner and using it only when necessary is essential to improve its sustainability. This significantly reduces the amount of emissions produced compared to burning it simply whenever the weather takes a bit of a turn. And when you do build and light your fire, making sure it burns hot for complete combustion from the outset prevents carbon monoxide production and creosote buildup. When getting it started, having adequate airflow helps light it and ensure a strong flame. The best temperature to aim for is around 200°C to 250°C. For the most sustainable wood burning possible, using kiln-dried logs reduces the amount of harmful emissions produced as a byproduct of burning. Logs Direct offers high-quality ready-to-burn firewood that’s kiln-dried and seasoned to perfection. Browse our range of firewood logs and place an order today.