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Heat accumulation in a ceramic mass or buffers filled with liquid form the foundation for every heating device, which runs on a solid fuel, i.e. firewood and briquette. Type of fuel or rather the possibility to batch it decides whether the produced heat can be controlled or not. Varying weather conditions and demand for heating solutions are common and it is good to be able to control heating levels. On the other hand, there are conditions of combustion that depend on fuel used.
Electric energy can be controlled the most easily - efficiency of electric heating devices amounts to 100 per cent. As far as the cost of producing 1kWh is concerned, electric energy is unfortunately the most expensive due to developed infrastructure maintenance costs, fault removal costs etc. Firewood is completely the reverse. It cannot be controlled as it burns, but it is the cheapest alternative from among commonly available energy sources. Additionally, it is ecological, natural and renewable.
Here an important question arises: how to acquire the largest possible values of energy from 1kg of firewood without being able to control the combustion process?
In order to burn firewood appropriately, we need high temperature. This is the principle of firewood combustion. Then, all layers and components of wood burn correctly. In fact, we cannot influence the process. The only thing we can do is that we can build furnaces, which allow convenient conditions for correct oxidation. The higher temperature, the better combustion of particulates. Wood burns very violently and it is impossible to control that process. This is why flames can create spectacular images.
However, we can control the way how thermal energy is acquired by constructing storage passes. As we interfere in the process, we usually worsen the emission of flue gases and harmful substances. When there is no buffer which collects excessive energy, we sometimes want to "diminish" fire. But remember that this is not a correct way to produce heat.
It is worth remembering that solid fuel = storage buffer. Firewood should be burnt in the best possible conditions and the storage mass should be charged on the flue gas pass or through a water buffer.
Adjusting the air flow is not enough, since we do not burn particulates and hydrocarbon particles, which contain a lot of energy, and they will be lost as they migrate towards chimney, where they can create fire risk. Blackened glass and passes prove it, as these are places where combustion process does not take place.
Thermal buffer - this is what we use to control and adjust heating process. The larger is the buffer, the higher inertia and freedom of adjustment.
Storage mass, particularly in our stove, allows this violent combustion process. We don't have to take care of the fact that energy escapes to chimney. The construction has been designed in such a way to prevent it. Other circumstances should be taken into consideration when the storage mass has heated up. Chamotte heats up to its maximum critical values and transfers heat towards chimney. That is why we recommend burning specified batches of firewood. It's cheaper and more comfortable.
We selected storage mass in a way to secure its fast heating and slow transferring. In the cycle of 24-hour combustion and stove operation, the mass should not cool down below half of its average maximal value i.e. weighted average. Results specified in technical data show 12 hours of accumulation, but these are results from nominal values starting from cold stove. During daily use and regular operation, we receive significantly better results of heat accumulation time. The time effectively changes into all-day accumulation, particularly when the stove is assisted by another heating system.
Accumulation time will vary. Differences in heat accumulation may be visible at varying temperature outside, different insulation standards as well as in case of large glass-covered surfaces. It is very important to remember about closing furnace feed and prevent cold air from getting directly into chimney. Now, we can talk about storage heating.
One of the most important characteristics of our stove lies in its balanced heating that also occurs below the level of furnace. This is shown in thermographic pictures in our Gallery