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Everything to Know About Seasoned Firewood

seasoned firewood

Are you looking to use seasoned firewood for your fireplace this Fall or Winter? Seasoned wood is made by storing away and drying out wood for a whole season before use. Wood can take 1 to 2 years to become adequately seasoned! It can reduce the moisture in the wood to make it burn better. If you use wood with a lot of moisture, your stove or fireplace will not be fuel-efficient. 

How Can You Tell if Firewood is Seasoned?

Here are some ways to tell if your firewood is seasoned correctly for use:

Color of the Wood

There are a few ways to tell if you have seasoned firewood to use for your fireplace or woodstove. The first way to be able to tell is by looking at the color. When wood ages, it fades in color. Seasoned wood will get paler over time, which is what you want. The lighter the wood is, the longer it’s been seasoned. 

Size of the Wood

The bigger the wood, the longer it will take to season. If you want larger pieces of seasoned wood, make sure they have been in the process of seasoning for a while. Otherwise, opting for smaller pieces may be your better option.

Why is it Important to use Seasoned Wood?

If you want to get the most heat out of your fireplace and increase your fireplace’s efficiency, seasoned wood is the best choice. It will also keep your fireplace or stove in use for a lot longer. Wood with high moisture can damage your unit, so seasoned firewood is the best choice to keep your fireplace running. 

Seasoning Your Own Firewood

Here are some tips for seasoning your own firewood:

Plan Out a Good Amount of Time

If you want seasoned firewood for next Fall and Winter, start planning now. Being able to have it season for this long will give you better results!

Cut The Wood Correctly 

You may want to opt for smaller pieces of wood, especially if this is your first time seasoning on your own. Cut larger pieces in half, so you still have the same amount of wood, but it will get the results you are looking for faster. 

Storing the Wood

Pick a spot that is dry and where the wood won’t be affected by the outdoor elements. This could be your garage or shed or another place where they can be stacked correctly. 

Contact New England Hearth & Home

If you are looking for more fireplace tips or are interested in our fireplace services, contact us today! New England Hearth & Home is happy to provide you with the best fireplaces in MA! Give us a call or fill out our contact form to get in touch.

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Benefits of Having a Pellet Stove

pellet stove burning

Heating a stove with pellets has many advantages. The same with oil or gas heating, a pellet stove has automatic ignition. Pellet stoves are environmentally friendly because of the CO2-neutral fuel. New England Hearth & Home provides pellet stoves in our line of inventory. Here are some of the benefits of owning a pellet stove in your home! With so many options for fireplaces and stoves, it’s good to know what you’ll be working with.

Temperature

Depending on the model you get, you can change the temperature with a thermostat or remote. Some models can also be programmed to turn on and off at certain times. Pellet stoves can start to burn and go out without having to touch it, depending on the program that is selected.

90% Efficiency

Pellet stoves have an efficiency of up to 90% or even more. Only some of the energy from pellets are lost in the chimney. Pellet stoves are more efficient than wood-burning stoves, with only 40-50% efficiency. Open fires only have an efficiency of around 5-15%.

No Need for a Chimney

Pellets stoves have an active smoke extraction system – therefore, it’s unnecessary to have a chimney specifically for your stove. The gases can be blown into a chimney that you already have. Smoke can also escape through a tube that runs through the outer wall of your home.

Autonomy

The pellet reserve in a stove can be at full power for around 12 hours at a time. This being said, the stove would need to be filled around twice a day if you want it running all day long if you want it at full capacity. That’s up to you and how much heat you want in your home at a time.

Cheap Fuel and Convenient

Pellets are cheap compared to other methods of fuel, and the price for them has been stable over the past few years. They come supplied in bags, and can also be delivered to your home in larger quantities than you may find in a store. A pellet stove can have about 1.5 – 2.5 bags of pellets in it at one time, but consumption depends on how big the room is that you want to be heated.

Contact Us

New England Hearth & Home sells and installs an array of different types of stoves and fireplaces. If you are interested in a new pellet stove, contact us by phone at 781-562-0071 or fill out our contact form. We look forward to helping you choose the best pellet stove for your home!

 

 

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How Fireplace Innovations Are Changing Home Design

electric fireplaces

People enjoy spaces with fireplaces more than those without them. New advances with fireplaces has made it easier and more affordable to add them to more rooms than just a living room in your home. Having a fireplace in a bedroom or basement can add a calming ambiance, as well as style. In the past, adding a fireplace in a home in general was more of a challenge than it is today.

Dynamic Heat Control

For some rooms in your home, you want the heat from a fireplace to create warmth. In others, it’s just for the look. Adding in dynamic heat control, you can have a fireplace just for the style and aesthetic rather than for the use of heating. Adding a fireplace to a kitchen can make it a great gathering spot, but do you really want it heating an already warmer room? Dynamic heating can make it so it’s not expelling a ton of heat and keeps the unit cooler than normal.

Electric Innovations

The idea of having an electric fireplace could have been unappealing in the past. This day in age, electric fireplaces can add a modern type of elegance to any room in your home. Technology has advanced, and has made the look of the fake flames more realistic and believable. Electric fireplaces are a great option for homes with restrictive rules and regulation. This can include condos. These are the most cost-efficient fireplaces and can come in a range of designs and styles to fit any room in your house. Also, with electric you can choose whether or not to have the heat on. You can still enjoy the comfort and look of the flames without getting the room too warm.

Flexible Venting

Flexible venting allows you to put a fireplace in spaces that originally wouldn’t be able to sustain one due to plumbing, beams, and studs. Flex vents allow flexibility to be woven around obstacles in your home. They require a lot less joints than a typical fireplace vent while still being up to code for being a safe form of ventilation. Flex venting can also be cheaper way of having a fireplace installed, due to their being fewer pieces of equipment to install.

Contact Us

New England Hearth & Home can provide you with fireplaces to fit your home’s style and heating needs. Feel free to contact us by phone at 781-562-0771 or fill out our contact form. We look forward to hearing from you!

 

 

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How to Start a Fire in a Stove or Wood Insert

wood stove

Properly starting a fire in a wood stove or insert is a science, and the average person doesn’t know that. Good fires start slow, and then becomes bigger as it sits. Don’t don’t just throw in a match with the logs, learn the correct way to do it!

Seasoning

The best type of wood to use in a wood burning fireplace is dry and seasoned wood. You want the fire to have a clean burn, with mostly heat and a little amount of smoke. Wood that is seasoned is usually used indoors, but some people use it outside for bonfires and fire pits. Seasoned wood is very light because it is stripped of moisture, and that’s the type you want to use. A dense log will be harder to light and will cause a bunch of smoke.

Before Lighting

Newspaper is the best material for kindling the fire because of how dry and thin it is, and flammable. You don’t want to use magazines or catalogs because they are made from thicker paper, and the chemicals used in the ink are not good to breathe in. Make sure the scrunch the newspaper up and make a layer of it at the bottom of the stove before laying down the wood. Use split logs, instead of round, when laying the fire. Split wood is easier to light, and you can add in round logs after the fire is lit.

Stacking the Wood

Try to lay the wood down in a jenga pattern and put the first layer of logs in a vertical pattern with some space in between each log. Alternate between vertical and horizontal until all of your desired wood is placed. This makes the flames rise at a steady pace, rather than all at once. A teepee-style wood structure goes up in flames right away, which is not what you want. Stacking them in a jenga-style way will ensure a longer lasting fire. Also, add wood chips to the top of your stack of wood and around the bottom.

Lighting Your Fire

Before lighting the fire, check to see that your stove is set to allow the maximum amount of air into its box. You want oxygen to enter because flames are attracted to it. Light the newspaper that you had put in the stove and leave the door to the stove open for about 5 minutes or less while everything settles. Closing the door too quickly after lighting might make the fire blow out. Do the same with a wood burning insert, and make sure the flue is open while allowing the fire to rise. Leave the screen or doors on your insert open for a little while before completely shutting it.

Contact Us

New England Hearth & Home can help you out with all your fireplace and stove needs. Give us a call at 781-562-0771 or fill out our contact form. We look forward to hearing from you!