ahjud, kaminad, pliidid, korstnad

It would be good, at first, to have an idea of what a masonry heater actually is and what it is not. A masonry heater is the combination of a firebox (built from firebrick-šamott), a series of pathways for the smoke from an intensely hot fire to travel to the chimney (with at least [...]

There are a couple of reasons for this. The first is out of concern for the environment.

Much of the plastics, magazines or other garbage have been manufactured using toxic chemicals. The burning of these materials releases these toxic chemicals into the environment, sometimes in an even more dangerous form than before.

I strictly discourage the [...]

How much is too much?  For a  large heater, one that heats an entire apartment or 3 or more rooms in a house, no more that about 45 kilos of wood should be burned in a 24 hour period.  This amount of wood is usually burned in two cycles, one in the morning, one at [...]

The wood used in a masonry heater should be dry and seasoned for a number of different reasons.  The first one is for concern of the environment.  A masonry heater, if built correctly, should burn very efficiently, but this efficiency is only diminished when wet wood is used.  When the improper wood is burned, it [...]

At the beginning of the heating season, sometime in the fall, another good thing to think about is the gentle break-in (warming) of your stove (heater).  The whole summer has gone by and the heater has not been used at all.  It has gone completely cold and now needs to be gently brought back into [...]