What are the most common mistakes when heating in a stove?
Overloading of stoves and inserts
Most fireplace stoves and inserts are manufactured and dimensioned for periodic - intermittent (temporary) operation, which means that the stove is not intended as a primary heater for heating objects but for use as a so-called secondary source. If, in such a stove, the user heats, for example, all the time in the winter, the stove may get overheated and defects such as cracking of the grate, deflector or fireclay bricks, may occur, or even collapsing of the whole stove corpus which is unrepairable.
However, overloading of the stove can be caused by ignorance of the principles of controlling the stove or insert - the user needs to know the principles of controlling the air regulation. In some cases, the stove may get overheated due to the constantly open air supply, which also causes high fuel consumption.
Excessive chimney draft can also lead to overheating of the stove. In cases where the stove is connected to a chimney whith a significantly higher draft than designed, it can lead to an excessive supply of air to the chamber and thus to intensive combustion which, in some cases, may cause the stove overheating. It is necessary to adjust the draft of the chimney to the values recommended by the manufacturer.
Long-term use of stoves and inserts in their lower range
The opposite problem is when you buy a stove that has much more power than needed. In this case, the stove overheats the room in which it is located, which usually causes the stove to stifle. Throttling is then called that the user intentionally closes the air inlet to the stove and the chimney flap to reduce the stove's power to a "tolerable" level. This throttling then causes the formation of soot and tar in the stove, flue gas duct, and chimney. Lack of air can also cause malfunction of the glass airwash and other technologies that need sufficient air to work properly.
This can also be caused inadvertently, if the stove is connected to a chimney with too little draft. In the case of a small chimney draft, despite the open air intakes, the stove cannot attract enough air for trouble-free burning. This is characterized mainly by smoke from the combustion chamber while stoking, not working function of the glass airwash, or excessive clogging of the combustion chamber, the flue gas duct or the chimney itself.
Reducing the diameter of the flue gas ducts below the diameter of the flue gas outlet from the stove or fireplace insert can also cause the chimney draft to be lowered, so it is always recommended to leave the stove or insert installation to be done by professionals. In some cases, this reduction does not matter (for example, if the effective length of the chimney is sufficient), it is necessary to be approved by a professional though.
Installing the stoves and inserts yourself
It is always necessary to have the device installed by a professional, no matter if it reagards the connection of a hot-water exchanger to a hot-water system or the connection of the device to the chimney through flue gas duct. People often do not know or fail to comply with basic functional and safety regulations, which can lead to a malfunction of the stove, to the loss of warranty, or even to an injury, e.g. in the event of fire. It is always necessary to leave this work to professionals and of course to have a document for this work as a proof.
Usage of not recommended fuel
This can be illustrated by the example where a user buys a wood-burning stove or insert designed for wood and wood briquettes and uses, for example, brown or black coal as fuel. Combustion of fuel other than the recommended one can cause, for example, a higher temperature than the stove and its components are constructed for, which can cause damage to the structure of the device itself, spare parts etc.
The customer should always follow the manufacturer's instructions, which in most cases means that the user should not burn lacquered or otherwise treated wood, exotic wood, etc. It can cause the same damage as using a different kind of fuel. All information regarding usable fuel can be found by the customer in the instructions for use of the stove or on request from the manufacturer.