burning characteristics of chinese elm?

You are probably referring to what is often called Siberian elm around here. A pathetic excuse for a tree IMO - will not withstand ice, wind - drops lots of "trash". Not a pretty thing to look at. I burned some for the first time during the early part of burning season 2010. It was cut sopping wet in the early summer, yet it dried faster than any other wood I had on hand by fall. And it split by hand without much difficulty at all. Not bad for fuel, burns hot and pretty quickly. Comparable to silver maple or walnut.

Creosote problems are often directly related to burning improperly seasoned wood not necessisarly species type. I would not hesitate to burn well seasoned/dried elm in my non-cat stove.

I burn a lot of it and it is OK. I have a non-cat and don't have creosote probs

The first wood I burned this season aside from 2 wheelbarrows full of off-cuts,branch stubs & bandsaw scrap was 1 pickup load of Siberian Elm from a CL scrounge last Spring.Hadnt burned much of it before,was amazed how easily it split compared to American Elm,dried really fast too,similar to the Silver Maple I grabbed later in summer.Was late November before it was finally gone.Would grab more next time if the opportunity arises.

CJRages said:

You are probably referring to what is often called Siberian elm around here. A pathetic excuse for a tree IMO - will not withstand ice, wind - drops lots of "trash". Not a pretty thing to look at. I burned some for the first time during the early part of burning season 2010. It was cut sopping wet in the early summer, yet it dried faster than any other wood I had on hand by fall. And it split by hand without much difficulty at all. Not bad for fuel, burns hot and pretty quickly. Comparable to silver maple or walnut.

Creosote problems are often directly related to burning improperly seasoned wood not necessisarly species type. I would not hesitate to burn well seasoned/dried elm in my non-cat stove.

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Ditto to above comments. I've got an unlimited supply around here, we also call it Siberian Elm but a few will also call it chinese elm. Compared to other elms it splits quite easily, very heavy when green because it's loaded with water. Seasons fast once split and stacked. I placed a green split by the stove and about 2 weeks and it was ready to burn. I have not burned a lot yet but what I have I would also rate it with silver maple/walnut/cherry. (except the walnut and cherry smell better ;-) Most elms like to loose their bark, Siberian seems to hold onto it but perhaps this is because it is not affected by dutch elm disease. 95% percent of what I've cut was live healthy trees (property was to be cleared for development). Creosote formation no different than any other wood. I think the ash build up to be somewhat above average. I cut many last fall in september and october, when I made the notch the water just gushed out of them.

My experience seems to be similar to others above. Super wet when cut, hard(er) to split when wet, so I let it sit in the round and it dried almost completely over the summer in the round, then split very easy. Burned hot and fast, but not quite like pine. Seems to burn similar to a good seasoned soft maple.

I had a neighbor offer me some of that elm a couple years ago, what I didn't like about it was it produced way too much ash and persistent coals. I practically had to clean out the firebox after every fire. Normally I can go for weeks without cleaning the ash out of the stove with the Lodgepole pine I regularly burn. It didn't produce any more heat than the lodgepole either, so it isn't something I would want to stockpile, but it does burn and produce heat so I guess if it's free and you have nothing better ,,,,,,, why not.

Carbon_Liberator said:

It didn't produce any more heat than the lodgepole either, so it isn't something I would want to stockpile

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My pine burns better than your elm :lol:

SolarAndWood said:

Carbon_Liberator said:

It didn't produce any more heat than the lodgepole either, so it isn't something I would want to stockpile

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My pine burns better than your elm :lol:

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;-) Actually they burn about the same (heat wise), but I don't think I've ever burned a wood that produced more ashes. It's too bad to, there's lots of those Siberian elm trees around these parts, they grow like weeds and people always want to get rid of them.

I think siberian is the same as chinese elm. I have a piece that will not split . Most does split. It's ok for burning.

Interesting discussion. I grew up in small towns in Nebraska. In some communities, he only tall trees in town were called "Chinese elms". We did have fast growing Lombardy poplars as windbreaks and there were cottonwoods and weeping willows. On the whole, not a lot of woodburning.

ihookem said:

I think siberian is the same as chinese elm. I have a piece that will not split . Most does split. It's ok for burning.

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they are different. Many people (I used to do this) call them chinese elm, when it's really more likely the siberian elm. Without googling it I think I remember the chinese elm being a smaller trunked ornamental type tree.

ihookem said:

I think siberian is the same as chinese elm. I have a piece that will not split . Most does split. It's ok for burning.

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Two different trees, did not know that that till I read it on this site.

For the OP, I guess I burn a bit of Siberian elm (I thought it was Chinese elm, but I learned here that it is Siberian) and have found it burns longer than other woods of similar btu's but not as hot. It seems in my experience that it releases it's btu's over a longer range of time. It has worked out great for my overnight burns. I don't need as much heat through the night so two 8" logs or halves and I have HOT coals in the morning. It seems to dry fast (3-4 months) in our dry desert climate once split, but in the round mine has taken around twice that. It's about as good as firewood as I can find for free around here. I burn pine, poplar, and siberian elm in our Pacific Energy Alderlea and don't have any creosote buildup in our chimney.

Great thread, I have a siberian elm that is making too much shade on the garden and is too close to the house. I plan to cut it down this spring and was hoping it would be decent wood to burn. It is an amazing tree to me it has nearly doubled in size from when we moved in 5 years ago. It spreads seeds all over, we have little siberian elm trees coming up everywhere all summer long.

cdirks said:

just curious how chinese elm burns. someone told me they have a lot of creosote problems with elm in a non cat stove. should I for sure get a cat stove if I burn elm. Elm is what I have found the most of. Just got done cutting and splitting some dead elm. It has that hollow like dry wood ring when dropped on concrete. Any suggestions would be appreciated. Like I alluded to earlier chinese elm is in abundance in my part of the world.

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I burn quite a bit of chinese elm & its not real heavy wood when dry. Its better than willow & thats not saying a lot. It is burned in a gasification boiler so creosote is a non issue anyway. Theres no comparison to American elm that is one of my favorite woods to burn(not process), Randy

oldspark said:

ihookem said:

I think siberian is the same as chinese elm. I have a piece that will not split . Most does split. It's ok for burning.

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Two different trees, did not know that that till I read it on this site.

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Yes, Siberia Elm (Ulnus pumila) is different than Chinese Elm (Ulmus parviflora). One way to tell is that Siberian elm has seeds that appear in the spring, whereas Chinese elm has seeds that appear in the fall (that is what I have read). One or the other grows around here in a few places, mostly on farms making me think it may have been one of the plants the Ag.Extension people distributed in the past. I have never paid enough attention to know which one grows here.