Ash that sizzles?

[Skier76]

Last October, my boss had a standing dead Ash taken down. He gave me all the wood. It's been split and stacked since last November. This summer, the wood sat in the sun and was hardly rained on. I've noticed that a few splits are sizzling when I toss them in the stove. I'm stumped as to why this is happening. The wood has had plenty of time to dry.

 

[ansehnlich1]

check the ends when it's burnin'. If the water's steamin' out the ends of it that's definitly a sign of wood that ain't seasoned long enough.

HOWEVER, it could be just some wet/water layin right under the bark. Sometimes I'll get wood that's been rained on recently, the stuff is seasoned fine, but it's soggy under the bark.

 

[chumby]

I'm burning ash right now that was felled and cut about 6 months ago, split about 2 months ago, and was only brought in earlier in the week (stacked outside and did get rained on once) - no water coming out of it and no sizzling. I stack bark side down. Perhaps what you have isn't ash?

 

[midwestcoast]

I agree, probably just a bit water near the surface. Unless that ash is smoldering away or tough to get started, I'd say it's fine & quit watching so close
As my Grandpa used to say, 'If you've got an old car & you hear a strange noise, but it's still running, it means you don't have the radio up loud enough'

 

[Skier76]

I think I'm mildly OCD...if it's not operating 100%, I'm looking for a solution. LOL! I'll break out the moisture meter today and see what's up.

 

[Backwoods Savage]

Skier, almost all standing dead wood still has some sap in it. In the case of ash, there is very little to start with and it dries quite fast compared to other woods. However, even though we've burned ash for many years we will still get one or a part of one tree that when we are ready to burn it, the danged thing does a bit of sizzling. However, it is very short lived usually and it will burn pretty well. Then there are those few logs that you might have set around in the wood pile for six years.....and the danged thing will sizzle.

Already this fall we've had a couple of sizzlers but extremely short lived. My wife opened the stove to shift the wood once to get the fire going and complained about one piece sizzling. It could not have been more than 2-3 minutes later I opened the firebox door and there was no sizzling at all. The fire did well once it got going but I had to take over to get it going. She hates that! lol

 

[RNLA]

It is interesting the different wood that does sizzle. I have seen some real nice dry wood bubble up and wonder why. Then again I got some Beech wood and it burned hot and clean after 3-4 month split. I wish I had more wood for this year....

 

[wendell]

Or, you got Sizzling Ash. It's pretty rare.

 

[Skier76]

Skier, almost all standing dead wood still has some sap in it. In the case of ash, there is very little to start with and it dries quite fast compared to other woods. However, even though we've burned ash for many years we will still get one or a part of one tree that when we are ready to burn it, the danged thing does a bit of sizzling. However, it is very short lived usually and it will burn pretty well. Then there are those few logs that you might have set around in the wood pile for six years.....and the danged thing will sizzle.

Already this fall we've had a couple of sizzlers but extremely short lived. My wife opened the stove to shift the wood once to get the fire going and complained about one piece sizzling. It could not have been more than 2-3 minutes later I opened the firebox door and there was no sizzling at all. The fire did well once it got going but I had to take over to get it going. She hates that! lol

Thanks Dennis! Since yours has seasoned longer than mine, I don't feel so bad! I think part of the problem was putting another split on before the firebox temp was hot enough. The little bit of moisture caused the sizzle...and that helped drop the stove temp down. I've done a little tweaking to the stove and this coming weekend, hopefully I'll get it up to temp...then try a reload. It's been an odd shoulder season for me this year.

 

[Backwoods Savage]

Skier, I would not worry about adding that split before the firebox temperature was hot enough. One example way yesterday morning. It was just a bit cool in here because finally we did not have an overnight fire. It was cloudy and damp so we decided to light a fire and then just let it burn out (high 60's forecast). I put 2 splits on the bottom and then a Super Cedar right where the splits come together and then let the Super Cedar. Then kindling was added and finally one split on top of the kindling (I usually add 2). The door was shut and we let the fire do its thing. It did not take long to reach 250 stove top temperature and then we flipped the cat on and the temperature rapidly went to 450 where it peaked. That is a good thing too because right after I flipped the cat on, the sun came out. Dang, this is warm for this time of the year. We hit 70 yesterday afternoon and it is expected to be right around there again today before reality returns.

 

[firefighterjake]

Sizzles for a short time . . . don't worry . . . could be surface moisture or a bit of residual moisture.

Sizzles for a long time . . . might need to be seasoned a bit longer . . . may not have been stacked in a good location, split small enough, etc.

 

[Skier76]

I'm going to keep an eye on this and report back.

I split a larger chunk yesterday and the MC was around 22%. Maybe the "sizzle" came from the extra 2%. :lol:

 

[Skier76]

I think my sizzle issue was a combonation of a poor draft (weather) and surface moisture. I tossed four ash splits in the stove before bed Friday night. They took off nicely and I was able to back the air down. My wife keps commenting how nicely the stove was burning. It was quite a distraction from watching TV.

 

[thewoodlands]

I think my sizzle issue was a combonation of a poor draft (weather) and surface moisture. I tossed four ash splits in the stove before bed Friday night. They took off nicely and I was able to back the air down. My wife keps commenting how nicely the stove was burning. It was quite a distraction from watching TV.

Skier76 we had some cherry splits that sizzled some but turned out that it was just surface moisture also, flue temp reached 500 then I cut back the air. We just top cover our wood stacks.


zap

 

[Skier76]

zap,
It was a bit less damp this weekend and the stove burned much better. Plus, our small indoor wood rack came. That allows me to store about a weekend's worth of wood inside. I load that up before we leave on Sunday. That should help quite a bit.

 

[thewoodlands]

zap,
It was a bit less damp this weekend and the stove burned much better. Plus, our small indoor wood rack came. That allows me to store about a weekend's worth of wood inside. I load that up before we leave on Sunday. That should help quite a bit.

Skier76 you should see a difference, I know we usually do.


zap