What are the advantages of kiln dried firewood?
Why should firewood companies offer their customers oven-dried materials? The advantages of this product are really many and in this article we will try to see the reasons why every company operating in the firewood sector should evaluate the use of special furnaces for the treatment.
What is kiln dried firewood?
Anyone who has an economic stove or a fireplace at their disposal knows what sensations the beauty of fire can evoke. Relaxing in the evening on the sofa in the living room, or gathering around the table for dinner with the whole family and having the sweet crackle of burning wood in the background is certainly an element that is difficult to resist on cold winter evenings. The light that the flame emanates warms like the heat it produces, thus making every domestic environment a real refuge for the mind and body when the outside temperatures become particularly cold.
Today, with the energy crisis we are experiencing - and which is causing the price of gas to soar - even more families are starting to put their eyes on alternative energy sources. The wood market is therefore destined to grow already in view of next winter, and companies that want to keep up with the times cannot be found unprepared. But what will be the most requested materials for this new boom of ecological and economically advantageous heating systems? There is no doubt that - in order for an inexpensive stove or fireplace to heat our home - we would need firewood. However, the most discerning consumer will be careful to choose kiln dried firewood, and this explains why.
Why prefer oven-dried firewood?
Firewood is a type of renewable energy, as it can be used to heat homes and produce electricity. However, gas or oil heating is often preferred to this energy source, because they allow you to heat the house more quickly. In fact, the main disadvantage of firewood is that it burns very slowly, thus releasing less heat than heating systems. This is due to the moisture contained within traditional timber.
An oven treatment that eliminates that moisture content thus allows you to have wood that burns much faster, but also in a cleaner way. Compared to traditional firewood, in fact, the dried one releases less soot on the fireplace or on the wood stove, thus eliminating the risk of pollution deriving from the presence of large quantities of carbonaceous particles.
Another great advantage that comes from the wood treated in the oven is that linked to the ease of ignition. If in the "wet" wood it is possible to detect moisture contents equal to or higher than 50%, the drying treatment allows to reduce the water present up to 25% or less.
How is the wood dried?
Now that we have seen the benefits of using dried wood, it is easy to understand why customers will be particularly satisfied if a company offers dried wood. The drying process can include a natural method or in specific ovens. Natural drying of wood requires very long times and constant attention to climatic conditions, while with ovens everything happens quickly and easily. The final result will also be very different, since the air drying of the wood will never guarantee the achievement of optimal humidity levels, which instead we could have simply by setting the desired program in a drying oven.
These instruments can be of two different types: horizontal or vertical drum. The process is similar and both allow you to have dried firewood with a very low percentage of humidity, even if the larger ones allow you to treat a greater amount of material, thanks to the presence of more ropes, while the smaller units allow you to treat a only rope per day. The advantages deriving from the choice of a vertical oven are therefore greater, since it will allow to satisfy the increase in demand from customers who increasingly buy this quality product.
How does the firewood dryer work?
The drying process includes:
- the firewood is placed on the racks inside an airtight cylindrical drum, with openings for the entry and exit of heat at various points along the cylinder wall
- a powerful fan blows hot, dry air to each side of the wood, thus allowing the moisture trapped in the cells to evaporate
- through the vent
tion we also have the passage of a greater amount of oxygen in each opening along the way. This allows you to dry any type of wood, even the hardest woods such as maple, oak, cherry or ash, but also soft woods such as pine or poplar, thus making any type of wood readily available on site perfect for use in fireplaces and stoves.
The number of openings along the length of the drum will be decisive for the speed of the entire process: the greater the number of open points where air can enter and exit, the faster the drying times of the firewood will be.