What % decrease can I expect from advertised burn times on woodstoves if I'm burning pine not hardwood?
Burning pine
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That depends on the species of wood. There are low btu hardwoods and relatively high btu softwoods. For percentage difference, take a look at a BTU chart for the species available in your region.
http://worldforestindustries.com/forest-biofuel/firewood/firewood-btu-ratings/
http://worldforestindustries.com/forest-biofuel/firewood/firewood-btu-ratings/
Quite possible you will have longer burntimes. Pine has more btu per log than many hardwoods.
Then it depends on the stove. My blaze king will automatically adjust the burn rate to maintain a fixed output. This means that if your pine has half as many btu per unit volume as the hardwood you’re comparing with then the burntime with pine would be half as long.
My noncat nc30 stove has a lot of unregulated air entering and much lower efficiency. On that one I don’t expect much difference in burn times with different btu contents. I would also have to manually adjust the primary air to maintain the desired output.
Also burntimes provided by the manufacturer are often overly optimistic.
If you are willing to tell us the stove then maybe someone on this site owns it and can share their experiences regarding burntimes and pine.
jetsam
Minister of Fire
Depends on the manufacturer and what their marketing department has been smoking lately, too. There's not even a standard definition of what "burn time" means, so those numbers are borderline worthless in the first place. You can search the forums for your stove to get real world numbers.
I would guesstimate that I see a ~20% decrease in burn time with pine vs oak? Hard to compare since I usually burn them differently. I tend to use more pine on higher burns for colder weather and more oak for on lower burns for warmer weather.
I would guesstimate that I see a ~20% decrease in burn time with pine vs oak? Hard to compare since I usually burn them differently. I tend to use more pine on higher burns for colder weather and more oak for on lower burns for warmer weather.
maple1
Minister of Fire
You could ballpark it by using the BTU chart & comparing values for the exact wood you are comparing.
A 20% reduction in BTU/lb would interpolate to a 20% reduction in burn time. Lots of variables of course but likely couldn't come up with a better guess doing it some other way.
A 20% reduction in BTU/lb would interpolate to a 20% reduction in burn time. Lots of variables of course but likely couldn't come up with a better guess doing it some other way.
I would think you'd want to compare dry weight percentage differences, since density is more related to burn times. BTU output can be impacted by chemical differences. For example, big leaf maple in the tables linked above has 22.7 BTUs/cord, 4.6% more than ponderosa's 21.7. But the dry weight of the maple is 19% more than ponderosa.
Alpine1
Feeling the Heat
If you can find wood weight consumption per hour you can get a good idea. Here, wood kilograms per hour are a common data on many stoves manufacturers. But take all these numbers with a grain of salt. In optimal conditions and with good hardwood my BK should run up to 30 hours. With a full load of Norway spruce I get 22-23 hours. About a 20/25% decrease in burn times.
As they say... YMMV
As they say... YMMV
Everyone uses softwoods---White Pine, Spruce, Fir--for those quick morning/evening fires in Fall and Spring. Some on this site in Alaska and parts of Canada only have softwoods. Burn safe. That chart from Bgreen is good for species BTUs.
toddnic
Minister of Fire
I use softwoods (pine, hemlock, poplar) in the shoulder season when I want a quick fire in the morning or evening to warm up the house. I would say that you will get probably 50% to 60% less burn time than red oak, white oak, or other similar hardwoods. Pine is great for a quick hot fire but not for those long hot burns.
Poindexter
Minister of Fire
jetsam
Minister of Fire
And that's why I like oak in shoulder season, pine in winter!
toddnic
Minister of Fire
I can't imagine using pine for a long overnight burn on a cold night. Last night I used some poplar to warm up the house knowing that it was not going to be that cold outside. This morning there weren't any coals left. If I were burning oak or locust, I would have still had a huge amount of coals and the stove would have been ready to reload.
Huh, never thought of that strategy. I have access to lots of pine and only thought about it as shoulder season wood. Since I'm home nearly all the time, pine in the winter wouldn't be a bad option.
I've burned 100% pine this year and have stayed warm all winter. It burns fast and hot so you need to have some larger splits for the overnight burns.
prezes13
Minister of Fire
On cold winter days when I am home I love having pine. Load it more often but it burns hot and I keep house warm for over night nothing beats white oak, but I never burned hickory or locust.
jetsam
Minister of Fire
It's the best when it's real cold and you need to catch up a little. Burns hot, leaves no coals. If you're playing temperature catch-up with only hardwood, you will soon experience the frustration of having a stove full of coals (which is lovely to have in shoulder season, but not when you want maximum heat). It also seasons nicely in one year.
I started out (using my smoke dragon experience) regarding it as B-list wood to be collected only when there was no hardwood handy, but after this winter I'm keeping a minimum of a cord of pine ready to go every year.
prezes13
Minister of Fire
I have a 10' bolt of 20' White Pine I rolled into off to the side clearing out for a new garage a few years ago. May have to go retrieve it! Kevin
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