Drying Wood for Gasifier

I usually move into my garage in the spring, to make room for more wood that I'm cutting. Thing is, I think the power post beetles hatch after that, which I'm not crazy about.
Can't help you with the time frame.

I think its quite a bit shorter time frame for softwoods . The douglas fir im buning now has been felled about 18 months ago. Burns good,

I've cut a lot of standing dead here also 3/4 of the tree is usually quite dry with the butt being green still. Mostly fir. We have madrone here but it's almost impossible to get.. That would need a couple yrs seasoning at least..

most of the oak you get around here is oak wilt killed. lots is sopping wet. I throw in a moisture meter and usually a half cord or so of dry wood (cut by me, oak, hickory, and ash) we'll have lots of ash firewood when the emerald ash borer gets to us.

you should see the light go on in the eyes when they hear the proper gasification roar from some 15% wood.
I do make sure to explain to them that yes, they have to get 2 years ahead ideally, but from then on they're cutting half the wood as their old OWB, and that makes sense to them.

karl

I try to go for windfalls - I don't have to fell, and it doesn't take as long to dry. Usually. I usually process it all completely where it lays, then haul out on a trailer & stack right to pallets.

I got caught short on wood after my first year with mine. So I went for windfall spruce, and smallish white birch that was easy to get at. The birch was sopping wet when I cut it in the spring, but I split it small & stacked it in the open. Looked more like toothpicks than firewood. But it was good to go that winter. The windfall spruce took no time to get dry - but you need more of it.

This past summer, I didn't start going after wood until August (drug my butt all summer I guess), but now that I'm almost 2 years ahead I am going easy on the spruce & going after more hardwood. I got into a lot of long-fallen big old sugar maple, some was too punky but most was prime. So as long as I can stay ahead, stuff I am cutting will have two years of drying time. Hopefully covered. In the open but double stacked. Up off the ground on raised pallets. I cleaned my secondary chamber glass off a few days ago for a clear view of my flame - it's pure bluish almost 100% of the time, can definitely notice the difference.

I have a pile of rounds of softwood (a lot of junky fir) that I cut up from stuff I brought out of the woods early December, that had previoulsy been laying in the woods for a year in 8' lengths, that I am hoping to get all split & stacked this coming weekend since the weather is looking so nice. If I get that all done, it will top up my pallets & should put me two years ahead. Even with getting more hardwood, I like some soft in with it for daily firestarting. Got a late start this year, but had a few steady spurts at it since then. Will try to get at it earlier next year, already have some windfalls & standing dead eyed up.

i own a woodgun 140 and it will burn any kind of wood wet or dry and it burns hot.

I typically cut/split/stack in early spring. I stack it directly in the wood shed but leave the front open with a fan pushing out the back until I light the boiler in the fall. I find this to be adequate drying time but the wood is usually pole wood that was cut while dormant in winter. Red oak can be borderline so I usually give it more time to dry.
I do whatever possible to prevent double handling and this seems to work well.
I got a few cords of white pine from my neighbor for next season but I'll probably mix it with hardwood when I stack it. Anyone ever burn softwood by itself in a downdraft gasifier?

Hydronics said:

I typically cut/split/stack in early spring. I stack it directly in the wood shed but leave the front open with a fan pushing out the back until I light the boiler in the fall. I find this to be adequate drying time but the wood is usually pole wood that was cut while dormant in winter. Red oak can be borderline so I usually give it more time to dry.
I do whatever possible to prevent double handling and this seems to work well.
I got a few cords of white pine from my neighbor for next season but I'll probably mix it with hardwood when I stack it. Anyone ever burn softwood by itself in a downdraft gasifier?

Click to expand...

I burn 99.9% softwood mostly douglas fir but also cypress, hemlock, broad leaf maple,spruce and balsam.. You can sure notice the difference in total BTU's when switching from fir to the other wood.

huffdawg said:

I think its quite a bit shorter time frame for softwoods . The douglas fir im buning now has been felled about 18 months ago. Burns good,

Click to expand...

I had lightening kill a white giant pine, it was standing dead/fried for about 6 months, on the ground as log or round for 3-6 months and spilt for 4-6 months. I would say it was generally 10% (many of the rounds were 40"). Had a load of pine dropped off this year as rounds, split for maybe 6 months - bone dry.

That being said I am still very new at this and lived the horror of not so dry wood last year (my 1st year). Question, I have next years wood already split and stacked and am gathering wood for the following year. I was thinking of stacking it as rounds and then splitting it next fall. It would then have 1 year as a round and 1 year split - does everyone think that is enough drying time? Without getting to detailed that is the plan because it allows me to keep 1 year of split in the woodshed drying for 1 year (once it gets cold I move this years wood from the woodshed to a covered area just outside my basement door - don't want to store wood that close to the house spring/summer/fall) and another year next to the shed, outside as rounds. When I split it, it goes straight into the wood shed.

In case anyone is wondering, I did make the woodshed big enough for 2 years but I keep buying silly things and use the other 1/2 of the woodshed as my "temporary indoor storage".

I would definitely split it as soon as it is cut to length.

maple1 said:

I would definitely split it as soon as it is cut to length.

Click to expand...

Thanks, I know that is preferable but logistically I can't split it an stack it where it is going to stay. Debating whether avoiding that extra move of split wood is worth the risk of it not being dry enough. I use about 7 cord so this is a case of moving all 7 cord once split (after it has already been split and stacked for a year. If I put up another building I am a dead man for sure!

Eric Johnson said:

Strongly second that. It won't dry out much when blocked. Way too little exposed surface area. That's beauty of split wood--that uneven surface really exposes a lot more wood to the atmosphere. I see people stacking large, unsplit rounds and I just shake my head in sorrow.

Click to expand...

Appreciate the opinion, thanks!

Hydronics said:

I typically cut/split/stack in early spring. I stack it directly in the wood shed but leave the front open with a fan pushing out the back until I light the boiler in the fall. I find this to be adequate drying time but the wood is usually pole wood that was cut while dormant in winter. Red oak can be borderline so I usually give it more time to dry.
I do whatever possible to prevent double handling and this seems to work well.
I got a few cords of white pine from my neighbor for next season but I'll probably mix it with hardwood when I stack it. Anyone ever burn softwood by itself in a downdraft gasifier?

Click to expand...

Yes, mine is a homemade gasser and softwoods do work great, I have even burned just pallets. Always achieve good coal bed with soft woods as long as they are dry.

I can cut wood one week, split it and burn it the next week. I'm burning dead standing white ash that has been dead for six years though.

Born2burn said:

Yes, mine is a homemade gasser and softwoods do work great, I have even burned just pallets. Always achieve good coal bed with soft woods as long as they are dry.

Click to expand...

Yes, I did about 5 cord last year of white pine by itself in a downdraft gasifier. As it says above, as long as it is dry it burns great - just not as many btu's per load so be prepared for shorter burn. This year I plan to use about 15% softwood mixed in the the hardwood.

What I've noticed burning softwoods is the Lower BTU stuff like balsom, spruce,pine is they sure seem to bridge a lot easier .. I just switched to fir a couple weeks ago and i'm liking it a lot better.

huffdawg said:

What I've noticed burning softwoods is the Lower BTU stuff like balsom, spruce,pine is they sure seem to bridge a lot easier .. I just switched to fir a couple weeks ago and i'm liking it a lot better.

Click to expand...

I had that problem at the beginning of last year (my 1st year at this), pieces were split too big and not dried enough. I have burned 7 or 8 cord of pine since last year, never had a bridging problem if it was dry. Even pieces with giant ugly knots got consumed into nothing along with everything else.

Got to remember that cutting a two year supply of wood is only a one-time event. After that, need to cut only a one year supply to be used in the 2nd year. I burn almost only pine (jack, white, red), plus a little mixed birch, ash, and maple, in my Tarm. This is now my 10th heating season with pine.

As to bridging with softwoods, although the bottom of the firebox in the Tarm is somewhat sloped down from the firebox walls to the nozzle slot, I have found that letting a large ash bed build up changes this more into a V shaped slope, further concentrates the coals towards the bottom of the V, and greatly reduces the chance of any bridging. Plus, keep the splits and rounds small diameter, especially for the first load or two of wood, after that larger splits can go on top or mixed into a wood load of smaller splits. Used to have somewhat frequent bridging issues, now near 0.

A couple years ago I had some wood that wasn't as dry as Id like. I would stack a cord and a half in the boiler shed and it would be dry in a couple weeks. It's about like a kiln in there. I was a year or more ahead, but then I went threw a divorce and wasn't sure if I was going to be able to keep the house, so I used up the supply. It's been a struggle to get ahead now being a single parent and business owner. I just got a bigger saw and wagon to haul wood. Also just got my tractor going so It's time to start doing some serious wood cutting when I can make time.

jebatty said:

Got to remember that cutting a two year supply of wood is only a one-time event

Click to expand...

That was my solution too. At the outset I bought 2-years supply, had a contractor come with a big conveyor-belt machine that cut to length, split and then up a conveyor to drop onto the top of the pile. Only trouble was that the pile wasn't inside the barn so we then spent the winter weekends carting the split logs and stacking them in the barn.

Friends in France say you need three years supply of split wood. That allows you to be ill one year ... and if you are ill for three years in a row then you've had your chips anyway!

Now I cut, split and stack during the winter and that replaces the pile that has just been used in the boiler - so I refill the barn as a row is burnt, and come Spring the barn is full.