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Posts Tagged ‘best wood stoves’

Make the best of your best wood stoves with the these top tips

24 Apr

It might seem a little premature to start thinking about next winter, but now is the right time to start thinking about the logs you’ll be burning. After all, why invest in one of our best wood stoves and then not make the most of its performance? That means never using ‘green’ or unseasoned logs in your burner. This wood has a high moisture content and when it burns it emits smoke that’s filled with noxious gases and particulates. You’ll also end up with a chimney or flue that’s lined with bitumen, increasing the risk of fires.

Hunter Hawk 4 Double Sided Stove

Choosing the best logs for the best wood stoves

You’ll need wood that is well seasoned, and that process takes about a year if you intend to buy young wood and season it yourself. The Forestry Commission have some useful information on drying your own logs. Once they’re well seasoned, your logs will have radial cracks and the bark will come away from the timber.

The very best woods for burning in your wood burner will be hardwoods with a moisture content under 15%. Look for kiln dried and seasoned logs when buying, and reject any that have the bark firmly attached with no cracking. Here are our 5 of the best logs for your fire:

• Ash: this is the best wood you can get hold of as it burns with a steady flame and produces a high heat output
• Oak: this is an extremely dense wood so it burns for a long time, which is useful if you rely on one of our best wood stoves for off-grid heating
• Chestnut: best used in a stove as it can spit, but produces a good heat output with a strong flame
• Beech: has a similar calorific value to Ash but must be thoroughly dried before use
• Hawthorn: a very traditional wood with a slow burn and good heat output.

Getting the best out of our best wood stoves

Tip 1: When you’re burning the right wood, you’ll see only light smoke and steam from your chimney. Black smoke is a sure sign your burner is not working optimally.

Tip 2: Clean your stove and flue once a year to maximise efficiency.

Tip 3: If your fire won’t catch, open the stove door and then open a window because air turbulence circulates oxygen.

Tip 4: Always use more than one log and make sure they’re well seasoned!

Tip 5: Light your fire from the top down as our best wood stoves will then reach their operating temperature more quickly and the wood will burn more efficiently.

 
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Top tips for using the best wood stoves for cooking

05 Jun

Whether you’re looking to be more self-sufficient or you just want to create a unique experience, installing a wood burning cooker brings a whole new element to the kitchen and gives a different flavour to your cooking. Many homeowners might be unsure about how to use a wood burning appliance, but once you get to grips with the features, they are remarkably straight forward to use.

If you’ve taken the decision to buy one or are just researching the best wood stoves that are available, how can you make the best use of one when cooking?

How to Cook On The Best Wood Stoves

Best Wood Stoves

One of the most important points to remember when using a wood burning cooker is that it requires a bit more forward planning than a standard oven. You can’t just expect it to be ready for use when you switch it on and you’ll need to get the fire going beforehand to ensure that it’s hot enough.

The heat you require from the fire will depend on the type of cooking you’ll be doing. For instance, if you need a high heat, such as for boiling or frying, the fire will require nice hot coals; however, for slow cooking or simmering, the fire needs to be burning low and steady for a long time. When you’re cooking on the best wood stoves, you have to keep an eye on the food to ensure that the heat is just right throughout.

Cooking on the Best Wood Stoves Needs Pactise

As when you’re using any new appliance, you can’t expect to be cooking perfect meals straight away and there is a certain element of trial and error when learning to cook on a wood burning stove. The best way to learn is to begin with something simple, such as boiling water, and once you’ve mastered how hot the fire needs to be for this, you can move on.

There’s also more cleaning required with this type of stove, including cleaning out the ashes, fetching more wood and maintaining the fire, but the effort is definitely worth it when you get to taste the delicious food you’ve cooked. Understanding the unique features and individuality of a wood burning stove is all part of the fun and you’re unlikely to want to go back once you’ve made the switch.

 
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