What is the humidity level where you live?

I can't speak from experience because I have never lived anywhere where with consistent low humidity, so im just throwing out my thoughts on it. Yes I think having consistent low humidity will speed up drying times for wood, especially when combined with good air movement across the wood and good sun exposure. I think sun exposure is probably the most important factor, since wood seems to checker and crack much quicker when exposed to long periods of direct sunlight, and those checks and crack are what allows a lot of moisture to leave the wood, at least that's what I think. Low humidity would be preferable to high humidity but i wouldn't count on it drastically changing seasoning times. Also the species of wood has to be considered, and the species present in areas of low humidity are going to be different that the species present in parts of the country with high humidity. So now that I think about it, seasoning times in arid regions is probably shorter than the seasoning times in humid and damp regions based on climate, species, and also the fact that trees growing in arid regions probably hold less moisture within their cells to begin with. Ok enough of my rambling.

Low RH will not only speed up your drying times, but will also significantly affect how dry the wood can actually get. But don't be too hasty, here. It's the average RH that determines these things, not the lowest point on a given day. In looking at records in your area, I see there was also a day (Nov 1) that had a low RH for the day of 60%, with 100% at one point and an average of 80% RH for the day.

The best estimate of how wood will dry in your area is to look up the seasonal EMC of wood stored outdoors. In Denver, that hovers around 10% MC most of the year... really low. Still, that corresponds to an average RH of 55%, not 6%. In my area the EMC is about 14% MC this time of year, which corresponds to a much higher average seasonal RH of 75%.

Relative humidity here is 76%. However, it's a nice crisp -20 outside, so 76% of practically nothing is not much. For a good portion of the year, our wood doesn't season, it freeze-dries. I am not making this up.

+12c, nice sunny day, and 58%RH.

That's likely on the low side of typical.

gmule said:

So do you guys think that the humidity levels will affect burn rates and stove output? Just thinking out loud here but it seems to me that a higher humidity level would make a stove put out less heat than advertised from the manufacture.

We have a lot of threads talking about having seasoned wood but I am thinking that atmospheric conditions would also play a role in the sizing of a stove.

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No. Rather, low MC. There is a huge difference.

With the overall atmospheric moisture pattern here in well-watered S New England, many types of wood can be "seasoned" until they rot. It's the final drying, indoors, near the stove, that gets it done here. Lowering the MC of the wood.

As to atmospheric conditions affecting stove performance, the elephant in that room is the outdoor temp. Losses via leaks/conduction/IR increasing as temp drops, and stove draft improving as temp drops. Something to speculate about, depending on many other parameters.

gmule said:

This question came to mind after reading Skyline's wood seasoning experiment and how fast his wood seemed to be seasoned. Rather than hi jack his thread with this question I figured I would post if up here.
I have read a lot of post detailing that a lot of wood is not seasoned properly. In my area we average a humidity rate of about 15% - 20% but when the temperature starts to rise the humidity drops off quickly. Recently we had a 67 degree day where the humidity dropped down to 5%. This has to have an effect on how fast my wood can dry does it not? Add a slight breeze and it could dry even faster.

What are your thoughts?

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http://www.currentresults.com/Weather/New-York/humidity-annual.php


zap

zapny said:

http://www.currentresults.com/Weather/New-York/humidity-annual.php


zap

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Something is odd on that site. If I go back out to the state averages, and look at summer, it shows me that Pennsylvania has the same afternoon humidity as South Carolina. Having lived in both places it doesn't seem that way.

Humidity is 90% outside at the present, and over 80% indoors too.

It is often incredibly damp here, which is why my knees give me so much trouble this time of year....... :roll:

pyper said:

Something is odd on that site. If I go back out to the state averages, and look at summer, it shows me that Pennsylvania has the same afternoon humidity as South Carolina. Having lived in both places it doesn't seem that way.

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Probably a lot hotter in SC. People are much more sensitive to elevated dew points than to elevated RH. The wood lacks nerve endings so it doesn't feel anything, it just dries.

snowleopard said:

Relative humidity here is 76%. However, it's a nice crisp -20 outside, so 76% of practically nothing is not much. For a good portion of the year, our wood doesn't season, it freeze-dries. I am not making this up.

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Yep at -15 and colder is when the water in the wood starts to sublimate. Same thing with the snow it will drop several inches in out current temps due to sublimation

CTYank said:

With the overall atmospheric moisture pattern here in well-watered S New England, many types of wood can be "seasoned" until they rot.

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As someone mentioned in another recent thread, I've never seen wood that was stacked well off the ground go to rot while seasoning. I had some of Backwood's white ash in my hands that was stacked outside for almost 10 years and it was solid as solid can be, and the EMC (RH) is much higher out his way than it is in SW CT.

snowleopard said:

Relative humidity here is 76%. However, it's a nice crisp -20 outside, so 76% of practically nothing is not much. For a good portion of the year, our wood doesn't season, it freeze-dries. I am not making this up.

Click to expand...

You crack me up.
We had that for a couple days last year, you seem to have it for a bit longer than that. ;-)
Try this (or not), grind some coffee beans, then put 'em outside. Do you get freeze dried coffee? That would be 'da bomb.

gmule said:

This question came to mind after reading Skyline's wood seasoning experiment and how fast his wood seemed to be seasoned. Rather than hi jack his thread with this question I figured I would post if up here.
I have read a lot of post detailing that a lot of wood is not seasoned properly. In my area we average a humidity rate of about 15% - 20% but when the temperature starts to rise the humidity drops off quickly. Recently we had a 67 degree day where the humidity dropped down to 5%. This has to have an effect on how fast my wood can dry does it not? Add a slight breeze and it could dry even faster.

What are your thoughts?

Click to expand...

From what I understand from Skyline's findings, you are right in that your wood will lose more moisture on a day where RH is only 5%. With an RH that low, it means the air (at 67 degrees on that day) has the capacity to hold a LOT more moisture. So, the wood will freely give up it's moisture to the air, probably more rapidly with a slight breeze. I think the point that BK is making, is that it doesn't necessarily mean your wood will "dry" faster because the very next day or that evening it may rain and/or have high RH levels and a low temperature, effectively slowing/stopping and maybe even causing the wood to gain more moisture. This moisture will be lost quickly (according to Skyline's experiment) but nonetheless, the average is going to give you a better idea of how your wood will dry over weeks, months and/or seasons. I think this is the point that BK is trying to make (if I understood correctly).

In my area, we had a "Fire Alert" a few days ago because of strong winds and low RH. Our EMC was ~5% for two days straight (night went up to ~12%) meaning that even seasoned wood at 20% MC would be losing quite a bit of moisture...especially with the strong winds. It has now rained with 100% RH (obviously) for the last 4 days. So, while my wood dried REAL well for those two days (and pretty well the days before), it has probably gained most of that moisture back (with interest) the last 4 days. My hope is to move it inside for a few days, maybe a week to let it get rid of that moisture before burning it...unless outside drying conditions improve substantially. So, the whole process (as evidenced by Skyline's graphs) will have it's ups and downs, but the weather you're describing (67 degrees & 5% RH) would be some of those primo drying days.

I think an important finding in Skyline's results is the size of the splits. The smaller ones lose more of their moisture than the big ones on those primo days. So, if you're concerned about drying time, an easy first step is to split 'em skinny. I'm sure a lot of people have been saying that for a long time on here, but Skyline did a nice job of quantifying it by weighing them and sharing the data.

Battenkiller said:

CTYank said:

With the overall atmospheric moisture pattern here in well-watered S New England, many types of wood can be "seasoned" until they rot.

Click to expand...

As someone mentioned in another recent thread, I've never seen wood that was stacked well off the ground go to rot while seasoning. I had some of Backwood's white ash in my hands that was stacked outside for almost 10 years and it was solid as solid can be, and the EMC (RH) is much higher out his way than it is in SW CT.

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Begining to think the pecker stacks his wood in a rain barrel.

gmule said:

This question came to mind after reading Skyline's wood seasoning experiment and how fast his wood seemed to be seasoned. Rather than hi jack his thread with this question I figured I would post if up here.
I have read a lot of post detailing that a lot of wood is not seasoned properly. In my area we average a humidity rate of about 15% - 20% but when the temperature starts to rise the humidity drops off quickly. Recently we had a 67 degree day where the humidity dropped down to 5%. This has to have an effect on how fast my wood can dry does it not? Add a slight breeze and it could dry even faster.

What are your thoughts?

Click to expand...

being in the interior west, we generally get fairly low humidity levels. During the summer, I'd say we average in the lower 20% range for relative humidity... from past visits to your area (I have relatives in Indian Hills), I'd say our humidity up here in Big Sky is pretty similar to what you guys see down there in the Conifer area... possibly a tad bit more humid up here, but not much...

PapaDave said:

snowleopard said:

Relative humidity here is 76%. However, it's a nice crisp -20 outside, so 76% of practically nothing is not much. For a good portion of the year, our wood doesn't season, it freeze-dries. I am not making this up.

Click to expand...

You crack me up.
We had that for a couple days last year, you seem to have it for a bit longer than that. ;-)
Try this (or not), grind some coffee beans, then put 'em outside. Do you get freeze dried coffee? That would be 'da bomb.

Click to expand...

Well it may work but not quite how instant coffee is made. You might just get dry coffee ground coffee beans.
How to make instant freeze dried coffee: Make coffee, concentrate it, freeze the concentrate, crush the ice coffee, then in a vacuum to get rest of the moisture is evaporated off.
FYI:
http://www.ehow.com/how-does_4899969_how-freezedried-coffee-made.html

Air temp -3°f 70% humidity
Wood dries here in the winter. Is is amazing how the snow disappears, & the wind is blowing dust off the glaciers during winter. Hard for folks that don't live here to understand until you see it.
The cold air sucks the moisture off you skin & dries it out fast. Gotta drink lots of water during the winter just like if in the desert climates. It's dry air here.
Set a block of ice outside, it'll disappear & never get above zero. Sublimation.
Ice fog is another weather event that happens here, not water vapor in the air, ice crystals. So when we do get some moisture in the air, it forms ice fog.
FYI; ice fog: http://www2.gi.alaska.edu/ScienceForum/ASF13/1319.html

I also know if we have cold & wind, my raspberry cane freeze dry & not many berries the next year. In the spring, cane is dry & brittle & no berry sprouts. The part of the cane that is covered in snow, I get berry shoots growing. This sumer was one of those, very few berries.
Some years when we don't get many sub zero days with wind, I get great berries that summer.
07/08 mild winter good berries in 2008... 10/11 bad cold windy winter bad berries this summer. lots of dead cane

bogydave said:

PapaDave said:

snowleopard said:

Relative humidity here is 76%. However, it's a nice crisp -20 outside, so 76% of practically nothing is not much. For a good portion of the year, our wood doesn't season, it freeze-dries. I am not making this up.

Click to expand...

You crack me up.
We had that for a couple days last year, you seem to have it for a bit longer than that. ;-)
Try this (or not), grind some coffee beans, then put 'em outside. Do you get freeze dried coffee? That would be 'da bomb.

Click to expand...

Well it may work but not quite how instant coffee is made. You might just get dry coffee ground coffee beans.
How to make instant freeze dried coffee: Make coffee, concentrate it, freeze the concentrate, crush the ice coffee, then in a vacuum to get rest of the moisture is evaporated off.
FYI:
http://www.ehow.com/how-does_4899969_how-freezedried-coffee-made.html


Ice fog is another weather event that happens here, not water vapor in the air, ice crystals. So when we do get some moisture in the air, it forms ice fog.

Click to expand...

alot of times when it stays below zero for an extended period of time down here,every last drop of moisture in the air freezes, creating suspended ice crystals in the air... I know there's a name for it but I forget what it is... it isn't like fog... just like the sky is glittering...

Mt Ski Bum said:

bogydave said:

PapaDave said:

snowleopard said:

Relative humidity here is 76%. However, it's a nice crisp -20 outside, so 76% of practically nothing is not much. For a good portion of the year, our wood doesn't season, it freeze-dries. I am not making this up.

Click to expand...

You crack me up.
We had that for a couple days last year, you seem to have it for a bit longer than that. ;-)
Try this (or not), grind some coffee beans, then put 'em outside. Do you get freeze dried coffee? That would be 'da bomb.

Click to expand...

Well it may work but not quite how instant coffee is made. You might just get dry coffee ground coffee beans.
How to make instant freeze dried coffee: Make coffee, concentrate it, freeze the concentrate, crush the ice coffee, then in a vacuum to get rest of the moisture is evaporated off.
FYI:
http://www.ehow.com/how-does_4899969_how-freezedried-coffee-made.html


Ice fog is another weather event that happens here, not water vapor in the air, ice crystals. So when we do get some moisture in the air, it forms ice fog.

Click to expand...

alot of times when it stays below zero for an extended period of time down here,every last drop of moisture in the air freezes, creating suspended ice crystals in the air... I know there's a name for it but I forget what it is... it isn't like fog... just like the sky is glittering...

Click to expand...

We get some of that too. Sure is pretty. Some days like that we get hoar frost on the trees & everything is coated with white ice crystals. Happens at "dew point" I think.

I don't know the humidity in my area however I've noticed that my Maple split last spring is ready to burn now.For some reason it has dried faster than usual which is fine by me.

Ottawa Valley - step out the door and start swimming.