Newspapers, paper and other domestic waste must not be put into the tiled stove/tiled fireplace. Most firing installations are nowadays designed for the combustion of pure wood. The wood should be untreated and should not have any residues of paints, lacquers or similar substances. It should be air-dry, that means it should be stored for a corresponding period of time. The combustion of coal is possible in certain inserts. In doing so, it has to be taken into account that the combustion of coal requires considerably more oxygen and that the accumulation of ash is also larger than when burning pure wood. What we would not recommend is the combustion of hard coal or anthracite coal because in this case high temperature would reduce the service life of your tiled stoves/tiled fireplaces and lead to damages of the installation. Most heating inserts are nowadays designed for the combustible wood. Wood leaves hardly any contaminants in the environment and burns CO2-neutral. Wood does not incur debts with nature and it is the only regrowing combustible. The wood should be seasoned, usually 2 – 3 years so that it is adequately dry. Not every wood is equally suitable for every purpose. Here a brief overview of appropriate types of wood:
- Beech – lasts long, produces a lot of embers, perfect firewood.
- Ash – can be put on a level with the beech but is less common.
- Birch – good firewood for tiled fireplaces (blue flame due to essential oils in the wood), burns faster than the beech.
- Spruce/pine – coniferous wood tend to produce flying sparks due to their high resin contents. Only use those types of wood in closed stoves. But it is a very good kindling in form of chips.
- Alder – burns down quickly, not very long-lasting, therefore a good summer wood if it is already hot enough.
- Oak – produces only little embers, some flying sparks and little flame. But it burns very long e.g. in the tiled stove.
Store the wood for at least two years then you have the best calorific value. But don’t store it longer than four years because the calorific value will decrease. When heating the tiled stove / tiled fireplace for the first time, please pay attention to the following: after the drying time of approx. 2 weeks, the new tiled stove/tiled fireplace should be heated up carefully. That means do not put in too much wood at a time and set the combustion air to high. Better heat more often with a small amount of combustible than overheating the tiled stove/tiled fireplace. With this way of heating in the first eight days you will avoid any formation of cracks. It is in any case required to observe the operating manual.