Wood burning stoves

Despite its many advantages, one of the disadvantages of the wood burning stove has always been the problem of even distribution of the radiated heat. A wood burning stove is by its very nature a source of radiant, or ambient, heat. This is amazingly efficient, but the flaw is that there may be "cold spots" in a room or set of rooms that the wood burning stove is being used to heat. It may also mean that sitting close to the stove makes one too hot, but moving a little away from the stove leaves one too cold.

Now, some people have sought to remedy this problem by using electric fans or specially designed "blowers" to move the woodburner's heat around more. Some wood burning stove designs even incorporated hollow metal tubing around the main body of the stove to fit in these fans or blowers. Unfortunately, these solutions pose more problems of their own. Running an electric-powered fan or blower largely defeats one of the great advantages of the wood burning stove, which is its economy. Furthermore, needing to place an electrical device, often encased in plastic, near to a hot-burning source can, unsurprisingly, lead to a meltdown and perhaps an electrical fire.

This problem with equal distribution of the wood burning stoves heat has led many people to reject them, even though their alternative solutions to home heating have rarely been as efficient or as aesthetically pleasing as the stove.
 
But in recent times, more innovative designs have recent innovation in woodburning stove fan technology actually took a "neoclassical" approach to solving the conundrum, by reaching backward in time to uncover older knowledge of how to get around this predicament. Thus, modern wood burning stove fans or blowers leverage the radiant heat from the stove to heat hot air in their engine, sometimes called a Sterling Engine. A piston turns the blades of a fan which is responsible for blowing the excess heat above the stove and into the room. These self-powered woodburning stove heat distributors are engineered to withstand the high temperatures of the stove, thus ending the need for constant worry about their damage or a fire. And there is no additional electricity needed to run the fan, thus giving back to the woodburning stove one of its unique advantages.

There are also woodburning stoves that now come with or can be fitted with a blower grate. These are known as cubic feet per minute (cfm) blowers. A high cfm blower increases a stove's efficiency anywhere from an astounding 74 to 92%.  A blower grate works via baffles, or pieces that sit on top or in front of the blower and slow down the air blowing out from the fireplace to give the air additional heat charges before it goes out into the room. Blower grates are also aesthetically pleasing.
 
So, with these modern additions to the wood burning stove, there is really no reason why you shouldn't check into getting one (or more) for your home. Your senses, and your financial sense, shall both be greatly rewarded.