Your Moisture Cutoff

teekal said:

Hey guys, I just cut down and split a whole bunch of standing dead trees. Nearly all of it came in at 20% or 22%. I put the 22% on a stack that I will move out to pallets to season until next year.

I would like to keep all of the 20% in my garage and burn it, both because it's already there and because I need some bigger splits for overnight, but that's quite a bit higher % than I normally burn.

What is your personal cutoff for moisture level that you put into your stove?

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For me that would be 20%. I prefer it to be lower and notice a difference between 15% and 20%. If it gets higher than 20 I really notice a difference in the performance of my stove so I don't bother. I will from time to time mix some wood that is borderline if I have a bunch of real dry stuff in my stove. What kind of wood is it? Not that it matters, just curious. I would burn that 20% wood without reservation. If you have a bit of dryer stuff to mix in that would be even better.

If it's 20-22 I'd burn it all if I needed it without question

I think right in the 18-21 percent bracket is what works best for me. Even dryer works good too, I just need to throttle the air back pretty quick. If I recall, 26 percent just sits there and looks at me. If you want to thin out the 22 percent wood, throw one small split to the bottom rear every time you load. That's what I'm doing with some dodgy stuff.

Last year most of the wood I burned was between 18-23%. I had no choice as I had a late start on my firewood. It all burned fine and I had very little creosote in my chimney. It's not perfect but if you need it 20% is definitely not bad.

You wont get as much heat from the fire and it seems marginal between 20 and say 17%. But in truth theres a big difference.
What you have, what super dry stuff you have to mix it with, your stove...etc...it all plays in.
Ive pulled a few pieces out of the stove that never burned, sometimes you know...life aint perfect.
Its all good.
Burn it.

I like 15 to maybe 17. 20 I have used, but I notice the glass on the stove gets black soot quickly and I have to really burn hot to burn it off. Higher than that and it's just not enjoyable to have a coating of black on the glass that I have to clean off. Dry seasoned wood is sure a big difference that you'll grow to appreciate.

17-20% if possible....slightly higher is more of what I'm finding

Applesister said:

You wont get as much heat from the fire and it seems marginal between 20 and say 17%. But in truth theres a big difference.
What you have, what super dry stuff you have to mix it with, your stove...etc...it all plays in.
Ive pulled a few pieces out of the stove that never burned, sometimes you know...life aint perfect.
Its all good.
Burn it.

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Ya had that problem tonight had a couple logs from the stack that must not have dried that great as they didn't really burn well at all. Still trying to find somewhere around here I can pick up a moisture meter. In store not online. Not a big fan of buying stuff online unless absolutely necessary