Recognising wood as a fuel is indispensable in order to obtain good results. The following are necessary for a stove to burn wood efficiently:
• a high temperature must be maintained inside the fire box;
• there must be enough oxygen to feed the flame;
• the humidity present in the wood must be eliminated: the wood must be chopped before storage to make it loose the humidity. Wood is a warehouse for solar energy.
The leaves on trees act as small solar panels that absorb the energy irradiated by the sun, using it to convert water, carbon dioxide and minerals into organic material, wood. Igniting a wood fire means releasing this energy.
||WOOD COMBUSTION CYCLE
(1) nutritive substance
(2) ash fertiliser
(4) carbon dioxide