Argh!!!! Stack your wood to allow airflow.

[daveswoodhauler]

Ok, on my third year of burning, and I thought I was now onto my good stuff in the woodpile after the shoulder season punky/uglies.
This stuff has been cut/split in March 2009 and stacked in rows since. Combination of Beech, hard Maple and some Birch.
Ws really looking forward to having very seasoned wood this year, and I didn't leave anough space in between each row, and its still like 22-24% with some hissing coming out of the wood. (Some of the rows shrunk, and started leaning pretty bad, therefore taking away the 6 inch gap I had left for airflow)
I guess maybe next year I will have some good stuff....one year I will get the hang of this.

 

[Cowboy Billy]

Thats a bummer Dave

Skyline is having good luck stacking wood in the garage and putting a fan on it. Hopefully that could work for you.

What may be more useful to your friend that I have reported here before in my "wood drying experiments" is that a small house fan on splits even in a unheated garage and high humidities (85-95%) can remove lots of moisture in just a few days. On very wet Fir and Alder I lost over 21% and 41% moisture by weight respectively in 10 days. Do that in a warm dry place with a fan and you'll do even better.
The logical next question is whether the cost of running the fan is equal or better than the btu's gained!

10 days of running my fan at 34 watts = 34 * 24 hrs * 10 days = 8160 watt hrs or 8.160 kw hrs at $.10 / kwhr = $0.81.6
My fuel oil is currently $3.11/gal and contains 140000 btus/ gallon
So if I calculate for 10 days running the fan I get: $.816 * 140000 btu / $3.11 = 36733 btu's of oil equivalent that I'm spending on electricity.
This divided by the 2500 btus required to heat 1 kg of water = 14.7 kg or 32 lbs of water that I need to remove from my stacks to come out ahead not counting any of the other gains I get from my stove running drier wood.
On the 5 pieces of wood (3 fir, 2 alder) in my fan experiment, I lost 8.7 lbs in 10 days. 2 of the fir and 1 alder were away from the fan but I could tell later that they were clearly benefitting from the air movement in the room as they gradually caught up to the pieces directly in front of the fan. See the graph pic below. So I figure I'll easily exceed the 32 lbs with a whole stack of wood that is wet but since I try not have wet wood in the garage it may be less of a slam dunk. For wet poplar it seems a no brainer if you have to use it.

But as the kind folks around here so often say, "season...season....season!"

Billy

 

[NH_Wood]

Same here! I'm currently burning about 1/2 cord of soft maple, yellow and black birch, ash, and cherry. Stacked on pallets since June of 09 - getting the same deal. Quite a few pieces hiss, and some water coming out of the ends of splits. Thought for sure that this wood was going to be PRIMO! A lot of it is, but I'm surprised at the number of splits that still hiss. In about 2 weeks, I'll be moving onto ~ 4 cord of ash for the remainder of the winter that was c/s/s by the end of January last year. I hope it's ready to go! Good luck! Cheers!

 

[daveswoodhauler]

Thanks guys.....wish I had a garage

Maybe its just the climate we have here in the north east? I had one of those outdoor canopy's that was getting a little ratty, so I put it over the stacks all summer so a drop of rain never even touched the stacks. The area where the stacks were got about 6-8 hours of sunlight in the summer, so I think its just all based on not having enough airflow) Th canopy was about 2 feel higher on the ends, and about 4 feet higher in the middle, so there was plenty of airflow above the stacks.

One of the main reasons I didn't want to leave a big gap in between rows is cuz I have three little kids and I didn;t want them wandering through the woodpiles. Gotta change my stacking method next year.

 

[thewoodlands]

Thanks guys.....wish I had a garage

Maybe its just the climate we have here in the north east? I had one of those outdoor canopy's that was getting a little ratty, so I put it over the stacks all summer so a drop of rain never even touched the stacks. The area where the stacks were got about 6-8 hours of sunlight in the summer, so I think its just all based on not having enough airflow) Th canopy was about 2 feel higher on the ends, and about 4 feet higher in the middle, so there was plenty of airflow above the stacks.

One of the main reasons I didn't want to leave a big gap in between rows is cuz I have three little kids and I didn;t want them wandering through the woodpiles. Gotta change my stacking method next year.

daveswoodhauler I had some last night that had some surface water but I was still able to get stove top temps of 650. It seems since September all it has done is rain in the northeast.


The wood we are burning is cherry that has been cut and split for over one year and stacked eight months, we have just under two cords of cherry that has been up over one year along with some nice sugar maple that is three years plus.



zap

 

[LLigetfa]

One of the main reasons I didn't want to leave a big gap in between rows is cuz I have three little kids and I didn;t want them wandering through the woodpiles.

Put some fencing at the ends to keep the kids out.

 

[ikessky]

I have a foot + between my rows. Then again, I'm pretty fortunate that I have a place out of the way to stack wood. Plus, it's on top of a hill, so it gets great sun and wind exposure.

 

[billb3]

FWIW, I have some red oak that's been single stacked from a tree down two years ago that's not doing too well .
Bark should be starting to fall off by now and it's not.
Despite being a rather Hot Summer I have a lot of mold growth on the North side of my house, which is indicative of a general lack of dryness.
I have a plastic fence that for the first time the whole fence needs cleaning rather than just the sections that are in more of the shade.

 

[LLigetfa]

Good thing we have Winters to dry the wood. When I built my house, I was careful to angle it so that the North side got some morning sun to combat mold but still have some mold.

 

[Slow1]

I think that for my area (and perhaps much of the NE US) summer of 2009 was a neutral to negative year for drying wood. It was so cool and wet all year - certainly summer started VERY late and it was raining most of it. As I recall the kids didn't get to go outside much during the summer school vacation due to rain - swim classes kept being cancelled etc. I did have a green lawn though despite never turning on the outside water taps or digging up the hoses...

 

[Battenkiller]

We had a fantastic drying season here for a change. I had some of my cherry that was cut last fall measure at 12% on the inside and <10% on the outside. Based on long-term weather data, that ordinarily wouldn't be possible in my location, but long-term weather figures are averaged. On a season-to-season basis, you get what you are given. That cherry is too dry for my taste, but mixing it is with some 25% stuff makes a nice stable burn.

But, yeah, a lot has been mentioned here about the importance of single-rows, well spaced for air circulation. I see some folks put their wood in a big block and I just don't get it. Maybe it works for them, but around here most years, the inside rows would rot before they ever dried completely. Still, 22-24% as measured on a resistance meter ain't bad to burn, not bad at all.

 

[Danno77]

...and its still like 22-24% with some hissing coming out of the wood...

while that isn't ideal, it could be a heck of a lot worse. lesson learned, I guess.

 

[Slow1]

I hear you on the stacking. My first year I stacked in tight blocks. I'm now doing my best to spread out more in rows.

However, single rows are very difficult for me to do for some reason(s). Perhaps it is my lack of skill exclusively, but I like to place the blame on my uneven ground (we live on a slope) and the small space that I have available for stacking putting the need to build higher. Thus although I have a cord stacked single rows with space between, I just couldn't quite do the rest that way out of concern over stability. I now have taken to double rows with more space between each double-row. I do this so that I get increased stability yet every split has at least one end exposed to open air. Sort of the best compromise I could come up with. Passes on the stability front, I don't know how much of a hit I"m taking on the drying time though but I do have confidence that it is better than building blocks as tight as possible on the pallets.

 

[Backwoods Savage]

I have no problem seasoning without leaving space between each row. I've even stacked as many as 20 rows tight together.

 

[oldspark]

Backwoods we all know you let your wood set for longer than some have the time for, if I stacked my Oak like that it would take for ever to dry.

 

[LLigetfa]

I have no problem seasoning without leaving space between each row. I've even stacked as many as 20 rows tight together.

Cripes, look how open and how dry it is. My trees grow in so thick you cannot walk between them let alone not being able to see through them. We get so much rain that the grass would be 3 feet high if I didn't mow arount my stacks. There was green moss growing on my outdoor stacks of wood this Summer. Fortunately I have 2 years worth put up in my shed but even that was getting rehydrated to the point it was smelling like fresh cut just starting to season. Even now, I can smell the wood a 10 to 20 feet away from the woodshed. All Summer long when the wind prevailed from the West, I could smell my outdoor stacks from 200 feet away.

 

[CTYank]

Ok, on my third year of burning, and I thought I was now onto my good stuff in the woodpile after the shoulder season punky/uglies.
This stuff has been cut/split in March 2009 and stacked in rows since. Combination of Beech, hard Maple and some Birch.
Ws really looking forward to having very seasoned wood this year, and I didn't leave anough space in between each row, and its still like 22-24% with some hissing coming out of the wood. (Some of the rows shrunk, and started leaning pretty bad, therefore taking away the 6 inch gap I had left for airflow)
I guess maybe next year I will have some good stuff....one year I will get the hang of this.

Another option for you:
Bring the wood indoors for a week or more before burning, and stack it near the stove (maybe a couple of feet away- keep temps below 150).
Dissipate some of that moisture in the house, not as steam up the stack.

Of course, you've got to be reasonable with the relative humidity in the house. In one instance, stacking some black locust near the stove resulted in noticeable condensation on various windows (and hygrometer readings.) The locust didn't seem THAT wet.

 

[rdust]

I have to move my wood a couple times due to area limitations.(still working on a better way for that) My first stacks are in rows of three or more to save space. When I move everything towards the house during the spring I stack in single rows with 3' of space between them. This way they get another year/summer with space between them. PITA for sure but it seems to be workings ok.

 

[iceman]

22-24% is not where you would like it to be but it will still work resplit some if you want or put the next load next to the wood stove and it will be close to 20%
But don't worry you are doing better than some

 

[bboulier]

Ok, on my third year of burning, and I thought I was now onto my good stuff in the woodpile after the shoulder season punky/uglies.
This stuff has been cut/split in March 2009 and stacked in rows since. Combination of Beech, hard Maple and some Birch.
Ws really looking forward to having very seasoned wood this year, and I didn't leave anough space in between each row, and its still like 22-24% with some hissing coming out of the wood. (Some of the rows shrunk, and started leaning pretty bad, therefore taking away the 6 inch gap I had left for airflow)
I guess maybe next year I will have some good stuff....one year I will get the hang of this.

Another option for you:
Bring the wood indoors for a week or more before burning, and stack it near the stove (maybe a couple of feet away- keep temps below 150).
Dissipate some of that moisture in the house, not as steam up the stack.

Of course, you've got to be reasonable with the relative humidity in the house. In one instance, stacking some black locust near the stove resulted in noticeable condensation on various windows (and hygrometer readings.) The locust didn't seem THAT wet.

I don't really have enough room in the backyard to give wood a lot of spacing between rows/levels. Adding some humidity while burning a fire is a good idea. Otherwise, the rooms get pretty dry. At this point, I seem to be OK with curing wood outside, but will keep this in mind.