FAQ

In Poland and in the European Union, heaters and storage heating stoves are subject to the PN-EN 15250:2009 norm. The norm specifies a series of requirements, which should be met before receiving the CE certificate. Of course, the TermoKaust stove holds this certificate. The report and course of certification process remain in possession of the producer. Research report no. 48/10-LG of 17 September 2010.

Additionally, the stove met the requirements of a very rigorous DIN Plus certification, which assumes three times smaller carbon monoxide emission rates than the PN-EN norm.

At the same time, we can rank our construction among the best devices, which fulfil provisions specified in the BImSchV emission control act.

This question is asked the most frequently. The device has been created and calculated for encasing in ceramic tiles with a several-centimetres dilatation gap between the stove's wall and ceramics. Tile encasing does not exclude the use of other types of facing, but it should be remembered that it may change stove's heating characteristics and manner of its use.

TermoKaust stove was designed as a chamotte furnace and an internal system of passes and chambers. It can also function as an independent heating unit, but its appearance and the characteristics of chamotte construction imply fitting it with tile ceramics.

Further information about this topic can be found in "Advices" tab in "Casing" section

Each of the above definitions applies to our device. According to the Polish and European norm (PN-EN 15250:2009), its full name should be "Slow heat release appliance for living quarters". In short, a ceramic stove: chamotte, tiled.

We associate chamotte and tile ceramics with heat accumulation in living quarters.

Triple functionality of the device implies unambiguous classification and stove's identification among other devices of the market. Our innovativeness manifests itself in the chamotte modules, which make the construction repeatable and always the same after assembly.

Heating efficiency is stable and facilitates fuel preparation. Assembly takes place always in the same construction of passes and chambers. Nevertheless, careful assembly is required.

TermoKaust displays three constructional heating aims and it should be viewed as such.

Certification and researches of storage heating devices are not common because of their significant weight. We hope that TermoKaust is a good example as the requirements of customers rise.

It is hard to divide storage heating stoves into categories of various overall dimensions and power ratings. As it was previously mentioned, TermoKaust® is a ready-to-use stove that resembles a fireplace and provides a view on real fire. Heat-accumulating mass meets average values of thermal energy collection in chamotte and it gives up heat to rooms of typical volumes, which constitute current standards in energy-saving construction industry and amounts to 80-100 kg of the stove's weight per 1 kg of wood for combustion.

If we expand it by the weight of mortar and ceramics, which take part in heat accumulation, we will get about 120 kg of weight per the same kilogram of wood.  As far as heat accumulation is concerned, the weight should be as large as possible. However, as the weight of accumulating materials increases, we observe higher resistance values. Thus, we should select the best possible coefficient. We named it "the comfort of use coefficient" and we created a practical dependence between the size of furnace, its surface, heating mass and amount of fuel, and then we compared them with the demand for comfort of use and acquiring heat in a given time.

The demand and customer's preferences decide on the manner of operation and thermal energy collection of the stove. Size and weight of the stove are appropriate for medium rooms of today's single-family houses. The size of furnace is appropriate for burning a batch of wood during the specified cycle and time. We assumed that the demand of your rooms is 40W/m2 at the temperature of -16oC outside. Let's stock our homes with wood according to the above calculation. At average temperatures the above data are always working to our advantage and we actually need less energy. However, there are winter times when the device needs to work more. That is why its parameters should be counted in the same way. Average temperature in Poland during a heating season amounts to 3-5oC. Our stove is capable of producing over 40kWh (accumulated nominal value when starting with a cold stove) of thermal energy by burning 11 kg of firewood during 3 hours and 12 hours of accumulation. Thus, we may assume that we acquired an average of 3.3kW/h. During first hours and at higher temperatures, the values would be higher, and at the final stages they would be smaller.

This energy covers about 80m2 of our room. In practice, these values vary. They depend on many factors, type of floor, how often we come in and go out of the room, whether there is a dinette or not, whether we ventilate often or not and how efficient is the ventilation. Each instance would be different, and that is why firewood consumption will also vary. On the example of operation of our TermoKaust stove, we may assume correct operation for the maximal 90m2 of surface in an open living room of an energy-saving house. Of course, this applies to continuous heating (do not mix it up with continuous burning!)

Let's get back to different dimensions, sizes and power ratings of the stove.

Generally, series of types imply differences in power, appearance and trimming.

Our stove is encased with tiles, and each casing is unique. Furnace, combustion conditions as well as - which is most important - the repeatability of heating levels are stable.

Stoves "create" power and accumulate it. Then the power "charges" the mass. If we put some more firewood, we will waste a lot of energy during violent combustion. On the other hand, if we put too less, we will not reach enough temperature for proper combustion and heat accumulation. The flow of flue gas plays an important role here. It transfers thermal energy onto walls and should amount to 1.5m/s in storage heating. Such a speed of gas flow transfers heat continuously and beneficially.

Modern stove-fitting and stove industry pay great attention to the above.

The second parameter that plays a role in keeping energy inside the stove is the outlet temperature measured in the chimney, which should amount to 120-160oC. Greater power of a furnace means larger chimneys, violent combustion and a rapid increase of gas flow speed, which in turn lead to higher resistance rates. Therefore the diameters of outlets in chimney liners are so large and their relatively low convection heating power. A single glass in furnace door rather decreases temperature inside and impair combustion process. This is observed in case of cheaper liners.

A 24-hour heating cycle should progress similarly in order to make the residual heat from previous combustion noticeable. Constant operation during a heating season would be beneficial in terms of heating costs counted at the end of the heating season. The power of the device is always assigned to volume of a room, which we want to heat. In practice, we will need more or less firewood.

Here our series of types, various power ratings and overall dimensions meet in a single device.

While using the TermoKaust stove we always can control heating levels freely, and what is more important - it is possible at high thermal inertia.  

Prices of energy are now at shocking levels. Customers more and more often search for reliable devices as well as solutions, which would ensure the most possible levels of energy-saving performance. This is how it should be. We support everyone, who decides on the controlled system of aeration with energy recovery.

Air-tight and passive homes use fresh air for thermal balance. Reduction of low temperature of the air is becoming a norm in construction of new homes and heating systems.

Great amounts of air are needed during wood combustion. Hence, a frequent question arises - how to balance air consumption with the use of TermoKaust stove?

Theories suggest delivering 4m3 of air per each 1kg of wood. Since nothing happens in ideal conditions, some of that air escapes to chimney. That is why we increased the air volume 2.5 times. Let's assume 10m3.

Differences between pressure inside a room and pressure inside the chamber forces air flow, which is often referred to as flue draught. Thus, we can say that the stove takes as much air as it needs. Users are only responsible for securing on time appropriate amounts of air for wood combustion. This doesn’t apply to forced draught systems, which automatically set the right amounts of supplied air.

Fresh air is essential for correct combustion. Best of all if it's warm, otherwise it must heat up to take part in combustion process and consequently consume some energy, which is always too precious, especially in furnaces. The best technical solution is to take some air from an air intake, which was built-in specifically for this purpose on the southern side of the house. In this case, cold and freezing air is heated up to a temperature above zero. A good solution would also be to supply air from a basement. In such a case, the air may have as much as dozen or so degrees.

If any of the above solutions is not possible, the only way is to apply a classic air supply from the floor level. However, it should be taken into consideration at the time of burning in forced draught. Wood should burn for about 3 hours. Then, we should close the air damper for heat accumulation and heating

Many users of tiled stoves complained about the washout holes, which stick out of the stove's surface and do not match modern interiors. You wouldn't see them in TermoKaust stove! Now we can tell with great satisfaction where they are.

Certainly, you wouldn't find them on the outside of the stove and its tiled casing. They were also causing users to close the furnace incorrectly.

Each tiled stove and its interiors should be kept under maintenance and cleaned if necessary.

By way of explanation, we must mention the fact that cleaning will not be a problem if we burn appropriate firewood and follow producer's instructions. The stove is constructed in such a way that it is able to burn almost all particulates, which is proven by the emission tests.

Quick accumulation of soot results from inappropriate combustion with an inappropriate firewood. At the first stages of lighting up the cold stove, unfavourable conditions for combustion are easily visible. Clean chamotte furnace is covered with black soot, but as the stove heats up, the soot disappears completely. Responsible for this is the temperature. In (Advices) section and (Fuel) tab we describe phenomena which accompany inadequate combustion and correct combustion.

Various conditions and way of using the furnace causes some waste to gather. As a rule, they most often form in bent passes, elbows or sedimentation chambers. The construction of TermoKaust stove, similarly to all stoves, is prepared for such possibilities and provides easy access for maintenance works.

The floor of the furnace features a plug made of cast iron. It is mounted on a heat-insulating cord, which can be prised off and removed. After opening, we gain access to the sedimentation chamber and outlets of all four sedimentation passes from the top of the stove. Additionally, we have access to the hole of a pipe that connects the stove with chimney. Cleaning consists in periodical removal of the soot after prior clearing all the passes with a wire brush. Access to the top section of the stove is possible through a vault in the furnace. During maintenance works we should manually check whether its mechanical cleaning is necessary.

For removing soot in stoves and fireplaces we may use widely available agents according to instructions of their use.  

TermoKaust is a durable construction, built from tough materials such as chamotte, steel and cast iron. Correct assembly of the stove and its casing guarantee several dozen years of use or even more! The user decides how durable the stove would be.

In order to ensure long-term durability we advise users against the following:

• insert too large chunks of wood by force
• exceed the allowable amounts of wood
• throw wood into the chamber
• insert wood covered with snow
• burn wet, unseasoned and green wood
• burn scrap wood covered with paint, varnish etc.
• burn other fuels than firewood
• heating the stove up above recommended temperature levels
• move the stove after it has been assembled
• unscrew and take out components of the stove
• extinguish fire with water
• lighting up with petrol

The above actions are most common and decrease durability of all devices. Some of the remarks concern only solitary cases, but they are common, accelerate wear of the stove and have significant impact on the safety of operation. Remember: burning green wood is disadvantageous to the device! Reasons for using green wood vary. They are innocent sometimes - here are some quotes: "... I liked the smell of burning green wood..."; and our favourite: "...I've been chopping that firewood all day long, why not burn it?...”.

Natural inclinations and the enormous desire to burn something eventually win over logical thinking and ecology.

We build firewood stoves taking care of our customer's wallets. Green wood dirty our stove and chimney, and at the same time it produces 50% less energy. Please keep that in mind while using our stoves.