From the Fireside – The BioFire Blog

Let’s look at the different kinds of Woodstoves

Cast Iron – woodstoves take a couple of hours to heat up, but when the fire dies down, the cast iron will still radiate heat for a few hours. It always depends whether if the surface i s It has features such as upper air controls that allow you to add more or less air into the catalytic chamber for more combustion. It has ash drawers at the bottom of the fire box that can be removed to clean out the ash. Cast iron stoves are held together with furnace cement. Under normal circumstances, the expanding and contracting will cause the seams to crack, leaving you with the maintenance hassle of having it re-cemented.

Steel – woodstoves heat up quickly and start giving off heat almost immediately. However, when the fire dies down, so does the stove. It does not radiate heat if there is no fire heating the stove. Steel stoves are lined with firebrick (this helps to heat the stove), however firebrick can easily be chipped by large logs of wood and can also start to crack with the constant temperature changesb(expanding and contacting by heating and cooling).

BioFire Majolica Woodstove

Soapstone - is a natural material – metamorphic rock – formed millions of years ago under intense heat and pressure. Because it started out in a molten state deep within the earth, and because it has an unusually stable composition, soapstone can comfortably withstand fire and dramatic changes in temperature.

For centuries, soapstone has been known for its ability to retain heat. Other natural stones, such as granite and marble, also hold and radiate heat, but only soapstone has the added benefit of being able to withstand direct flames indefinitely.

Refractory Brick – woodstoves are built with specialized bricks that are designed for use in a high heat environment such as furnaces or kilns. These woodstoves have a low thermal conductivity which makes it safer and more efficient to operate. A BioFire Fireplace is built with ceramic refractory bricks, they absorb the intense heat of the fire( up to 1000˚C) and put out radiant heat for 12-24 hours.