* The accessories store is available only for the Peninsula and the Balearic Islands
The best wood is that which is, above all, not green or recently cut. For wood to light well, it’s important that it be very dry and sliced as it will have twice the calorific value of one that is not sliced.
In any case, if at least it is very dry, there are many types of firewood and each of them can be the most appropriate according to the desired use. For the sake of simplicity, it's easiest to separate hardwood from softwood. The former is the most durable and gives the hottest flame although it is more difficult to light. Regarding soft wood, it is less intense, it lights and burns out before hardwood, and its flame is not as hot. Hardwoods include oak, holmoak, olive or ash, while soft ones are those that come from fast-growing fruit trees such as pine, spruce or willow.
Cooking in a wood stove is very enjoyable and can be a beautiful experience, especially with the cold coming in. Accordingly, it’s important to choose the right firewood for such work. In this case, the best choice would be hardwood to get a fire that provides a lot of heat and is durable to obtain food that is evenly cooked through and easy to control.
Taste is another factor that you can tinker with when using firewood to cook. To achieve a fruity taste you can use fruit trees such as apple, almond or cherry, which will give your dishes an unrivalled aroma and flavour. If instead you use oak or walnut, your dishes will acquire a smokier taste. On the other hand, keep in mind that using some softwood such as pine or juniper has its disadvantages. They are very resinous woods and tend to burn very quickly, which can affect the quality and taste of your dishes.
If what you’re looking for is to light your stove or fireplace quickly, softwood is your best option. But if you want your fire to be long-lasting, it’s advisable to throw some hardwood on afterwards.
The use of resinous wood is also common when lighting stoves or fireplaces since they burn and give off a very pleasant aroma. Even so, if what you want is for that fire to last longer, you’ll need to throw on hardwood.
Whatever the use for which you want the firewood, it’s clear that a fire is a pleasure for the senses at any time of the year. It warms us up and lets us enjoy special, tasty food at the same time.
With the arrival of autumn the time is approaching to get the house ready to face the cold. It’s not enough to turn on the chimney when the cold arrives as it needs maintenance before being lit. By doing so, you’ll save the heat and improve its performance to face the low temperatures.
Here at LACUNZA we want to give you some tips to get your fireplace ready for winter.
With the arrival of autumn the time is approaching to get the house ready to face the cold. It’s not enough to turn on the chimney when the cold arrives as it needs maintenance before being lit. By doing so, you’ll save the heat and improve its performance to face the low temperatures.
Here at LACUNZA we want to give you some tips to get your fireplace ready for winter.
It is better to clean periodically, but if this year you haven't done so yet the first thing we recommend is to clean it before lighting it. Although it may seem like a difficult job, it’s easier and more important than it seems. Over time, the fireplace accumulates soot and accumulated particles that can generate a fire if they stay in your fireplace. By cleaning it, such incidents and the smoke that a dirty fireplace generates can be avoided.
How should you clean your fireplace? No need to climb on the roof. There are different products that will help you in cleaning. What’s ideal is to sweep the fireplace when the cold season ends for the next season, so before summer is the ideal time to perform this task. Sweeping the fireplace guarantees good combustion and prevent fires in the soot that accumulates in the duct. If you have doubts, it’s best to talk to a professional.
Once you have cleaned your wood burning fireplace, it’s important to make sure everything works properly. Safety is a very important factor to avoid any mishap. Here at LACUNZA, we recommend that you check the exterior condition of the fireplace and the gaskets of the glass and the door. Change them if you see that they are worn.
If your wood burning fireplace is open, check the grill to see that it’s carrying out its function. Make sure the grill is correctly in place so that pets and children are not in danger and are safe from fire. In this simple way, you can enjoy the special heat that your fireplace gives off with peace of mind.
Now that you've reviewed the key features of your fireplace, take advantage of the next cool autumn night to light the fireplace with your loved ones and enjoy the moments it gives us.
If you want your home and ducts to be ready to work next winter, don’t forget about their annual maintenance and cleaning. A clean wood burning stove or fireplace will offer a better view of the fire, the wood will burn better and you will have much less waste next winter.
What's more, if you sweep it regularly, you’ll reduce the risk of fire due to soot in the fireplace or stove. This maintenance and care will make sure it always works like new and will prevent the dangers that can be caused by poor maintenance.
The good thing is that great efforts are not required to take good care of it. But it is advisable to follow a series of guidelines to keep it in good condition and, moreover, it is ideal to perform maintenance on the fireplace before the cold season. Here at Lacunza, we can give you some simple tricks to make sure everything is ready:
You can easily clean the glass on your stove or fireplace by burning an intense fire for a short period of time so that the heat itself burns the soot stuck to the glass. If there is still soot, you can wet a newspaper and spread it carefully on the ash in the stove or fireplace. Then, rub this paper against the glass and you will see how the soot falls off and disappears when it dries. If you see that there is still debris, a traditional window cleaner can help. But the former option is more ecological and economical since you use the resources of the stove or fireplace.
Empty the ashes as required. There are many people who do so on multiple occasions not knowing that a bed of ash at the base of the stove is good. The layer formed by ashes insulates and protects the base of the stove and the ground. Moreover, the embers that remain from the previous fire will make lighting the next fire easier. Ash is an insulating material containing small embers, so you must be careful when emptying it. It is best to use a bucket with a metal handle to avoid getting burnt.
If you have time you can remove the baffle and double walls to check that everything is in good condition. You can also check the grill or the base and brush the soot particles inside the combustion chamber. The frequency at which the internal parts should be replaced depends on its use. Don’t forget to check the gaskets of the glass and the door. Change them if you see they are worn.
At the end of each season of use, it’s important to clean the smoke duct and leave it ready for the next cold season. Before summer is the ideal time to perform this task. Sweeping the fireplace guarantees good combustion and prevent fires in the soot that accumulates in the duct.
Wood burning cook stoves have always been synonymous with tradition and family in any home. These stoves have been adapted to the needs of the market and in recent years wood stoves with ceramic hobs have been manufactured, achieving more modern designs and greater energy savings.
Do you already have one and want it to look like new? Follow this advice:
Daily care is of vital importance to always keep it looking good. If you clean the hob after each use, always do so when it is cold to avoid scratch marks. The only time it is recommended to act when the hob is hot is when plastic or another material melts on it. In such cases, immediate action should be taken.
You can use wipes or cloths that are not abrasive and will not ruin the material. Several products can also make your ceramic hob shine such as vinegar or other products that can be found in the supermarket.
You can also use scrapers to remove spots that are very persistent or, as a trick, put an ice cube on them to release the dirt.
As with any ceramic hob, the materials or tools used are of vital importance to provide proper maintenance.
It is advisable to use tools with a smooth base so that they don’t damage the ceramic hob and keep its shine intact. The material used is also of great importance since stoneware or ceramic utensils won’t conduct heat well. The diameter of yours pots is also important in order not to affect the surroundings of your stove’s rings.
Wood stoves are a decorative element that, in addition to cooking, provide heat and well-being to the home. Now with ceramic hobs, in addition to heating your home and enjoying all its benefits, you can take advantage of its calorific value to cook great dishes at the same time. In addition, their designs are modern and very practical, which makes everyone want to have one.
These wood stoves with ceramic hobs work just like traditional wood burning stoves. In addition, they’re very efficient systems since the wood’s calorific value is used to cook great dishes and heat any room at the same time.
The ceramic hob is a highly resistant material to heat and sudden changes in temperature. In addition, they withstand shocks and heavy weights, making them very durable. Moreover, their finish and ease of maintenance make many people want one for their own home.
We’re already in the middle of winter and the snowfall, rain and cold make us spend more time at home. So, it’s time to have everything ready to continue facing the storm. Because ... What better than home to enjoy a fire with a blanket, a book or a movie? Life’s pleasures!
If you’re lucky and you have a fireplace, wood burning stove or cook stove at home and you’re not sure where to leave the wood these cold days, it’s very important to know the importance of proper storage. Here at LACUNZA we want to let you in on a few tricks.
Before stacking, keep in mind that it’s important to cover the ground where the wood will be placed to prevent the atmosphere’s humidity from affecting it and to ensure you’ll be able to light the fire correctly. It is also recommended to raise the pile from the ground, for example, with a pair of pallets to ensure the passage of air.
It’s important that you choose a level place to ensure your logs are more stable and do not risk rolling on their own. The amounts of stacked wood tend to be large to enable people to face the entire cold season. So, stacking them well and ensuring they are level is very important for everyone. If possible, it’s advisable to leave them in a sunny and well-aired place so that the wood will be acclimatized to the environment of the wood burning appliance. If you have a shed or a structure that can provide better coverage to the wood, this can avoid the wood getting wet.
In addition, it’s important that this be an easily accessible place since the wood will be stored for a long time and it has to be comfortable to transport back to your fireplace, wood burning stove or cook stove.
Once you start stacking the firewood, it’s important that you put them close or practically stuck together for the safety of your pets or the smallest ones in your house. If there are gaps, it’s likely that your little ones will want to climb on it. By preventing that you can save yourself a scare.
It is recommended not to stack more than 1.30 meters-high since the higher the pile, the more unstable and likely to fall it will be. To allow the wood to be stacked and dried if it’s humid, it’s also important to leave a small space between the back of the woodpile and the wall.
Once you have stacked all the wood, cover it with a tarp or plastic at the top without covering the sides or the front.
If the day comes when it’s your turn to light the fire but you don't know how, we’ve got a few simple tricks to make the task easier. Many times you may get home and, especially in winter, you’ll find it so cold that there will be no other remedy but to fix up a quick fire. So, we’ll teach you a way to easily make a fire and talk about a few factors to take into account.
If you want your home and ducts to be ready to work next winter, don’t forget about their annual maintenance and cleaning. By doing so, your wood burning stove or fireplace will give off heat longer and more effectively and you’ll reduce the risk of an uncontrolled fire. This maintenance and care will make sure it always works like new and will prevent the dangers that can be caused by poor maintenance. If your heat source generates more soot than usual, as can be the case for pine or any other resinous wood, we recommend that you clean more often.
Firewood is consumed in three phases so it is recommended to put on more than one log to avoid the fuel from being consumed prematurely. The more wood there is, the better the process will be in addition to providing a greater area to burn.
All firewood gives a similar heat if we refer merely to its weight, and light wood is cheaper than hardwood. Therefore, if you don’t want much heat in your home, as the case may be before the cold of winter begins, we recommend a lighter wood. If, on the other hand, you want to get higher temperatures in your home, we recommend harder firewood.
There is much discussion about whether it’s better to light a fire from above or below. Ideally, stack wood chips by placing them in layers: a first row parallel to the rear row, the second parallel to the side and so on up to a fourth layer. Once you have achieved this "house of cards" place a fire starter cube on the top and the flame will burn from top to bottom. This way of lighting is very effective as far as emissions and glass cleaning go. The chimney heats up very slowly and produces much less smoke than in the traditional way.
When the temperature is low and oxygen resists to mixing with the wood particles, it’s important to move the air inside to make it easier for the fire to start. In this sense, the door may often be left a little ajar or in some houses a window is opened to light the fire. The best known by all is the use of a pair of bellows to help move air into the combustion chamber.
It’s good for a little smoke to come out of your fireplace. If in doubt, you can go outside and see how much smoke is coming out of your chimney. If it’s black and dense, the combustion isn’t good since normally the fire in the stove or chimney is not usually so intense. If you see light smoke coming out without any odour or particles, it means you have optimal combustion.
If you want the fire to last all night, we recommend for the last load of wood put on the fire to be some type of hardwood. Keep in mind, however, that if your stove or fireplace is made of cast iron and has a large capacity, it will keep the heat until the next morning and will let you light a fire without any difficulty. We do not recommend closing the dampers so that the embers last overnight because it is very polluting and increases the risk of fires.
A value that measures emissions of carbon monoxide, an odourless, colourless, tasteless, toxic and highly flammable gas.
A European certification related to energy consumption. It grades the product based on strict sustainable criteria defined at European level and ensures that the purchased product meets the maximum sustainability requirements
An instrument or apparatus with rotating blades that drives or removes air.
The square metres heated by the wood burning stove, cook stove or fireplace.
The cubic metres heated by the wood burning stove, cook stove or fireplace.
Minimum and maximum power of the wood burning appliance or the variance in power obtained from conditions of slow and maximum combustion.
This refers to some materials’ property of being resistant to high temperatures without decomposing or storing heat.
It is the part of a wood burning appliance through which the fumes are expelled.
A material with a high capacity for storage and thermal transmission, besides its insulating properties. It is resistant to high temperatures and is an excellent heat accumulator. Great white finish.
A novel material with excellent insulation, high strength, aesthetics and lightness. In addition, LACUNZA vermiculite uses the appropriate density, thickness and dimension for each device. This customised design for each project allows for longer lasting fires, avoiding any type of problem. It is essentially a material composed of aluminium magnesium and iron silicate.
Average power released by a heating appliance (for water) to a heating system.
Relationship between the power generated in the combustion chamber relative to the heat felt in the household.
