How to heat a Russian stove: all the rules of service

Design features of Russian stoves

They consist of three main elements:

• firebox;
• chimney;
• pipes.

The combustion compartment, an obligatory part of any unit, is a compartment designed for solid fuels. A blower is installed under the firebox, which provides the supply of oxygen necessary to maintain the combustion process, and in addition, ash from the burnt wood accumulates in it.

The purpose of the chimney is to remove smoke and excess heat energy collected in the firebox of the Russian stove. During its construction, several turns in a zigzag shape are laid out inside in order to heat one of the walls of the house. The surface inside the chimney should be smooth so that it is less covered with soot and dust.

With the help of a pipe, the smoke is carried out into the atmosphere. It should be properly insulated, as it heats up to a high temperature.

Also, at the very bottom of the Russian stove, there is a baking oven or baking oven - a special compartment for storing a stock of firewood. The pad was often used for crockery. The six is ​​intended for the convenience of cooking.

Stoves, equipped in the unit, improve heat transfer and dry fruit blanks. The front part of the structure is called cheeks, and firewood is laid through the stove mouth. The crucible is the place where fuel is burned. The smoke is led to the chimney by the highlighter. The overlap is used as a warm stove bench.

General information

Fuel briquettes, or as they are also called eurowood, are made from pressed natural materials, most often sawdust, sometimes peat or straw, rarely from seeds or nut shells. During the pressing process, most of the moisture comes out of the wood, which allows obtaining high calorific characteristics. Unlike firewood, whose maximum dryness is determined by 20% moisture, the same parameter for fuel briquettes is 8-9%.

The version of the briquettes can be different:

• Eurobriquettes RUF - made exclusively by pressing without additional processing.
• Eurobriquettes Nestro are compressed briquettes with a cylindrical shape, sometimes with a hole in the middle.
• Pini-Cay Eurobriquettes are compressed sawdust fired with a gas-air mixture to create a more durable shape, which increases storage time and protection from moisture.

Regardless of the type of fuel briquettes, their density is higher than wood, which allows them to burn well and generate a large amount of heat. Thermal characteristics differ for Euro briquettes made from different materials, usually they use high-quality types of wood, cereal seed husks, straw, peat.

Direct use of fuel blocks

In the production of all types of Euro briquettes, no glue additives are used, since wood and similar materials contain a suitable lignin component that can glue together all the sawdust.

Due to the fact that fuel briquettes are made of drier wood, their calorific value is significantly higher than that of ordinary firewood or brown coal and is remotely comparable to the characteristics of black coal. For example, dry birch firewood during combustion emit 2500 kcal / kg, brown coal about 3800 kcal / kg, and fuel briquettes 4500 kcal / kg. Thus, for heating premises, the option with such a fuel is quite acceptable, but are fuel briquettes suitable for a bath, is it possible to heat a stove in it using this fuel.

Good to know: Fuel briquettes for fireplaces and stoves, general information about modern fuels

The correct kindling of the stove

After familiarizing yourself with the design features, you should figure out how to melt a Russian stove correctly. The rate at which the fuel burns is largely dependent on the delta between the temperature outside the building and inside it. If this value is small, then the traction force will be weak and it will be more difficult to drown.

The draft promotes the flow of oxygen to the hearth and the extraction of smoke from it. To make it easier to light the stove, the walls of the pipe are warmed by burning flammable materials - paper, birch bark. Next, you should put dry firewood in the crucible and firebox and kindle them.

If there is no urgent need to heat the unit, it is advisable to wait for the temperature regime to change. The fact is that, regardless of the season, it always gets colder in the evening and the traction force should be restored.

True, even after changing the temperature outside, sometimes the stove still cannot be melted and then you need to stop trying to light it up until the reason for what is happening is clarified. Possible, chimney cleaning required. Experienced stove-makers advise to heat the unit gradually, especially if it is rarely used. Since it has rather thick walls, with sharp heating to high parameters, cracks can go along them.

The better and more profitable to heat with wood or briquettes

Heating with pellets is possible and even necessary. It is a modern type of fuel with excellent energy efficiency. A specially selected composition provides high heat transfer, quick ignition and a long burning period, which allows the furnace to operate in an autonomous mode for a long time.

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Methods for kindling

Before stoking a Russian stove with wood, you must first free its inner space from the remnants of fuel, kitchen utensils, and the firebox from ash. It is necessary to clean the blower and the furnace. After that, start kindling. To keep the room at a comfortable temperature, you need to heat the stove at least once a day.

Most often, two main options for the firebox are used:

1. Firewood is burned in the firebox.
2. The kindling is carried out on the hearth.

The most economical way is when the fuel is burned in the firebox chamber. In this case, the heating structure is completely warmed up. Firewood is placed in the combustion chamber as tightly as possible, filling the entire space with them.

In the future, they are laid after the previous fuel raw materials have burned out to coals. But first, the firewood is pushed aside to prevent the sparks from crushing and damping. The second fuel fill, like all subsequent ones, is made one third less than the first.

When firing, the mouth flap is well closed. The stove latch is slightly opened, and the ventilation valve is closed. This procedure is performed to improve traction. When the stove has not yet had time to warm up, a slight return of smoke may occur during kindling. To eliminate such a problem, the ventilation valve is pushed back by 2-3 centimeters. It must be returned to its original position after a while.

There are several rules on how to properly heat a Russian stove with wood. In order for the combustion process to be stable, it is necessary to provide a constant supply of oxygen. To do this, the fuel must be periodically agitated with a poker, as a result of which the air reaches the lowest layers, and the degree of firewood burning increases.

Before opening the oven door, the blower is by all means closed, which helps to temporarily pacify the flame a little with close contact with it and reduce smoke.

You can light a fire in the hearth using the lower or upper method. The easiest option to implement is the first. In this case, flammable materials are placed under the firewood masonry in the center.This way you can quickly and easily ignite any fuel. But this is the disadvantage of this method, since oxygen burns out quickly, and the stove ignites unevenly.

It is better to use the upper ignition option. It consists in the fact that the starting material is placed in the upper part of the stack of firewood. At the same time, it is possible to perform uniform heating of the unit and achieve a smooth spread of fire throughout the masonry. All this allows to reduce the load on the firebox. During combustion, the blower door should be kept open 7 centimeters.

Another method is called kindling "in Russian", it is performed on the hearth. For this, the valve in the furnace is closed and at the same time the ventilation is kept open. The wood, which must be dry, is placed on the front edge of the well-shaped furnace, then ignited and slowly moved to its center.

This option is used when there is no need to quickly heat the room or if you need to use the stove as a fireplace. When using this method, the combustion process is closely monitored so that sparks and coals do not fall out of the unit.

On average, the heating time should be two hours to ensure long-term operation of the furnace and prevent cracking of its walls. After the completion of the firebox, the mouth and valves are invariably closed, as a result of which food is cooked faster, and the house cools down more slowly.

Correctly selected method of stowing fuel in the hearth promotes quick ignition of the unit. Usually, firewood is laid out in parallel in the form of a well or a hut. Parallel stacking means that the logs are placed straight, stacked one on top of the other.

To ensure free access of oxygen, gaps are created in the masonry in a checkerboard pattern. Firewood is laid out in a "hut" in a circular manner and then tilted towards the center, so that the result is a closed cone. With this option, the flame immediately engulfs the wood along its length, and they burn out faster.

It is believed that when choosing a method of how to properly heat a Russian stove, it is better to stop at using a parallel fuel filling.

Useful Tips

There are several significant nuances that affect the quality of the wood-burning stove.

1. Do not touch the wood until it is half burnt. Then you can stir them up.
2. Burned coals are best collected in the center of the firebox floor, overlaid with burning wood and coals. In this case, it is best to close the blower door or latch.
3. If the fuel in the firebox goes out, this indicates that carbon monoxide has formed inside. Why? Because the wood was not dry. And here many have a question, what to do and how to heat the stove with raw wood? Better if you don't use them at all. But if this happens, then close the door of the combustion chamber and fully open the view and the latch. Keep the oven in this position for 10-15 minutes. During this time, carbon monoxide should be completely eroded. Now open the door and flaps a little.
4. Never heat the stove overnight. God saves man, who save himself.

Brick wood stove
So, let's summarize all the above. Once again, we repeat that there are only three components of the effective operation of a wood-burning stove: this is its high-quality technical condition, pay attention to what kind of wood is best to heat the stove at home, and fire it up correctly. If you follow all three rules, it means that the stove will work well, it will economically and efficiently produce the heat you need.

Compliance with safety

Heating a home with a Russian stove means that property owners have to constantly interact with the fire. If you do not adhere to fire safety measures, the consequences can be the most negative.

You need to follow simple rules governing how to cook in a Russian oven, how to heat it, and enjoy the benefits that it has:

1. Fire must be started with flammable materials and do not use flammable liquids such as gasoline.
2. When operating the unit, you need to use wood, and household waste and polymer materials can make the chimney unusable.
3. The firewood must be dry, otherwise heat is lost to dry it when burning. To do this, the required amount of fuel is harvested in advance for several days, storing them in the furnace.
4. Keep the oven lid tightly closed to prevent fires, hot coals and sparks.
5. Glossy printed materials should not be burned - the paint on them interferes with the combustion process and strongly clogs the chimney.
6. It is categorically impossible to heat the hearth with small wood waste - sawdust. If they are evenly distributed in the place of combustion, they will prevent the appearance of good traction and the access of oxygen, and with a sharp air flow, an explosion may occur.
7. Combustible materials should not adhere to the walls of the unit, so as not to provoke a fire, and in addition, heat transfer to the room worsens.
8. The recommended heating time should not be exceeded, as the heating structure will quickly become unusable. It is advisable to use a special oven thermometer, which will constantly monitor the combustion temperature, and maintain it at around 70 ̊ C. It is better to heat more often, but with a lower degree of intensity.
9. In newly built houses, you need to start kindling the stove only after the completion of the construction of all walls and ceilings. The fact is that the heat must be retained in the building, otherwise the internal elements of the unit may overheat.

How to light a stove with raw wood

It is categorically not recommended to use flammable liquids for lighting in a room, splashing them into a flaming hearth. This can lead to sad consequences, even to a fire in the room. Here's how to light a stove without using flammable materials.

We use wood splinters

It is good if there is even a small amount of dry wood. Two or three logs are enough. Place the former on a secure surface. Place the knife blade on the triangular wedge of the log. Press down on the knife with your hands or hit the tool with a hammer to break off this small piece of wood. Then gradually move on to pinch the splinters from the logs. You can use for this not a knife, but an ax. But then you need to act very carefully so as not to injure your hands.

We light the fire

Now grab a newspaper, unnecessary magazines or sheets of paper. Crumple them up and place them in the hearth. Make sure it is dry. Put dry torches on top of these materials with a hut. Light the paper. When all this is well lit, add another batch of chips.

Shred raw chopped wood in the same way. After all, the thinner the torches are, the better it will turn out to heat the stove with them.

Raw firewood is used

When the main fire is well lit, start gradually putting in the already damp wood chips in the form of a hut to heat them already. It would be nice to split a few of these wet logs into smaller pieces and spread them around the hearth. Under the influence of heat, smoke will begin to be released from them, and soon you will receive firewood with which you can effectively heat the stove.

Put them on the fire. But don't forget, this should be done gradually. If the fire is out, then take a special fan or a suitable tool to create air movement in the firebox. You just need to wave this object over the smoldering wood to provoke a better burning.

In addition to torches for the initial kindling of raw firewood, you can use a thin part of dry birch bark, so it is advisable to keep it in stock.

Caring for the Russian stove

It is important to know not only how to heat a Russian stove, but also how to properly care for it. All furnace passages and working chambers should be cleaned up in a timely manner.The blower compartment is cleaned of accumulated ash every time after completion of the furnace. First, its remains in the hearth are swept into a blower to remove it completely, for which they use a shoe - a special metal scoop attached to a long handle.

Typically, major cleaning is carried out once a year on the eve of the heating season. When carrying out cleaning, openings are used that are closed by doors that are provided in the structure. This procedure is performed with a poker. It removes the remains of ash and soot, which have formed on the inner surfaces of the walls, through open holes.

More thoroughly, you can remove plaque with a broom from hard twigs. After cleaning, the opening doors are tightly closed. The chimney is cleaned of soot, condensation or foreign objects once a year with a special hose or rope with a weighted end. But in this case, it is better to use the help of specialists.