Anybody burning pine wood successfully?

[colcarlmiss]

Anybody burning pine wood successfully in a gasification boiler?
I heard it is to much creosote in pine wood burning. We have a constant problem with pine trees dying because of pine beetles killing them.
Can it be burned successfully in gasification boiler of any brand?
Thanks
Arne

 

[DAKSY]

Anybody burning pine wood successfully in a gasification boiler?
I heard it is to much creosote in pine wood burning. We have a constant problem with pine trees dying because of pine beetles killing them.
Can it be burned successfully in gasification boiler of any brand?
Thanks
Arne

You heard wrong about the creosote.

 

[Rick Stanley]

I had some free logs given to me from a friend that re-routed his driveway and had some clearing done. There were several large white pine logs in the mix. I processed them right along with the rest, bone dry and two years old by the time I burned them and I couldn't see any problems at all burning them.

I did notice when I was working on it that dry white pine rounds will soak up more water if rained on and dry out slower than the oak and maple. But I had ZERO creosote problems with any of it.

 

[Fred61]

You'll have more bark debris on the floor of your woodshed and you'll have more pitch on your hands and sometimes when there's a knot, the splitting wedge will break out of the side of your chunk and you'll handle more wood, but burn it anyway.

 

[slowzuki]

I thought the same about pine until I got some very pitchy stuff a couple of years ago. I can't put small splits into my stove because if gets puffing. Haven't put any in the boiler.

With the stove choked down so it doesn't puff, it makes nasty black/brown smoke. I think if it was in the boiler it could be ok if I didn't load it up too much.

 

[RobC]

I have not yet, but have some for next year. I did tree work for years and we use to burn a lot in stoves. Don't let it dry out too much like 6/8 months to a year. Other wise it will burn too fast. It can get wet and dirty as someone just mentioned. Any way while the wood was still a little heavy we would burn it. Either by mixing it in or it was great Spring / Fall burn. Load up the stove and burn it to take the chill off the house. In either case you weren't loading the stove and looking for a long burn. That could cause problems. That said, my feeling was that pine would go in a gasser the same way. The beauty being especially with storage you are burning hot, so you'd be burning sap and all, no problem.
Rob

 

[Nofossil]

With a gasifier, just make sure that the pieces are larger that you would burn if you had hardwood. If you have the option, reduce primary air a bit - pine will generate more wood gas more quickly than other wood does. No creosote, almost no ash, very hot (and short) fire.

 

[jebatty]

I burn lots of pine, jack pine, red pine and white pine, all well-dried. I do not split it or process it any different than non-pine wood. It does tend to burn somewhat hotter than some woods, and it does not leave much for coals. You may have to adjust your draft, depending on how hot it may burn. Pine bark may have a fair amount of pitch in it, and btu content may be quite high. For the last couple of cold winter weeks all I have been burning is a mix of white pine and jack pine. I never have had a creosote issue of any kind.

 

[pybyr]

I'm burning some red pine in addition to hardwoods. No creosote problem whatsoever in the gasifier. The red pine seasons quite quickly if it's stacked out of the rain and in a breeze. It lights easily and burns fast and hot. As Jebatty said, it does not produce/ keep coals, but if you know that and tend the fire accordingly, it works OK. Heat content is not up there with the good heavy hardwoods, but that's no surprise when you feel the weight (or lack of weight) of dried red pine. Heat content seems at least as good as some of the less desirable deciduous species such as poplar or white birch.

If you've got it or can get it, burn it.

PS, the fast hot burn can actually come in handy when first getting a gasifier up from cold start; I sometimes start with red pine, and then, once it's roaring, put yellow birch, cherry or maple in on top of it.

 

[ihookem]

White pine seems real good. spruce has a little more pitch in it though. I get all my wood for free and I pick up some of the spruce too cause I don't want to look like a wood snob. It burns fine. If I could get all the spruce and pine I wanted, I would take a whole bunch.

 

[gorbull]

I seem to recall someone commenting that if you had to rely on burning 100% softwood, best step your gasifer up to the next size. Any truth in that statement?

 

[Como]

That makes sense, wood btu is related to weight and pine/aspen are much lighter by volume.

Probably you are also higher up, so more air flow needed.

 

[pybyr]

I seem to recall someone commenting that if you had to rely on burning 100% softwood, best step your gasifer up to the next size. Any truth in that statement?

My instinct from observations so far (and this is by gut, not data) is that the peak BTU output is not reduced significantly -- but the burn time is reduced, so that you need to fill the firebox more often with the lighter woods, and the woods that don't maintain as much of a bed of coals.