How dry should wood be for catalytic stove

Welcome to the forum and congrats on your retirement. Dry wood makes a big difference in the amount of heat you are going to get out of the BK as well as the ability to keep the cat active for extended burns. That said, I have been burning mostly cutoffs/unstackables from spring/summer processing for the last two months and have just given the stove a good burn off before closing the bypass. It has burned fine but you can tell the difference between these loads and a dry load of good hardwood. Loading that stove to the top and letting the tstat do its thing as the manual recommends is the best way to burn it.

If you can, I'd stack the wood right now. A lot of your annual drying time will come in the winter, and the more exposure to air, the better your wood will dry. I think i would try to keep it covered to keep snow off, but try to let some air in. Maybe use some poles on top of the stack to keep the tarp off the wood.

I think birch that is already cut and split should be pretty dry by next winter. Wood cut and split in the spring should be good by the middle of next winter.

Welcome Dave in AK! Also to retirement too.
Most important, enjoy your new hard earned time!

Since you are an experienced woodburner and
retired guy like me, you can improve on your
stacking and storage a bit everyday. Besides more time for
my fishing and hunting! Just do not rush it.
My outdoor priorties are fishing, hunting and wood
burning. At one at least, everyday!

The drier your wood fuel the better. See what is
possible to get your stacks protected. The lower
humidity will also help season it. As you know,
heat is always lost in trying rid the fuel of moisture in
your stove firebox. The moisture will go only
one way, that is up your stove flue in the form
of creosote. Lower firebox temps will make it
harder to reach the min temp to engage your cat.

I like to say that I try not to repeat my mistakes
of the past, but seasoning wood fuel properly
is always a great past time. If I screwup and don't
season it properly, I have to clean the flue more
times til I get back on track.

I am lucky to have a barn and a woodshed, so any
errors are minimized. I am now working on a "stack
transport system" (STS) to minimize the restacking
needed and save my back.

Do your best to cover your fuel from the weather, while
still providing some air circulation.

Welcome to the forum Dave.

It sounds like you should be fine with what you have; 2-3 years seasoned but will the 5 cords be enough to get you through winter?

As for how dry, just remember that moisture is the enemy of the catalyst and that is why you wait a bit after loading the stove before you engage the cat. The moisture gets cooked out of the wood before you let it go through the cat.

On the birch, you are wise to get it split like you did, however, I question not stacking it and getting it up off the ground. Of course your ground will be frozen for a long time but as soon as the thaw comes that wood which is touching ground will get pretty wet and probably sink into the dirt a bit too. Better to lay down some poles and stack the wood on the poles (or landscape timbers, or 4x4 or pallets).

Here is how we stack our wood:



All I did was cut some saplings. Lay those down and stack the wood on them. Cheap, quick and easy.

bogydave said:

New to the forum &
I'm new to catalytic burning.
New to retirement

Not new to burning wood, 30+ years in Alaska, & the first 6 were wood heat only.
Old Husky, old stove & now an old back.

Now a new Blaze king KE 1107

The wood I'm burning now is well seasoned 2 - 3 years.
Have about 5 cords.
Being retired, I have more time to get fire wood.
I just cut 3 cords of birch last weekend. It was frozen. (sure split nice & easy) I split everything 4" & bigger.
Now it's in a "hay stack" pile covered with a tarp. I don't expect it to dry much if any this winter.
(although we do get dry cold winter air & sublimation sucks moisture from it some)
In my old stove I'd burn whatever I had.
But with the catalytic, does it need to be dry- dry? & what is dry?
I'll stack the new wood this spring, will it be ready to burn next winter?
Lots of variables I know, but ball park, if I keep it covered & dry?
Even if it's not perfect cured, can I burn it & not damage the catalytic next winter?

Click to expand...

I've had a catalytic stove for a year and am still on the learning curve. My mistake last year was trying to burn wet wood. It was wet because my tarps leaked - the wood itself was seasoned at least a full year but the tarps had lots of holes. The rain and melted snow soaked the wood - you could peel back the loose bark and see it. It caused me to have trouble getting the stove to come up to temperature on reloads, made it hard to burn down the large coal bed, and ended up causing my catalytic converter to get big cracks in it. I will never understand how some folks get by without even covering their stacks. To correct this sin, last spring I covered the stacks with pressure treated plywood, then tarped the plywood sheets. So far this year the stove comes up to temp much faster on reloads and the coal bed burns down nicely instead of building up. I am still using the same catalytic converter, it's still working but has the cracks. I hope this plywood is not annoying to deal with once they get full of snow! I wish I had a woodshed! (maybe Santa will bring me one? :lol: )

bogydave welcome to the forum. Blaze King recommends 12 - 18 % moisture / 2 years of seasoning. (I think the 2 years is more for Hard Woods) I'm burning wood that averages 22% moisture now and it can take a while to get it going. Once going leaving the bypass open for a while gets rid of the moisture as Solar said.

Nice snow and ice pile! Oh... a wood pile.
Same problem here with a strong west wind.
Tie some loops in each of the tarp grommets holes,
then around a split or two. Add a few splits on top.
It will never blow off again.

Pallets are great for keeping it up and out of the
snow melt. Or anything else that works.

We will soon get your wood dry and seasoned!
Keep warm. Ice fishing yet? I'm planning mine.

fire_man said:

I've had a catalytic stove for a year and am still on the learning curve. My mistake last year was trying to burn wet wood. It was wet because my tarps leaked - the wood itself was seasoned at least a full year but the tarps had lots of holes. The rain and melted snow soaked the wood - you could peel back the loose bark and see it. It caused me to have trouble getting the stove to come up to temperature on reloads, made it hard to burn down the large coal bed, and ended up causing my catalytic converter to get big cracks in it. I will never understand how some folks get by without even covering their stacks.

Click to expand...

Easy. You bring the wood inside for a couple days and that surface wet disappears. A couple weeks in my enclosed woodshed does the same. You're right that you can't put wet wood in the stove without problems, but ice cold wood brought directly in from outside in winter doesn't help, either, even if it's bone dry. But the wet is only on the surface layer and it dries out really fast. Not a problem.

If you have access to a lot of pallets, you might also try making a sandwich out of your tarp with them. It will help with airflow in the pile and do a pretty good job controlling the tarp in the wind.

Collect the pallets as you see them. Then they really add up.

I like also the special masonry pallets. with their vertical supports.
They are very heavy though, so save your back and be careful.

Good pallet hunting!

bogydave said:

Scored 4 pallets. Finished cutting the good wood from neighbors. splitting as I stack.
Getting dark 3:45, maul handle got icy, gloves wet, old guy swinging the maul was starting to miss center.
Splitting stump broke. Neighbor brought over 12 pack of MGD for plowing the driveway, should do something with it about now.
Time to quit for today.
Really like the pallet idea. working great. Thanks again.
Ground froze but nailed 2X4 & brace to pallet

Click to expand...

Fast work! Hey, the pallet idea is quite universal in the lower 48. LOL
Looks and seems like you had a productive day. Glad you are on
track. But, some bending and lifting will be needed
to finish and tarp those stacks. So take it a bit at a time.

Keep us all in the loop on how it is going in AK.
A real nice sunset in the photos. You have a shorter
day, so more time for other projects.

Burn wisely and safely! Now go and enjoy that MGD.

gyrfalcon said:

fire_man said:

I've had a catalytic stove for a year and am still on the learning curve. My mistake last year was trying to burn wet wood. It was wet because my tarps leaked - the wood itself was seasoned at least a full year but the tarps had lots of holes. The rain and melted snow soaked the wood - you could peel back the loose bark and see it. It caused me to have trouble getting the stove to come up to temperature on reloads, made it hard to burn down the large coal bed, and ended up causing my catalytic converter to get big cracks in it. I will never understand how some folks get by without even covering their stacks.

Click to expand...

Easy. You bring the wood inside for a couple days and that surface wet disappears. A couple weeks in my enclosed woodshed does the same. You're right that you can't put wet wood in the stove without problems, but ice cold wood brought directly in from outside in winter doesn't help, either, even if it's bone dry. But the wet is only on the surface layer and it dries out really fast. Not a problem.

Click to expand...

Unfortunately it was not surface moisture causing most of the problem. It was wet under the semi-loose bark and the bark trapped the moisture, making it hard for it to escape even after a few days in the warm house. A couple weeks in a woodshed in the summer would do the trick. I'm pretty sure I shaved a couple years off of the catalytic converter with that darn wood.

Beautiful! (Both the pile and the sunset)

Looks great. While burning damp wood is obviously less than ideal, you sometimes have to deal with what you have access to. Your BKK has a SS cat, so it should hold up better than a traditional cat when exposed to moist wood. As Solar said, running with the bypass open for 15 minutes or so should burn off much of the moisture. You might also need to set the thermostat a little higher for damp wood. Keep an eye on your flue as well.

Beautiful country up there!

Plus whatever on the pallets. Then tarp enough to keep the snow off with sides open.

I miss those northern skies.

Welcome aboard by the way.

Dave in AK, and Hearth.com friends,

How is it burning? Give us a report.
Keep those stacks covered and fine
photos coming. Rest up a bit now.
Enjoy this Christmas season.

Our stove room is 80 F, house in high 60s. Started some new flies for
next years trout season. Ready for more snow here. Wood
bins are full, both plows are on and the tanks are full. The wife
is baking and smiling.

Cheers!