Another test for whether wood is ready to burn.

[rideau]

I was looking at the Pacific Energy T5 manual and came across a nice description of how to determine from burning a split from your woodpile whether or not your wood is ready to burn.

Put a split on hot coals. If it burns on more than one side in one minutes it is dry.
If it goes black, but catches within three minutes it is damp, but OK to burn.
If it sizzles and hisses it isn't ready to burn.

 

[cptoneleg]

I believe at that stage it's getting burnt weather i'ts dry, ok, or ready

 

[clemsonfor]

at least those splits will but it dont mean the whole stack will!! One load of wood wont do anything to your chimney.

 

[bogydave]

A burn test is good, but the outside can be dry & the inside still a little damp, especially the bigger splits.
I like burning to test but also has it had at least a year of CSS to season well all the way thru? (Oak 2 yrs + )
Watch the ends of the splits, that's where the steam will come out after few minutes in the fire if it's still damp in the middle.

A burn test is always a good indicator, just watch the whole burn, not just the first few minutes.

 

[ScotO]

Give all of your wood two to three years of drying time after splitting and stacking it and you won't have to do any tests to it. It will be ready......

 

[Backwoods Savage]

Scotty said it best!

 

[etiger2007]

Im going on my third year of burning and cant wait till my stacks are css long enough to not worry about moisture any more. I should be in that category next year all wood in the stacks will be a minimum two years old and Im going to do some single stacking as well.

 

[Eric Johnson]

Yes, what Scotty said.

I've noticed that when burning dry wood, you don't have to constantly mess around with the stove or boiler to get it to work. You just fill it with wood, walk away, and don't worry about it until it's time to fill it again. Getting wet or damp wood to burn right, especially in a gasifier like I have, can be a lot of extra work.

 

[Bigg_Redd]

If I had to crib up my wood for 3 years you'd fine me swinging from the nearest bridge

 

[Woody Stover]

Give all of your wood two to three years of drying time after splitting and stacking it and you won't have to do any tests to it. It will be ready......

Scotty said it best!

Yep, we know that's the final goal but until then we have to make do with what we have, so another way to gauge the wood can only help.

Im going on my third year of burning and cant wait till my stacks are css long enough to not worry about moisture any more. I should be in that category next year all wood in the stacks will be a minimum two years old and Im going to do some single stacking as well.

If I had to crib up my wood for 3 years you'd fine me swinging from the nearest bridge

Why, would you keep your extra wood under there?

 

[etiger2007]

Yep, we know that's the final goal but until then we have to make do with what we have, so another way to gauge the wood can only help.

Why, would you keep your extra wood under there?

Seems like it wouldnt dry out, and what if you dropped some?