Moisture content causing excessive coaling

JA600L said:

I have a friend who is running into issues with too many left over coals and not being able to get enough heat off of them.

Is it possible that his 1 year old 20-22% moisture content oak is part of his problem? Will 3 year old wood with an even lower moisture content do better?

Click to expand...

Yes it will do better, what stove?

I would guess the wood isn't the issue. The issue is most likely him wanting more heat from the stove then it is capable of giving, and loading wood too often instead of letting the coals burn down.

Open the controls all the way when you are down to coals only and add a bit of dry scrap from skids, softwood, etc to keep the coals burning. That will eliminate most coals.

My preference, leave them there and just load up again on top of coals. When I need to clean out the stove, I rake them to one side, shovel the rest of the ashes out, then put a bit of kindling on top of the coals and you're burning again in no time.

hey neighbor, I can give him some 15% Bitternut Hickory. If he has coaling with that you know its the operator.......

I agree with Bart. Ive tested red oak 3 years split and stacked and get 22 or so percent.

I shouldn't butt into a serious conversation...but...lol...Ive had too much coffee.
The pan of water boiled off before the wood actually started burning. Moisture is long gone in the coal stage.
Burning is more scientific than I have ever gotten with things but I have read that certain species produce more ash.
Sugar maple was a tree species that was historically harvested for Potash production. And it is very temperamental compared to Oak. I believe poplar is another ash producing tree.
The coaling thing, however is not the same.
Maybe your far off friend doesnt like to sit and stare at the stove while it just sits there...glowing faintly of red. Maybe he needs the flames of a turbo vet.
Cant blame him.
Dancing flames makes me happy too.

From my experience, unseasoned oak will coal badly. And I have never had oak ready to burn in a year. Not even close. Sounds like he needs to shovel most of the coals out before reload until he can get three years ahead on his wood.

I like the green oak theory. Oak tends to make a lot of coals, and green oak even more, especially if the green condition of the oak is encouraging him to load more frequently than he would with dry oak.

I found excessive coaling to be a significant issue before I installed a fresh air intake in my basement. Not enough oxygen, not enough ignition. Since then, the problem has completely ceased. YMMV.

Not sure what kind of oak it was, but I just burned Willow Oak (below 20%) for the first time this year and it coaled up a ton. I had to empty the stove every day and a half. Granted, it runs all day, but when I used my red oak this year (below 20%), not an issue whatsoever. Just my two cents from a 3-year burner.