First, it’s helpful to understand the heat potential of a stick of wood.
When a stick of wood is heated, it begins to breakdown, changing from a solid to a gas. The stick of wood is the solid, which ultimately changes to charcoal. The gases emitted by the burning wood is mostly comprised of hydrogen (H) and carbon monoxide (CO) (simplified). The emission of gases as a result of heating is called gasification and the unburned hydrogen and carbon monoxide gases, amidst others, are often called soot, creosote, and tar.
Now let’s compare how much heat can be generated by the burning a solid versus a gas.
Only 20% of wood’s heat potential is generated by burning the actual solid. The remaining 80% of heat potential is generated by igniting the gases emitted by burning the solid.
Obviously, the gases contain the overwhelming majority of woods heat potential. Because a traditional fireplace cannot burn these gases, its efficiency cannot exceed 20% (at absolute best). And, since these gases (hydrogen and carbon monoxide) are not being burned, they pollute the outside, and in many cases, inside air. Surprisingly, it’s rare to find a U.S. household appliance that burns the gases effectively and completely, if at all.
We’ve focused our research and development on designing a system that burns the gases and solids at a 97% combustion efficiency, then absorbs and stores the maximum amount of heat before releasing any up the chimney.
A Closer Look at How It Works
Red arrows show the flow of heat through the eco firebox before exhausting to the chimney. Heat is absorbed and stored in its masonry baffles and released over time into your home.
The concept of burning wood gases and using masonry baffles and heat exchangers to absorb the heat is well-known in the masonry heater industry. In fact, the Russians, Germans, Swedes, Austrians—even the early Romans—have been using this design practice for several centuries. Read what Mark Twain said about this concept after experiencing a masonry heater in Germany in the late 1800s.
