RE: Why it's a bad idea to "season" your wood by placing it right next to the woodstove . . . and I

I wonder right next to really means. We did an experiment once by sprinkling saw dust right onto a stove top that was over 500 degrees. It didn't catch after repeated attempts. After several minutes it just turned brown. Left on it never did catch. So I really find it hard to believe there wasn't just a little more to the story. Not to belittle the fact of clearance to combustibles but even if the wood was leaning against the side of the stove I doubt it would catch. Heck I'll do the experiment again only this time with paper. I'll get back to you.

I can't figure out why the wooden handle on my old Jotul (86) hasn't caught fire yet.Other stoves use wood also Talk about clearance to combustibles.
Will

I'm just throwing it out there... Does the sap in pine have a lower burning point than other species of wood? Maybe there was a sap pocket that popped and ignited into something combustible? Just saying...

So you know you are a redneck if the fire is on the outside of your wood burner!

I think a piece of elm that has been split with all its stringy, frayed ends would be pretty easy to ignite next to a hot stove that had lots of radiant heat. A chunk of pear right next to it would have a tough time igniting.

Hey BB, barrel stove??? sounds like a lot of work. Why didnt you just do what we did and wrap the christmas tree with tin foil, stick the dryer vent out the top and then out the window, throw a match at it and tell the kids that s the heat for the week.

Here we go, one for myth busters. Anyway I just ran the test again only this time with just a waded up napkin. 1.5 hrs later on a 500 degree stove top and all it did was brown. Must be something more than just wood close to a wood stove or even touching IMO.

wkpoor said:

Here we go, one for myth busters. Anyway I just ran the test again only this time with just a waded up napkin. 1.5 hrs later on a 500 degree stove top and all it did was brown. Must be something more than just wood close to a wood stove or even touching IMO.

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I've had sparks shoot out of the vent on my old stove--if I had some superheated wood on my hearth, a spark could light it off.

Willman said:

I can't figure out why the wooden handle on my old Jotul (86) hasn't caught fire yet.Other stoves use wood also Talk about clearance to combustibles.
Will

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Possibly had an application of flame retardant applied by the manufacturer.

Willman said:

I can't figure out why the wooden handle on my old Jotul (86) hasn't caught fire yet.Other stoves use wood also Talk about clearance to combustibles.
Will

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That pretty much sums it up. Good one Will

when my stove gets to 500+ i like to make the kids carry it outside and set it next to the woodpile and dry it all out there. Never too young to learn about safety..

Probably had a meth lab in the basement. But seriously, did you see the facial movements of the anchor lady, or whatever the PC term for talking heads is these days? Loooked like someone was trying to pick her off with a bb gun or something.

pen said:

I am saying this just to point out that while drying wood by the stove is a terrible idea, I just can't fathom what combination of redonkulous events transpired to take obviously wet wood and have it burn outside of the stove.

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Agreed. The problem here is deciding what is an acceptable risk of a catastrophic outcome.

What odds of a fire burning your house down in your sleep on a given night would allow you to rest easy? 1 in 1000? 10,000? 1,000,000?

If you think of all the wood stoves burning on a given night, the odds of a fire when using proper practices are astronomically low. So if putting wood too close to your stove raises the odds from, say, 1 in a billion to 1 in ten thousand, that's actually not acceptable to me.

Anyone else? Feeling lucky?

oldspark said:

So you know you are a redneck if the fire is on the outside of your wood burner!

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In Soviet Russia, stove burns *you*!

wkpoor said:

Here we go, one for myth busters. Anyway I just ran the test again only this time with just a waded up napkin. 1.5 hrs later on a 500 degree stove top and all it did was brown. Must be something more than just wood close to a wood stove or even touching IMO.

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We should come up with a hearth-related myths episode for Mythbusters! That would be AWESOME! =D

(Wow, I just really outed myself as a geek, didn't I...?)

~Rose

I have kept my wood within a foot of my stoves for decades. I just use reverse psychology. I pretend that I really need that wood to catch on fire so I can toast marshmallows. It just never happened. Works like a charm. Inanimate objects can read minds, I assure you.

R said:

wkpoor said:

Here we go, one for myth busters. Anyway I just ran the test again only this time with just a waded up napkin. 1.5 hrs later on a 500 degree stove top and all it did was brown. Must be something more than just wood close to a wood stove or even touching IMO.

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We should come up with a hearth-related myths episode for Mythbusters! That would be AWESOME! =D

(Wow, I just really outed myself as a geek, didn't I...?)

~Rose

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Rose, I bet you we can come up with some good ones for them. I like that idea. Perhaps we should start another thread?,... Uh ohh, geekdom revealed for me as well.

Me thinks its easier too look like an accident when they set the woodpile next to the stove on fire. Accelerants can usually be found... dry wood next to stove, no accelerants needed.

Assuming it isnt insurance fraud though...
I stack wood next to our stove, whoever built the hearth put a built in area to stack wood. However this area goes up to under a foot from the stove. I have to be careful to not get to close but I loose a lot of space since I can stack all the way to the mantle. What I was going to do is run some wrought iron or similar bars down from the end of the mantle to the bricks below so I can stack the wood all the way up with no worries of it rolling into the stove, and have it just far enough away.

My stove has those screw style vents on each side and during startup when they are fully opened I have seen a spark or two shoot out the side of the stove.

Just googled this and came up with a minimum temp of 842 degrees with proper oxygen could start wood to smolder.

timlynne said:

Just googled this and came up with a minimum temp of 842 degrees with proper oxygen could start wood to smolder.

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Since we are all assumeing things here, if it was a older type of wood burner the 850 degrees and more could easily be reached as a surface temp.

We burn a barrel stove as the main source of heat at deer camp in a old army tent. It was raining that year as we set up camp and we got the bright idea to stack all the wood close to the stove to dry it out, then built a big fire to dry out the floor and the wood pile.

About a half hour later we were outside set up the rest of camp when we looked at the tent smoke was rolling out of the door and windows. After a frantic five minutes of chucking the wood outside we found it wasn't burning but smoltering. Few more minutes it would of been a full blaze.

Yeah, I believe that you could burn your house down if you stacked your wood to close to a hot wood stove.

I guess the moral of the story here is its always easier to start a fire where and when you don't want it then when you do. Thinking back to last summer trying to start a firs for the Cub Scouts that were coming over for a sleep over in tents. I must have poured a gallon of jet fuel on brush. It would light off on the fuel but shortly fizzle out. Had a heck of a time getting it going. Thought to myself, how the heck does anything burn on its own when I can't start one intentionally.

timlynne said:

Just googled this and came up with a minimum temp of 842 degrees with proper oxygen could start wood to smolder.

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Care to provide a link? To be clear, the science is still out as far as charring temp, since the temp of combustion fro wood lowers, the longer the wood is exposed to heat and drying effects.