Drying wood in the oven???

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Backwoods Savage said:
oldspark said:
Some people would lead you to believe you should be putting it in the freezer to dry.


:lol: :lol: :lol:

Alot of post really get blown out of site, a simple question does wood season below 32 deg. Nothing about more in summer, From u guys comments When you are bragging on your 2 -3 yr seasoned wood be sure and subtract time below 32 deg. But this wood in the oven thing, hope he does't accidently get a dry stick of wood it will probably catch fire right there in his oven that would keep him warm.

L O L
 
jharkin said:
pen said:
however, the electric oven is 100% efficient whereas the heat pump is not.

pen

Not an apples to apple comparison. Heat pumps deliver more BTU per watt consumed than electric resistance heaters. Heat pumps dont have an efficiency rating that can be compared to electric or fuel burning heating systems because unlike those, they dont convert energy directly to heat, rather they use energy to move heat.

Every electric resistance heater will driveler exactly 3413 BTU per KWh consumed.

A heat pump rated at SEER 12 will deliver 12,000 BTU for that same 1 KWh.


We could do the math but I'm pretty much positive its costing you more to dry the wood in the oven than you are saving on electricity burning it.

I know nothing about heat pumps. However, if this comment is correct, then it would seem pretty correct to assume you'd spend less heating with the pumps. But, I'm assuming the OP knows how much $ is going into drying these splits in the oven as oppesed to heating with the heat pump.

If you can get some of the wood inside somewhere and can get a fan blowing into it... This could help getting some of the moisture out of the wood without using the oven.

I also second the comment about the bio bricks. Get yourself a pallet of these or even half a pallet and add some of the unseasoned wood with it. Wait longer to damper down. Thermal shock is harmfull to the cat due to adding wet wood into a hot firebox. So don't have the smoke go through the cat until the wood is hot and dry after loading the stove. This could take 1/2 hour or more with unseasoned wood.
 
cptoneleg said:
Backwoods Savage said:
oldspark said:
Some people would lead you to believe you should be putting it in the freezer to dry.


:lol: :lol: :lol:

Alot of post really get blown out of site, a simple question does wood season below 32 deg. Nothing about more in summer, From u guys comments When you are bragging on your 2 -3 yr seasoned wood be sure and subtract time below 32 deg. But this wood in the oven thing, hope he does't accidently get a dry stick of wood it will probably catch fire right there in his oven that would keep him warm.

L O L

I think people throw in the "more or less" because it's very useful information. Telling a new person "yes it dries" is maybe not useful without context. Wood dries in the winter. Glass flows at room temperature as well.
 
I have a way better idea...In the early spring, cut your wood, split it and stack it in the sun. Let it season for a year or two
and then bring it in and burn it in your wood stove. Pretty good idea huh??? :ahhh:
 
VCBurner said:
jharkin said:
pen said:
however, the electric oven is 100% efficient whereas the heat pump is not.

pen

Not an apples to apple comparison. Heat pumps deliver more BTU per watt consumed than electric resistance heaters. Heat pumps dont have an efficiency rating that can be compared to electric or fuel burning heating systems because unlike those, they dont convert energy directly to heat, rather they use energy to move heat.

Every electric resistance heater will driveler exactly 3413 BTU per KWh consumed.

A heat pump rated at SEER 12 will deliver 12,000 BTU for that same 1 KWh.


We could do the math but I'm pretty much positive its costing you more to dry the wood in the oven than you are saving on electricity burning it.

I know nothing about heat pumps. However, if this comment is correct, then it would seem pretty correct to assume you'd spend less heating with the pumps. But, I'm assuming the OP knows how much $ is going into drying these splits in the oven as oppesed to heating with the heat pump.

If you can get some of the wood inside somewhere and can get a fan blowing into it... This could help getting some of the moisture out of the wood without using the oven.

I also second the comment about the bio bricks. Get yourself a pallet of these or even half a pallet and add some of the unseasoned wood with it. Wait longer to damper down. Thermal shock is harmfull to the cat due to adding wet wood into a hot firebox. So don't have the smoke go through the cat until the wood is hot and dry after loading the stove. This could take 1/2 hour or more with unseasoned wood.

SEER is a seasonal measurement of cooling efficiency at given indoor and outdoor temperatures. EER is used for heating. Air source heat pump heating efficiency drops as the outside temperature drops. No BTU output per KWH can be given without specifying the outside temperature at which it occurs.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seasonal_energy_efficiency_ratio

Also, see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HSPF
 
Adios Pantalones said:
cptoneleg said:
Backwoods Savage said:
oldspark said:
Some people would lead you to believe you should be putting it in the freezer to dry.


:lol: :lol: :lol:

Alot of post really get blown out of site, a simple question does wood season below 32 deg. Nothing about more in summer, From u guys comments When you are bragging on your 2 -3 yr seasoned wood be sure and subtract time below 32 deg. But this wood in the oven thing, hope he does't accidently get a dry stick of wood it will probably catch fire right there in his oven that would keep him warm.

L O L

I think people throw in the "more or less" because it's very useful information. Telling a new person "yes it dries" is maybe not useful without context. Wood dries in the winter. Glass flows at room temperature as well.

I really like the really scientific stuff, don't have a clue what they are talking about but sounds good.
 
CarbonNeutral said:
pen said:
something in my gut just doesn't like this process. however, the electric oven is 100% efficient whereas the heat pump is not. I am just wondering what the cost is for the electric versus just buying wood from some other source that is well seasoned. Anyone local to you on this site that is willing to do a trade who has lots of wood on hand to help you out?

pen

A heat pump has an efficiency greater than 100% - that's the point of them - you're not generating heat, you're moving it from one place (underground) to another (your house). If it was less than 100% efficient there would be no reason for using them.

Poor statement on my part. I know those folks w/ heat pumps don't do well in my area for heating unless they are geothermal. I translated that into a statement which didn't fit. My apologies.

Back to the original point, I just don't like the idea of putting wood in the oven. Perhaps it really is no more dangerous than a turkey, but in the end it simply doesn't sit well.

pen
 
I use a woodburning range (I think you lot call them "cookstoves"). I often stick a few splits in the lower (cooler) oven overnight, as the drier wood makes an easier restart in the morning.

(As an afterthought, I should add that this idea was recommended by the manufacturer, and included as a suggestion in the manual).
 
Thought I had heard just about everything but I think this takes the cake. Using your oven to dry wood, sounds like a good way to get yourself killed.
 
Blizzard said:
Thought I had heard just about everything but I think this takes the cake. Using your oven to dry wood, sounds like a good way to get yourself killed.
I think everyone was being nice and you just ruined it. :)
 
Blizzard said:
oldspark said:
Have you tried the microwave?

This doesn't sound like you were being too nice either. I guess you ruined it too. :( :(
Not really (maybe) I was reading about people drying their wood projects in the microwave and wondered how firewood might dry in the microwave. I do agree not a good idea.
 
I wouldn't necessarily recommend this, but here goes:

When I was a kid, 1977, we heated with wood only in our house. Apparently, my dad and I did not harvest enough wood that previous year, as we were running low in the end of Feb or maybe into Mar, I can't recall. We went up back and my dad cut down and cut up dead elm trees in a swamp; I hauled them to the house with a home-made sleigh and a 1971 Arctic Cat Panther, would throw the pieces into the woodshed, pile it, and return to the swamp for another load. It was more like play than work for me, as I got to drive the snowmobile all day. Our neighbor came over on his Sno-Bug and helped, too. Although I think he drank more beer than he helped.

Anyway, this wood wasn't dry, but better than live green wood. My parents used to fill the oven on our Home Comfort cookstove with these pieces to try and dry them out. They got sort of hot and you always had to use gloves for removal, but they never combusted. They would sometimes get a brown spot on them if the oven were particularly hot in certain areas. We would take them back out into the woodshed and put the hot "dried" load on the concrete floor until cooled off. This didn't work all that well to season the wood, and we never ran low on wood again.

I still have the Home Comfort cookstove in the kitchen of my house. Food cooked with this stove always seems to taste better. Probably that's just in my head, BUT, there is no substitute for pancakes cooked on a cast iron griddle on that stove!
 
oldspark said:
Blizzard said:
oldspark said:
Have you tried the microwave?

This doesn't sound like you were being too nice either. I guess you ruined it too. :( :(
Not really (maybe) I was reading about people drying their wood projects in the microwave and wondered how firewood might dry in the microwave. I do agree not a good idea.

Yea it just seems so dangerous to me.
 
If there was ever a place for a dehumidifier this is it. If you have a room indoors that you can use for a kiln a dehumidifer will remove more moisture per watt hour than the oven will and it won't waste any heat either (compared to electric space heaters or the oven). Still more expensive than the heat pump. Storing the wood inside will make a big difference too.

I'll second everything that's been said about heat pumps. It may be a better idea to figure out if there's anything you can do that will help the heat pump keep up so you're not using resistance heat. Duct sealing and air sealing the attic and basement would likely be the first places to look at. Maybe cleaning the coils and changeing filters too.
 
I put a small piece of wood in the microwave one time. A real small piece. I did this just for fun. It was hickory so it did smell good. Then my wife came in the kitchen and told me to remove that from her microwave. When I saw the title to this thread I though wow some people are really goin to rip on this guy. All in all not to bad though.
 
How does it taste? %-P Some people put soil (dirt) in the oven to sterilize it for seed starting mix. < I bet that smells really good in the house. :wow:
 
oldspark said:
Some people would lead you to believe you should be putting it in the freezer to dry.

Keep in mind--better be a frost free model.
 
Use the microwave...it's more efficient.

Seriously, lets say your oven burner runs 3 hours in the time you have your wood in the oven and the element is 2500 watts (may be more). So that's 2500 x 3 = 7500 watts or 7.5 kWh used. If you had 40 lbs of wood in the stove (weight after seasoning), it would take you 80 loads to dry a full cord of beech (at 3200 lbs per cord seasoned). Now you're not even doing that good cause there's no way you are actually fully seasoning the wood in the oven. So 80 loads at 7.5kWh per load is 600 kWh to dry the cord of wood. If you're paying 15 cents per kWh, that's $90 to partially dry the wood. No savings in that. Might as well heat the house with the oven and save the wood for next year. The kitchen stove won't load up your chimney with creosote either. :)
 
Fake coal burner said:
How does it taste? %-P Some people put soil (dirt) in the oven to sterilize it for seed starting mix. < I bet that smells really good in the house. :wow:


I did this several times last year to start seedlings. I believe it was a manure compost mix. Not the most pleasant of smells
 
Sounds a lot like an electric smoker. I have one of those and it's really just a low temp heating element with a pan of wood on top of it. You'd want to be REALLY careful of that, and what kind of wood you're doing this with. If you get an oven full of hickory smoke, you're not likely to ever get it out. It might be ok if you're doing fish, but I don't think hickory cake would be good.
 
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