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6. Materials containing asbestos;
7. Construction or demolition debris;
8. Railroad ties or pressure-treated wood;
9. Manure or animal remains;
10. Saltwater driftwood or other previously salt water-
saturated materials;
11. Unseasoned wood; or
12. Paper products, cardboard, plywood, or particleboard.
The prohibition against burning these materials does
not prohibit the use of fire starters made from paper,
cardboard, sawdust, wax, and similar substances to
start a fire in an affected wood heater.
Burning these materials may result in the release of toxic
fumes or render the heater ineffective and cause smoke.
Deadwood lying on the forest floor should be considered
wet and requires full seasoning time. Standing deadwood
can usually be considered to be about 2/3 seasoned.
Smaller pieces of wood will dry faster. All logs exceeding 6"
in diameter should be split. The wood should not be stored
directly on the ground. Air should circulate through the logs.
A 24" to 48" air space should be left between each row
of logs, which should be placed in the sunniest location
possible. The upper layer of wood should be protected
from the element but not the sides. A good indicator of
if the wood is ready to burn is to check the piece ends. If
cracks are radiating in all directions from the center then the
wood should be dry enough to burn. If your wood sizzles
in the fire, even though the surface is dry, it may not be
fully cured and should be seasoned longer. It is EXTREMELY
IMPORTANT that you use DRY WOOD only in your wood
stove. The wood should have dried for 9 to 15 months,
such that the humidity content (in weight) is reduced below
20% of the weight of the log. It is very important to keep
in mind that even if the wood has been cut for one, two,
or even more years, it is not necessarily dry, if it has been
stored in poor conditions. Under extreme conditions, it may
rot instead of drying. This point cannot be overstressed; the
vast majority of the problems related to the operation of a
wood stove is caused by the fact that the wood used was
too damp or had dried in poor conditions. These problems
can be:
• ignition problems
• creosote build-up causing chimney fires
• low energy yield
• blackened windows
• incomplete log combustion
Do not burn manufactured logs made of wax impregnated
sawdust or logs with any chemical additives.
© 2024 Breckwell Hearth
OPERATION INSTRUCTIONS
TESTING YOUR WOOD
• When the stove is thoroughly warmed, place one piece
of split wood (about five inches in diameter) parallel to
the door on the bed of red embers.
• Keep the air control fully open and close the door.
If the wood ignites within 90 seconds from the time it
was placed in the stove, your wood is correctly dried. If
ignition takes longer, your wood is damp.
• If your wood hisses and water or vapor escapes at
the ends of the piece, your wood is soaked or freshly
cut (green). Do not use this wood in your stove. Large
amounts of creosote could be deposited in your chimney,
creating potential conditions for a chimney fire.
TAMPER WARNING
This wood heater has a manufacturer-set minimum low burn
rate that must not be altered. It is against federal regulations
to alter this setting or otherwise operate this wood heater
in a manner inconsistent with operating instructions in this
manual.
EFFICIENCIES
Efficiencies can be based on either the lower heating value
(LHV) or the higher heating value (HHV) of the fuel. The
lower heating value is when water leaves the combustion
process as a vapor, in the case of woodstoves the moisture
in the wood being burned leaves the stove as a vapor. The
higher heating value is when water leaves the combustion
process completely condensed. In the case of woodstoves
this would assume the exhaust gases are room temperature
when leaving the system, and therefore calculations using
this heating value consider the heat going up the chimney
as lost energy. Therefore, efficiency calculated using the
lower heating value of wood will be higher than efficiency
calculated using the higher heating value. The best way
to achieve optimum efficiencies is to learn the burn
characteristic of you appliance and burn well-seasoned
wood. Higher burn rates are not always the best heating
burn rates; after a good fire is established a lower burn
rate may be a better option for efficient heating. A lower
burn rate slows the flow of usable heat out of the home
through the chimney, and it also consumes less wood.
INITIAL BURNS TO CURE PAINT
BECAUSE OF THE HIGH OPERATING TEMPERATURES,
THIS APPLIANCE IS COATED WITH A SPECIAL HIGH TEMP
PAINT WHICH REQUIRES A SERIES OF LOW TO MEDIUM
BURNS TO FULLY CURE FOR DURABILITY AND A LIFETIME
OF SERVICE.
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