As energy prices rise, and the full environmental impact of fossil fuel use comes into focus, more and more Canadians are looking to wood as a sustainable, affordable source of heat. This makes sense given the landscape that surrounds many of us, and while firewood can be burned in a freestanding stove, a masonry heater or a basement furnace, outdoor wood furnaces are a little-known option that’s worth looking at. Just before Christmas, I fired up an outdoor furnace I installed at my own place, and it addresses the kind of energy issues that more and more Canadians are concerned about.

All outdoor wood furnaces look like a metal garden shed with a short chimney. Feed wood into the firebox behind a door on one end, and the fire heats water in an insulated tank that’s also inside the structure. Pipe this hot water to a building through insulated underground pipes, extract the heat, then use it for space heating and to heat domestic hot water. This is the outdoor wood furnace proposition in a nutshell, and it offers unique advantages. By moving the fire outside, you sidestep the work of bringing firewood inside, the potential hazards of burning it there and the work of hauling ash back out.

Canada is at the leading edge of this technology, and as I’m discovering for myself, this heating option offers a range of benefits.

Outdoor boilers make wood cutting and splitting more efficient, because the work can happen right next to the place where the wood will be burned. The best setups include a wood storage shelter near the furnace, creating an all-weather place to keep wood as dry as possible over winter. Some users even have their wood splitter permanently parked in the shelter. Splitting and stacking happens all in one place, minimizing the chore of handling wood.

The fireboxes on most wood boilers are larger than you’ll find on even the largest indoor woodstoves. The smallest outdoor models can accommodate wood 20 inches long, but many larger boilers burn wood twice that long. Bigger wood makes for much less cutting time and more efficient use of your wood splitter. The bigger your wood, the less time it takes to prepare it.

Heat output is another unique feature of outdoor wood boilers, and this offers another efficiency. Even the smallest models are capable of heating a full-size home, with larger units capable of heating multiple buildings as well as heating domestic water, all from a single location. The work of tending one centrally-located fire is safer and easier than maintaining two or three fires, and makes it practical to handle more of your overall energy needs with wood.

Outdoor wood furnaces aren’t for everyone, but they do have a growing place in the rural and semi-rural Canadian heating scene. They make direct use of an energy resource that’s abundant and renewable across a large part of Canada, and the fact that it’s likely to stay that way may be the best benefit of all.

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Enviva LP currently has a biomass wood pellet manufacturing plant under construction in Ahoskie, N.C., and recently announced that it will soon be building another plant in Garysburg, N.C. According to a recent release, the Garysburg plant will create 62 green jobs, reimbursed at an average annual salary of $38,484, not including benefits, (as compared to the Northampton County average annual wage is $27,976). Enviva also expects to invest $60 million in the plant in the next three years. More

There are benefits to installing a direct vent fireplace in your home over other types of fireplaces. One advantage over other fireplaces is that direct vent units do not require a complicated chimney installation, which makes installation much simpler. You just need a connection to a natural gas line, which can be run from underneath the floor, allowing flexibility in the placement of the fireplace.

Venting and Using a Direct Vent Fireplace is Not Complicated

Venting a direct vent fireplace, like you can find on our website, here at Copperfield Chimney Supply, only requires a direct vent out of an exterior wall on the same floor where the fireplace is installed. Once installed, using the fireplace is not complicated. In most installations, you have different switches which control different features on the fireplace. You turn one switch on to ignite the fireplace and then turn another one to start the blower motor, which forces the heated air into the room.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) recommends that you install an EPA certified wood stove insert in place of your old brick fireplace to reduce smoke and increase efficiency of wood burned in your home. Due to the open nature of traditional fireplaces, much of the potential energy of your fuel is wasted; they also create smoke both indoors, and out. Abundant smoke is a health risk to everyone, affecting our friends outside our home and our family within.

Wood Stove Inserts can be Cheaper than Other Alternatives

When selecting an insert for your fireplace, it is wise to look at all of your options before deciding exactly what you would like. While gas, natural or propane, has become more accessible in recent times, it is still not free. Wood, on the other hand, can be free, short of a little manual labor that is. Many people still choose a wood stove insert because of this reason, and here at Copperfield Chimney Supply we offer the best in Majestic and Napoleon inserts to meet your needs.

When you purchase a brand new gas fireplace, you will need to also purchase other items. You will need to get gas vents, piping, chimney liners, termination caps and other products required for installing your gas fireplace. You will find that Duravent manufacturers all of the items you need for a gas fireplace installation, regardless of whether it is a direct vent unit or being installed to replace an existing wood burning unit.

Get Your Duravent Gas Fireplace Products When Your Purchase Your Gas Fireplace

A common mistake people make when purchasing a gas fireplace is not ordering all the needed products at the same time. When you purchase the gas fireplace, piping, and other items needed for the installation at the same time, you avoid paying additional shipping charges later. When you shop here at Copperfield Chimney Supply we offer free shipping on all orders over $500, so it makes more sense to get everything on the same order. Just contact us for help in selecting the correct piping and items needed for you gas fireplace installation.

If you are thinking about adding doors to your Marco fireplace, we can help. We have the OEM doors and they can be easily installed by the homeowner in about 15 minutes.

Doors on your fireplace will dramatically increase the efficiency of your unit and will stop heat loss up the chimney when the fireplace is not in use.

Please visit our web site for door options and instructions for installing your Marco doors.