Stay Warm the Old-Fashioned Way
There is little doubt that the first man to build a fire used wood as his fuel source and, for millennia, wood remained the only fuel source available. Modern times have brought a multitude of technologies for keeping warm. All are good, but none provide the economy and self-sufficiency of an outdoor wood furnace.
The Uses of Wood Furnaces
Wood furnaces are as versatile as any other residential or commercial heating unit. Modern designs can provide warm water for washing and bathing, in-floor radiant heating, or just heat your space in the old-fashioned way with forced air. They are even good at keeping your pool or hot tub warm and cozy.
Wood furnaces are safe, efficient, affordable, and their reliability is unsurpassed. They provide a measure of self-sufficiency to those who want to lessen their dependence on fossil fuels and to those hardy souls who wish to completely “get off the grid.”
The Benefits of Wood
Older wood furnaces were simple one chamber designs that wasted much of their fuel source. Modern designs feature a more efficient, two chamber construction that burns the wood in a primary, first chamber and then the residual ash and combustion gases in a second one. 21st century wood furnaces are some of the most practical furnaces on the planet.
Similarly, outdoor wood furnaces are extremely friendly to the environment. In addition to using a renewable fuel source, their two chamber design, as mentioned above, produces significantly lower amounts of greenhouse gases as compared to fossil fuels.
Lastly, and not least importantly, furnaces are an affordable option. There is no point in building a better mousetrap if the mousetrap is prohibitively expensive. Wood furnaces are competitive with other fossil-fuel furnaces and can be up to 50% more efficient and therefore, less costly to operate.
The Future of Fuel
The use of wood as fuel is older than civilization itself and the wood furnace is arguably the first machine invented by man. In has proven to be a tried and true method of heating homes, water and people. These days, people around the world still depend on its basic principles while those of us in the modern world are lucky enough to have more reliable and efficient versions. In short, the use of an outdoor wood furnace is a sign of good environmental stewardship, a prudent economic sense, and practical outlook on the future of fossil fuels.
Patrick Whalen is a part of an elite team of writers who have contributed to hundreds of blogs and news sites. Follow him @2patwhalen.