Torn apart between a wood and coal stove? You’ve come to the right place. As temperatures dip, it’s about time to prepare for the coldest season of the year. While relying on traditional fireplaces can give a warm feeling of nostalgia, it’s not the most practical form of heating system. Folks who are researching the top advantages of wood and coal stoves, keep your eyes peeled on this page.
Advantages of Wood Stoves
- Taps on a Renewable Source of Energy
Wood is undeniably a renewable source of energy. This is notably so if you’re able to readily collect wood from your neighborhood and chop them into pieces fit for your wood stove. Most people start their routines from summer, so they have enough wood to last them through the winter months.
Wood has been used as a heat source since prehistoric times but if you don’t want to do the hard work yourself, you can get it purchased locally. This is a fabulous chance for you to break free from the ever-increasing prices by standard energy providers too!
- More Eco-Friendly Models Have Higher Efficiency
There are increasingly more eco-friendly models in recent years that provide higher energy burning. For those who’ve done their due research, you would be aware that open fireplaces lose up to 80% of the heat through the chimney.
On the contrary, newer environmentally friendly wood stoves are right on the opposite side. Instead of losing up to 80%, the 80% of burned heat from wood is channeled into your home, making it warm and cozy to curl up on a cold, winter night.
Advantages of Coal Stoves
- Burns Clean
One of the concerns of coal-burning is that it may potentially pollute the environment. However, this is not necessarily true. Anthracite, a form of coal, has a fire that burns very cleanly with no health-worrying smoke or emissions. In fact, the discharges are within the EPA’s requirements so there’s nothing serious to worry about. Additionally, it releases less carbon dioxide than compared to other forms of coal and is thus the most preferred type of coal used thus far. It produces no creosote so in that sense they are safer to use than wood stoves.
- Coal is Easy to Store
Compared to wood, coal is definitely easier to store all year round. Wood is not waterproof and it can be quickly infested with insects. But that’s not the same with coal. You can simply store your coal away outside in coal bins or even on the ground should you have no space to store them indoors. Coal can still work perfectly alright even if they are not sheltered from the rain or snow. You can even find coal packaged in 40lb bags which makes using it much more convenient.
- Burns Longer to Give You More Savings
Anthracite, when coupled with a well-built coal stove, can burn much longer than wood. This means that a full load of coal you can burn up to 48 hours without the need to top up. Some models are also manufactured specifically to allow burning to last longer at lower temperatures. So you’re getting supplied constant heat at extended periods, a bang for your buck.
There are both gains to using wood and coal stoves. But if you were to ask which one works better in terms of storage, savings, and efficiency, we would choose the latter. Remember to do additional research before purchasing one.