I seek forgivness from wood burning brethren.

I ask that each of you forgive me for what I am about to confess.

Today my daughters and I were cleaning the yard for the last time this year, I look over to my neighbors chimney and notice that the smoke is rolling out thick. The smell is strong enough that it turns my nose but a small smirk starts to form. I realize she is burning unseasoned, wet wood and all of that energy is being spent to dry the wood instead of creating heat.

Please understand something, this lady is nice enough and we have a nice neighborly friendship with her and her husband. However, EVERY TIME she has the chance to comment on my wood stacks she says things like: "It'll rot before you use all of that" or "Sure you're three years ahead, sure hope it doesn't rot first." I have tried to explain to her the need for seasoned wood for her insert but she rolls her eyes. I've tried to explain that I have a cat stove that requires very dry wood, she blows me off. They have five large ash trees that were cut down in July that they are going to cut and split and burn THIS winter.

So please forgive me for being a little smug. BTW, there was no smoke coming out of our stack and it was a toasty 500.

fv

You need to pass along the URL to this forum (with an honest smile on your face), then proceed with being smug. It is well earned if you are 3 years ahead.

Took till year 3 of my coworker to realize his stove that I helped install needed more than 1 year seasoned wood.

He was going through way more wood than me and a persistent smoke cloud everytime I stopped by - I had an advantage of open hearth before the insert thus had some decent seasoned wood on hand.

After last years mild winter he had enough left from his initial stacks to experience how his stove performs with 2-3yr seasoned oak/hickory - he said man this thing is burning nice and clean

Smug (and warm) is good!
Like many others, I cussed my way through my first winter with an EPA stove, trying to burn green wood. "This new stove is no damn good! I should replace it with a used Vermont Castings like I had in the 80's." Then a friend gave me an armload of nice dry wood to try and the scales fell from my eyes.
Now I'm four years ahead on wood and smug as can be!
Maybe you could give your neighbor some good fuel and see if she changes her tune.

it is said by many ..........................ash is the only wood you can cut green and throw into the stove and it will burn.

If i were you i would give her about 10 splits and see if she changes her mind.

"There are those who "know" & those who don't know"
You have to experience burning good, well seasoned, 2+ year dry wood before you " KNOW" .
Most here "KNOW"

It's not being smug or better or anything like that, you just "Know"

knoweledge, my friend, is half the battle! Unfortunately, some people think they "know it all" and refuse to admit that they may actually NOT know it all. We just installed that Drolet stove at my buddy Doc's place, it's his first EPA stove (he had a *gulp* Frankin stove at his last house, which he WISELY bought a nice Grandpa Fisher to replace it with, but it still was a smokedragon). He was FAMOUS for being the guy who smoked the whole neighborhood out with his yearly 'seasoned' wood. He saw how well my Napoleon 1900 heated our house over the past several years, how there was NO SMOKE SMELL in the house ever, and how efficiently dry wood burns. So at his new house we installed the EPA stove and a good class A flue system, he's burning 2 and 3 year seasoned wood this year, and he's thoroughly impressed. The drier, the better. He's convinced, but he still won't join all us rednecks here on Hearth.com.

Don't have to be a member here to learn & "know" how important dry wood is.
But it helps if you know someone who is

Right. It will burn but not burn good.

You are forgiven...

Usually by the same folks who say pine will create excessive amounts of creosote and lead to a chimney fire.

Forgiveness eh? OK, say three Hail Backwoods Savages, two Our Zaps and five Glory BogeyDaves . . . and you will be forgiven my son.

My brother in law whose been burning wood for over 40 years and cuts firewood for a living told me my wood is going to rot before I get to use it, I have 11 cords so Im about three years ahead, some people will never get it no matter what.

Everywhere I drive around town.. Every wood monger is cutting, splitting and up the conveyor it goes. They all claim it's seasoned because it spend from last spring till now, a season, laying on the ground tree length.

I just chuckle.. and head home to cut 13/14 wood... I still need to get ahead more!

JP

At some point you just need to do what's right and not worry about the other folks. I'll tell folks once, sometimes twice about needing dry wood - that's it. Many folks will say the same about my stacks - that the wood will rot before I get to it. A few pieces here and there turn to punk, but 99.99% of the wood is solid and dry after 4 years in the stacks. Cheers!

I always get a little chuckle this time of year too. My chimney is visible from the parking lot of my shop if you look up. People come in & say wow it's warm in here, but there's no smoke, what are you heating with? Or why isn't the fire burning? I just smile & point to the furnace & tell them I burn wood not water. Some get it, & some just look at me wierd. A C

I too am still trying to find the magic bullet that will bring the wet wood burners to that "AHAH, I get it!" moment of enlightment. Even asking "Do you ever feel cold after stepping out of the shower still wet? Let me tell you why that happens..". I explain that water sucks heat away in order to become steam or vapor. "OK, I get that", they say. I tell them that the same thing happens to burn wood- the water must waste heat to boil out of the wood before it can burn. But they can't see how a wet human has anything to do with a hot split of wood. And if I go into the latent-heat-of-vaporization for water, they start looking up the phone number of the crazy wagon to come get me for a ride to the funny farm. Why doesn't plain logic work? I am still searching for a way to convert the smoking stove people.

Not that it works 100%.. but I tell them when you burn wood.. you are actually burning the gas the wood turns into as it burns, not the solid piece itself. In order to burn that wood, you need to boil out all that water first. Just like turning it to steam in a pot. It has to get to 212. It sucks up a bunch of the energy, steaming that water out. Some people SEEM to get it.. but until I see some monster stacks.. I'll try some more.

JP

I like the idea of handing her a few splits and letting her see the difference of good dry wood. Good for the environment and only helps peoples perception of wood burning if there isn't smoke coming out that chimney. Then if she still gives you grief about the wood rotting after that, give her one more split....along side the head perhaps.

One of my favorite things to do as I leave my toasty warm house in the morning on the way to work, is to glance back up to the chimney and see no smoke what so ever.

I'm just gonna start telling all these fools around me that it's bad manners to waste resources.
then ask,"are you burning wood to make the world a better place, or just a better place for u".

Maybe I am just to old and cynical but after years of telling people about the positives of burning dry wood and getting nowhere I just started to chalk it up to laziness. Building up an inventory of 6-24 cords of wood is plain old hard work for most people. It's a nasty sweat producing chore that breaks fingernails and backs. I think most of these people want wood to be like oil or gas. Some guy pulls up, delivers the fuel, your ready to go!

I know I have a convert when they say something like " must make you feel good and secure to have all that wood", or, " you must feel like you have accomplished something while they stare at the wood"....... To them kind I share an insight. " yup it does feel good, real good, to soak in a hot bath in a 70 degree house after spending a day cutting in late fall or winter....and knowing those damn Arabs ain't getting any of my money!" Cheers!

tell your neighbors about this web site. Explain to them how you have learned about wood burning, dry wood, and the education you have received from hundreds of intelligent and good hearted people you have met here. You might want to mention chimney fires, chimney cleaning and the risks involved with ignoring your advice. Teach them to fish...or burn in this case.

Do they drive a Prius? Spin the conversion to the environment and clean burning...

Good Luck. Tom

I didn't know rednecks used computers............. Hmmmmm

TS