Wood heat has been a main source of heat used to heat our homes, from almost the beginning of civilization. We have refined the method to control the fire, beginning with an open fireplace to the present Hi Tech Wood Stoves. The follow article is a brief over view of why and how the wood stove evolved.

Heating with wood stove heat was the primary heat source for our fore fathers, the wood fire could also be used for cooking, heating up the water for washing clothes, bath water and all the essentials of life. In early pioneer day the main type of heating device was an open fireplace. Every Thanks Giving you quite often see pictures of the pilgrim women cooking and doing their choirs with the fireplace, usually with some type of bar with a hock to hold the utensils suspended in the open fire.

One of the early innovators the starting changing the way we heat was Benjamin Franklin, with his invention to the Franklin stove. The Stove was made out of cast iron, featuring a large open face covered with two cast iron doors, that had a spin out knob at the lower center that could be utilized to control the amount of air feeding the fire. When comparing the cast iron to the masonry material that was used to build the open fireplace. The masonry material typically was built on the outside exterior of the home. Any heat that may have been absorbed by the heat would radiate back into the outside atmosphere. The cast iron stove normally set inside the home, then the heat from the cast iron could radiate into the home. Cast iron would also heat up a lot faster, making the home warmer quicker. less fuel had to be cut and stored since the stove efficiencies increased dramatically. This stove was a big improvement from the open fireplace. Now the air flows could be a lot more controlled instead of rushing up the chimney with most of the heat. The cast iron would heat up and radiate the heat back into the room. The top of the stove could be utilized for cooking if desired.

As our population and technology changed, we begin to use central heating furnaces to heat our homes using more mostly petroleum based products and electricity to heat our home. The open fireplace became a decorative appliance, mealy for the ambiance of the open fire place. Gas, oil and electricity were all relatively cheap when compared to using wood, which required work to maintain. But all good things come to an end. Gas, oil, and electricity have increased in cost many time over, and the consumer once again started looking for alternate heat sources. Our next generation of wood stoves, was a stove that was refereed to as air tight. These stoves could be shut down almost completely, allowing very excellent control of the fire. A little later on some innovative manufacturer decided that a glass window in the door would allow the consumer to see the fire. Sure enough people loved the concept. The glass door was not an actual improvement but rather an enhancement. Today this type of stove is illegal to be sold in most states. Our population has become more dense as more and more people object to the smoke that was being emitted by these stove. It was also discovered that the particles in the smoke were cancerous as the particles would lodge in peoples lungs.

The EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) created a particle emission standard that had to be met in order to sell wood stoves, very similar what the automobile industry has done. The manufacturer's stoves had to meet these standards to be able to sell them in most states. A lot of manufactures actually went out of business, as they did not have the resources to engineer and test their stove for these standards. The remaining manufactures were able to redesign and produce a wood stove or wood stove insert that not only was attractive and pleasing to the eyes, but were able to burn so clean that almost no particles were emitted into the atmosphere. The side benefit to the consumer was that the method to remove the particles was to have a more complete burn, literally burning the particles with a secondary burn system or a catalytic converter to complete the burn. As the stove now burn all the gasses efficiencies soared from around the 30% range, now in the 65-70% range allowing once again less wood being consumed to produce enough heat to warm the home.
The new high tech wood stove has been a big improvement for the environment and homeowners alike. Once again we are able to enjoy the ambiance of the fire, that makes our homes warmer and cheerier, and still help the environment remain intact for our future generations to follow us, hopefully they still will be able to enjoy a warm wood fire during those cold winter months.