Are we making a big mistake?

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Blackcat

Blackcat

Member
Feb 1, 2011
47
NW NJ
In the past 2 years, we've had wood delivered as we were new to the area. This year, I finally got the jist of the stove and keeping it going for weeks on end. We finished up the last of last years wood-which kept the whole house nice and comfortable. This past fall, my neighbor had a splitter to use for a week. My husband split about a cord of wood that was cut into large pieces from when we had the septic redone 2 years prior. Its been stacked under an overhang next to the garage. He thinks its been "seasoned" enough for burning, figuring it has sat there for about 2 years but not split. Since I am home most of the time and a great fire starter (no offense to him, but he forgets to even open the flue before starting a fire), I can feel the difference in how this wood burns and heats. It doesn't get as warm in here and I have to constantly "play" with the fire to keep it going. I just cleaned out the stove from the last burn, since it was so frustrating to keep it going, I let it go out. It seems pretty crusty in there. I can barely get it off the walls and windows. We usually have white smoke coming out of chimney when I've filled it and closed the air intake in the back a bit, especially if going out for a while. With this wood, if I open the air intake, it starts to fire up and black smoke comes out of the chimney.
I really need "expert" opinions on this, wood isn't ready to burn, as my reason to order some wood- if we can get it. I am terrified of a chimney fire now. We had the chimney cleaned at the beginning of season and the guy, who is a fireman also, said the liner was in really good shape. Our stove is probably going to need to be replaced in the next year or so. Its a '70's Vermont Castings Parlor Stove. I really love this stove and even more now that I know how to truly use it.
Help!
Thanks everyone!
Jams:)
 
I agree with your analysis. Unfortunately wood does not dry very well as large rounds. Because of this, the drying really didn't start until he put the splitter to those pieces. It definitely fits what you observed.

If your wood is split and stacked in an airy place outdoors for one year most species of wood will be perfectly seasoned. Some like oak do better with 2 years.

Here are some links to previous threads on the site regarding what seasoned firewood is and how to season it that may be useful to you and the husband.

Welcome to the site!

pen

https://www.hearth.com/econtent/index.php/forums/viewthread/65989/

https://www.hearth.com/econtent/index.php/forums/viewthread/10158/

https://www.hearth.com/econtent/index.php/forums/viewthread/45062/

https://www.hearth.com/econtent/index.php/forums/viewthread/40425/

https://www.hearth.com/econtent/index.php/forums/viewthread/32870/
 
Doesn't sound like you need any 'expert' advice. You know exactly what the problem is. The question now is how and where to get some dry wood. Just this morning I split some oak that has been down and in rounds for almost 2 years and it is still WAY too wet to burn. I have learned the hard way that once it is down and bucked it needs to be split and stacked pronto.

Congrats on taking charge of the heat and learning so much so quickly. Oh yea, WELCOME, you've come to the right place.
 
Hi -

My first year of burning went something like that. During February I started burning whatever 'dry' wood I could get with the less than well seasoned stuff.

"playing with " the air does help. In general I ran with the air more open than normal to obtain sufficeint temps to keep the inside of the stove relatively clean. The stove used about 30% more wood to deliver similar heat.

With the stove cold I just stuck my cell phone in the chimney and made a video so I could see what the conditions were. linght fluffy ashy 'moonscape' is good. Glossy black or heavy amounts of black creasote not so good.

Perhaps there's another person in your area who is ahead a couple years that would exchange a truck load or two?

ATB,
Mike
 
In my experience apart from splitting the wood to help it dry, stacking out in the open is the next most important thing you can do. Stacking next to a building means one side will always be wet. Overhangs may be good for winter but can actually slow don the process the other 3mos of the yr. Your wood thats in the rounds covered may actually be wetter than if you had left it out in the yard. I have all my wood piled out in the field behind my house away from everything.
 
Thanks everyone! I'm glad I found this place:) There are 2 areas under the overhang. One is on the exposed side-so it has more air movement- and the other is next to the garage. I've been trying to use the lighter (in weight so it seems drier) wood from the outside pile only so far. Just brought some in just in case we lose power at some point during this next round of ice or whatever it is. I did purchase 2 bags of (I know, god forbid) supermarket wood. Pretty good for a gal that grew up in the city. I was so proud of my first overnight fire..I think I had a tear in my eye. Now to find someone who has some seasoned wood left around here. I put the word out to see what I can find.
 
look around for pallets u can usually get them for free and they are good seasoned wood, just a pain to break up but with the wood in the bag and the pallets it my but u some time. also look on craigs list u never know what youll find...
 
Blackcat said:
Thanks everyone! I'm glad I found this place:) There are 2 areas under the overhang. One is on the exposed side-so it has more air movement- and the other is next to the garage. I've been trying to use the lighter (in weight so it seems drier) wood from the outside pile only so far. Just brought some in just in case we lose power at some point during this next round of ice or whatever it is. I did purchase 2 bags of (I know, god forbid) supermarket wood. Pretty good for a gal that grew up in the city. I was so proud of my first overnight fire..I think I had a tear in my eye. Now to find someone who has some seasoned wood left around here. I put the word out to see what I can find.
Click to expand...

Welcome to the forum you seem to have a good handle on things concerning properly dried wood.. This is the most important factor in wood stove safety and performance.. You're gonna love it here!

Ray
 
Sounds like you have a handle on what need done.
Dry wood. Like what you bought at the store, & how well it burned.
Now that you've seen good fire in your stove with good dry wood, you're spoiled. :lol:
You are way ahead of the average wood burner. ;)
Hope you find some well seasoned wood soon.
 
Careful how you burn the pallet wood...it can burn too hot. If you read enough threads, you'll see that mixing it in with other wood works well, stacking it in tight stacks with minimum surface exposure, etc., are ways to minimize the danger.
 
DanCorcoran said:
Careful how you burn the pallet wood...it can burn too hot. If you read enough threads, you'll see that mixing it in with other wood works well, stacking it in tight stacks with minimum surface exposure, etc., are ways to minimize the danger.
Click to expand...

I hear that Dan! The 1st year I had this stove I heated my house 24/7 with pallets and man it's a real PITA! It also leads to wicked backpuffing.. I wish this forum was around back then!

Ray
 
Blackcat said:
Thanks everyone! I'm glad I found this place:) There are 2 areas under the overhang. One is on the exposed side-so it has more air movement- and the other is next to the garage. I've been trying to use the lighter (in weight so it seems drier) wood from the outside pile only so far. Just brought some in just in case we lose power at some point during this next round of ice or whatever it is. I did purchase 2 bags of (I know, god forbid) supermarket wood. Pretty good for a gal that grew up in the city. I was so proud of my first overnight fire..I think I had a tear in my eye. Now to find someone who has some seasoned wood left around here. I put the word out to see what I can find.
Click to expand...

Hi, and welcome. A caution and a suggestion on finding dry wood to burn-- first is that wood advertised as "seasoned" almost certainly isn't. Around here, "seasoned" means it was cut down, maybe bucked to six-foot lengths a few months ago, certainly not split and stacked to dry out in the open. It will be no better, possibly even worse than what you have now.

The suggestion is to see if there's a lumber mill anywhere in your area that sells kiln-dried firewood in bulk. With the enormous downturn in the home-building business, some of them have turned to that as a way to get some money coming in and keep their guys working. BUT if you do find one, find out how much they dry the wood. You do not want the bone-dry stuff, 10 percent moisture or so, that some of them produce. You want something around 20 percent moisture.

And ditto to the advice about splitting and stacking out in the open in as much sun and wind as you can. The more air that can blow through it, the more hours the sun hits it, the faster it will dry.

Until I started hanging out in this forum, my experience always was that women were better at building and tending fires than men, but that was with open fireplaces and campfires, not stoves. There's something about even simple stove technology that seems to reverse that, which kinda baffles me, but the complaints here about wives/girlfriends who are unable or unwilling to learn how the run the stove properly are legion!

But there is a small contingent of us female persons who hang out here, so very glad to have you join up.
 
I agree with the others that you have the problem nailed. Hope you can find some good wood to get you through this winter. The only other reason for the bad smoke and build-up would probably be air/fire control, but you sound as if you are on top of that already, so I won't go there. If you were not good at it, you'd have had trouble in the past. So that isn't it.

I don't know what the tree was, and the length of time til seasoned partly depends on that. Up here, we only have pine and spruce. I cut it into rounds and don't split a lot of them. Stored under a roof with two open sides to the shed, I can split it and burn it fine in a few months. Just for the heck of it, I spent $10 on a moisture tester last week, split some rounds I cut back in October, and the wettest I registered was about 15%. That was from standing trees dead for a couple months from beetle kill. I understand from reading here at the forum that other species of wood take much longer to season if not split from rounds.

Meaning, if you can find some pine or spruce that was cut last summer or fall, you may be in luck.
 
gyrfalcon said:
Blackcat said:
Thanks everyone! I'm glad I found this place:) There are 2 areas under the overhang. One is on the exposed side-so it has more air movement- and the other is next to the garage. I've been trying to use the lighter (in weight so it seems drier) wood from the outside pile only so far. Just brought some in just in case we lose power at some point during this next round of ice or whatever it is. I did purchase 2 bags of (I know, god forbid) supermarket wood. Pretty good for a gal that grew up in the city. I was so proud of my first overnight fire..I think I had a tear in my eye. Now to find someone who has some seasoned wood left around here. I put the word out to see what I can find.
Click to expand...

Hi, and welcome. A caution and a suggestion on finding dry wood to burn-- first is that wood advertised as "seasoned" almost certainly isn't. Around here, "seasoned" means it was cut down, maybe bucked to six-foot lengths a few months ago, certainly not split and stacked to dry out in the open. It will be no better, possibly even worse than what you have now.

The suggestion is to see if there's a lumber mill anywhere in your area that sells kiln-dried firewood in bulk. With the enormous downturn in the home-building business, some of them have turned to that as a way to get some money coming in and keep their guys working. BUT if you do find one, find out how much they dry the wood. You do not want the bone-dry stuff, 10 percent moisture or so, that some of them produce. You want something around 20 percent moisture.

And ditto to the advice about splitting and stacking out in the open in as much sun and wind as you can. The more air that can blow through it, the more hours the sun hits it, the faster it will dry.

Until I started hanging out in this forum, my experience always was that women were better at building and tending fires than men, but that was with open fireplaces and campfires, not stoves. There's something about even simple stove technology that seems to reverse that, which kinda baffles me, but the complaints here about wives/girlfriends who are unable or unwilling to learn how the run the stove properly are legion!

But there is a small contingent of us female persons who hang out here, so very glad to have you join up.
Click to expand...

+1 good advice on the kiln dried wood! It's still cheaper than oil!

Ray
 
Treat kiln-dried the same as pallet wood: carefully. My stove mfr. specifically warns not to burn kiln-dried wood, due to danger of overfiring stove and voiding warranty.
 
DanCorcoran said:
Treat kiln-dried the same as pallet wood: carefully. My stove mfr. specifically warns not to burn kiln-dried wood, due to danger of overfiring stove and voiding warranty.
Click to expand...

"Kiln-dried" is most definitely *not* the same as pallet wood. The method of drying is not what makes it dangerous to burn, the extent of the dryness is the issue. "Kiln-dried" just means dried in a kiln. That's why I specifically said to be sure a lumber mill is only taking it to 20 percent or so. "Kiln-dried" in some people's minds has come to be equivalent to super-dried. It need not be, and often isn't.

You would have to work some to overfire a stove using the 20 percent MC kiln-dried wood I've gotten from my local lumber mill a couple times.
 
gyrfalcon said:
DanCorcoran said:
Treat kiln-dried the same as pallet wood: carefully. My stove mfr. specifically warns not to burn kiln-dried wood, due to danger of overfiring stove and voiding warranty.
Click to expand...

"Kiln-dried" is most definitely *not* the same as pallet wood. The method of drying is not what makes it dangerous to burn, the extent of the dryness is the issue. "Kiln-dried" just means dried in a kiln. That's why I specifically said to be sure a lumber mill is only taking it to 20 percent or so. "Kiln-dried" in some people's minds has come to be equivalent to super-dried. It need not be, and often isn't.

You would have to work some to overfire a stove using the 20 percent MC kiln-dried wood I've gotten from my local lumber mill a couple times.
Click to expand...

+1 good point! I doubt many would over dry as that can get expensive..
A guy I work with loves kiln dried wood...
Ray
 
raybonz said:
gyrfalcon said:
DanCorcoran said:
Treat kiln-dried the same as pallet wood: carefully. My stove mfr. specifically warns not to burn kiln-dried wood, due to danger of overfiring stove and voiding warranty.
Click to expand...

"Kiln-dried" is most definitely *not* the same as pallet wood. The method of drying is not what makes it dangerous to burn, the extent of the dryness is the issue. "Kiln-dried" just means dried in a kiln. That's why I specifically said to be sure a lumber mill is only taking it to 20 percent or so. "Kiln-dried" in some people's minds has come to be equivalent to super-dried. It need not be, and often isn't.

You would have to work some to overfire a stove using the 20 percent MC kiln-dried wood I've gotten from my local lumber mill a couple times.
Click to expand...

+1 good point! I doubt many would over dry as that can get expensive..
A guy I work with loves kiln dried wood...
Ray
Click to expand...

It's absolutely glorious stuff to burn, and to store. No bark, no bugs, clean as can be, lights up right away, burns beautifully and cleanly, with very little charcoaling. If it weren't so expensive, I'd burn a lot more of it.
 
I understand exactly what you are saying, just as I'm sure you understand that for many people, and for many stoves, throwing an armload of 2x4s in their woodstove is not a good idea. If you know what you're doing, no problem. I was merely trying to sound a note of caution, not to say it can't be done.


From page 18 of the Hearthstone Tribute owner's manual:

"INAPPROPRIATE FUEL: Do not burn coal, kiln dried lumber, wax logs or anything other than natural cordwood."
 
DanCorcoran said:
I understand exactly what you are saying, just as I'm sure you understand that for many people, and for many stoves, throwing an armload of 2x4s in their woodstove is not a good idea. If you know what you're doing, no problem. I was merely trying to sound a note of caution, not to say it can't be done.
Click to expand...

Dan they do not dry the wood to the same moisture level as lumber..

Ray
 
DanCorcoran said:
I understand exactly what you are saying, just as I'm sure you understand that for many people, and for many stoves, throwing an armload of 2x4s in their woodstove is not a good idea. If you know what you're doing, no problem. I was merely trying to sound a note of caution, not to say it can't be done.
Click to expand...

Who suggested putting an armload of 2x4s in the woodstove? Surely not I.

THere's no need to sound any notes of caution about what I suggested, finding a lumber mill that sells bulk firewood at 20 percent MC that happens to have been kiln-dried.
 
gyrfalcon said:
DanCorcoran said:
I understand exactly what you are saying, just as I'm sure you understand that for many people, and for many stoves, throwing an armload of 2x4s in their woodstove is not a good idea. If you know what you're doing, no problem. I was merely trying to sound a note of caution, not to say it can't be done.
Click to expand...

Who suggested putting an armload of 2x4s in the woodstove? Surely not I.

THere's no need to sound any notes of caution about what I suggested, finding a lumber mill that sells bulk firewood at 20 percent MC that happens to have been kiln-dried.
Click to expand...

Exactly we are talking firewood here NOT lumber..

Ray
 
I think was Blackcat thinks.

What you can do is make smaller splits out of the wood you have they will burn hotter. Maybe any 4-5" diameter sizes will work threw the night to leave some good coals for a morning restart...with smaller splits.

almost forgot have you next splits sitting on the hearth to pre-warm and dry some. Any wood you can safely store indoors close to the stove will benefit from the dry indoor air.

imo you have a good stove there depending on the shape it's in.
 
My chimney cleaning guy, who is also a local fireman, mentioned that this stove may be getting to the end of its life. We bought the place in 2008 and I think the stove, that was here, is from the late 70's. It has a 1970 stamp on the interior back wall. The wood we've gotten in the past few years was pretty good. Not sure at this point if I can get any. Dealing with some nasty weather at the moment. I only wish I had gas or oil heat. We have the dreaded electric baseboards. Dry as hell but at least we can control which rooms to heat when needed. I love my stove because once it gets cranking, the whole house is comfortable. I don't mind the work in keeping it going. We're on 2.5 acres and there are a lot of downed trees out there. We still have a huge pile to cut and split form when they did the septic. this is the first year that I've really used the stove a lot and surprised myself on how much wood we'd gone through. We also have 2 fireplaces but I never really bother using them. On the other hand, if we lose power, at least I can get the one in the bedroom going:)
Going to make some calls at the beginning of the week to see if the people we've gotten from in the past have anything left. I was almost shamed getting some at the supermarket:)
 
It all starts with the fuel . . .

You wouldn't intentionally run a tank of gas in your car if you knew water had gotten into the fuel supply.

It's the same for wood . . . running a load of firewood in your stove if the wood is not fully seasoned will create a situation where the stove will not run efficiently or safely . . . but I suspect from your post you knew this and may make amends in the future.

In the meantime, pallets can be useful in helping to "dry" out the wood in your stove . . . and at least make building a fire a little easier experience.
 
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