Been lurking, just joined Holz Hausen question

[Sheepdog]

Hi! I have been lurking here for a few months now, and I have to say Thanks! There is some great information to be had here. I have just switched from Oil FHW to a Jotul F500 Oslo at the end of this past heating season, and plan to heat solely with wood this year. A bit about myself, I live in Southern Maine, in an open 2,000 sqr. ft. cape with my wife, two young daughters, two cats and a german shepherd pup. Things are a bit loud here as you might expect. :wow: Anyway, I have about 1.5 cords of 3-4 year seasoned hardwood to start the season off with, then I'm moving to the newer stuff I brought in, 2 cords that were down for 15 months prior to splitting and stacking in early April, and then four more real green that have been split and stacked over the past month, with four more yet to be split and stacked. Here is the question, I was reading over on the chimney sweep site, that by stacking wood in a Holz Hausen, it can be season more quickly, they say three months?!?!? Has anyone had any experience with this method speeding up the seasoning process? I think I will be ok for this year, and next year will be fine, but I think I am going to try one 7ft Holz Hausen just to see if there really is a difference.
Thanks again for a great site!

-Sheepdog

 

[Jags]

Disclosure: I have never made a HH.

There are several on the site that have built HH stacks, but I think the general consensus is that the drying process doesn't really speed up much, its more of a space savings type stack. But I dunno. Someone will be around to correct me.

 

[fossil]

Sheepdog, I've never built a Holz, either. I just stack in rows. So, like Jags, I can't attest to the relative seasoning effectiveness of the methods. Like all these non-answers you're getting? Welcome to the forum! Stack some both ways and collect some data for us. :cheese: Rick

 

[Sheepdog]

Thanks for the welcome!

Rick, I already have a bunch stacked in rows, some single some double. I'll stack the next two in an HH and report back in September.

-sheepdog

 

[Jags]

Sheepdog, I've never built a Holz, either. I just stack in rows. So, like Jags, I can't attest to the relative seasoning effectiveness of the methods. Like all these non-answers you're getting? Welcome to the forum! Stack some both ways and collect some data for us. :cheese: Rick

Agreed! Sheepdog, you are now Christened with the valiant duty of comparing Holz stacks v.s. row stacking. You will be given 12 months to complete this task, if you agree to take it.

Data sheets should include:
1.) Species
2.) volume
3.) starting moisture content
4.) size of average split
5.) Monthly updates (using an average moisture content of at least 6 splits, which may include dismantling part of the holz and reassembly).
6.) ending moisture content after 12 months.

Hey, and welcome to the site. Now get to stackin' :coolsmirk:

Note: please add any data points that may have been missed.

 

[fossil]

Sheepdog, I've never built a Holz, either. I just stack in rows. So, like Jags, I can't attest to the relative seasoning effectiveness of the methods. Like all these non-answers you're getting? Welcome to the forum! Stack some both ways and collect some data for us. :cheese: Rick

Agreed! Sheepdog, you are now Christened with the valiant duty of comparing Holz stacks v.s. row stacking. You will be given 12 months to complete this task, if you agree to take it.

Data sheets should include:
1.) Species
2.) volume
3.) starting moisture content
4.) size of average split
5.) Monthly updates (using an average moisture content of at least 6 splits, which may include dismantling part of the holz and reassembly).
6.) ending moisture content after 12 months.

Hey, and welcome to the site. Now get to stackin' :coolsmirk:

Note: please add any data points that may have been missed.

We'd also like all that data on charts of parameter vs. day. Oh, and photos...lots of photos!. Now get crackin'...er, stackin'! :bug: Rick

 

[Jags]

A power point presentation might also be of use in the final stages of drying. %-P

 

[fossil]

A power point presentation might also be of use in the final stages of drying. %-P

Actually, Dog...may I call you Dog? Sounds better than Sheep to me, somehow. Anyway, I think it would be really useful to all of us woodsplitters/stackers/burners if you'd install a web camera (possibly a bank of cameras)...let's call it the WoodCam, trained on your stacks 24/7 (gonna need some flood lighting) so that we can watch the seasoning process in real time. If you don't mind. Good luck, Sheepdog, we're all counting on you! :lol: Rick

 

[BrotherBart]

Agreed! Sheepdog, you are now Christened with the valiant duty of comparing Holz stacks v.s. row stacking. You will be given 12 months to complete this task, if you agree to take it.

Data sheets should include:
1.) Species
2.) volume
3.) starting moisture content
4.) size of average split
5.) Monthly updates (using an average moisture content of at least 6 splits, which may include dismantling part of the holz and reassembly).
6.) ending moisture content after 12 months.

I posted all of that year-before-last. Craig must have deleted it.

 

[fossil]

...I posted all of that year-before-last. Craig must have deleted it.

Seems to me I read somwhere that all your data was disqualified because of the humidity where you stacked your wood. Rick

 

[WarmGuy]

My advice: an 8 or 9 foot diameter HH will be easier to build. The smaller you make it, the more you'll have to fight the tendency of the wood on the outer ring to slope down.

 

[Sheepdog]

GULP! hh: Thanks for the assignment guys. I have been through several initiations in my life, but this one might take the cake! I'll see what I can come up with.....

Warmguy, If I set it up for 8 or 9 feet round, how high do I put the dryness indicator mark on the center pole? For a 7 foot round, you mark at 5'8", also, do you stack it to the same hight as the diameter, or does it not matter? I have never built one, and I'm afraid the taller I build it the less stable it will be, and with two little ones running around, I'm not too keen on having a teetering ten foot avalanche waiting to happen.

Thanks again guys for the assignment, I'll try to get the "woodcams" set up for tomorrow! ;-)

-Sheepdog

 

[fossil]

...with two little ones running around, I'm not too keen on having a teetering ten foot avalanche waiting to happen.

There is such a thing as a dual-purpose Holz. I believe it's called a Zwei-Verwendungszweck Holz Hausen, actually. They were first built by people with small children long before the days of daycare and Barney videos. What you do is actually construct the Holz around your children. Make it as tall as you want to. The children, then, will be perfectly safe from predatory animals and such while you're away. You can toss food down to them through the center opening. You can conveniently converse with them, and even observe them cavorting in their own happy little world through the numerous air spaces between splits. Details like sanitation are easily worked out by the average DIY'er. If it rains or snows, just pull the old tarp over the top. You can even use one of the WoodCams to keep an eye on them. There, now...no worries, get to it! :lol: Rick

 

[adrpga498]

Just finished my 7th holz in the past 2 years. I have 1 left over from last year and 3 new ones for this year. It does dry faster but I would give it 6 months. Three months drying time seems a bit of a stretch for me. Mine have been a little over 6' tall and diameter. I like the wider base (about 7' diameter) then taper towards the top. I wouldn't go back to conventional rows anymore. The HH style keeps the inside dry, no need to cover.Makes nice yard art in the upscale neighborhoods. Just my .02 worth. Good luck.

 

[sgcsalsero]

I like my H. Hafens, built two this year and have a third started, couple benefits I didn't notice until completed:
1) these suckers are much less likely to fall over, I have small kids and that is a concern (ok so maybe this is largely operator error dependent)
2) I built the second on uneven ground and used extra shimming to even it up
3) if someone trys to steal any of my wood I'm gonna know, the HHs are capped with bark side up splits
4) my kids are getting some free entertainment value because the local chipmunks think I just built them an entire Wally World

 

[Burd]

I have two holz now and 2 cord that are stacked and I can notice the diffrence in the color of the wood in the hozl all the end are turning a nice gray were the stuff in the stack are some what changing Im really new at seasoning wood so I really wont no how well this will work in till winter and a moisture meter
I do like the way thy look its pleasing to the eye of the nabors how dont burn and most likly they will be by mid winter with the oil prices being so high.

 

[ansehnlich1]

I have stacked wood both ways, in a row, and with the holzhausen.

In my official, professional opinion, wood stacked in the wide open under direct attack from the sun and wind, in a ROW where the sun beats on it all afternoon until setting in the west, will dry and season faster than in the protected innards of a holz, where it truly sees little to no light, and little to no wind. I ain't buyin' the "natural draft" theory of the holz, I've built 'em, matter of fact, the first pic's on this very websites home page are a couple of my past holz's, and I don't have any of 'em now, I stack in ROWS, off the ground, facing southwest

 

[Todd]

I tried this experiment a couple years ago and found no difference in drying time between the HH and single rows. At the time both were located in a mostly shady spot but received plenty of wind. The main advantage of the HH is space constraints.

 

[Burd]

Its really nice to look at when you have nothing to do but sit back and drink a beer in the middle of july and when you have company over it give you some thing to talk about.It allmost makes you feel inportant :lol: