Really dry wood (8yrs) and short burns in Oslo

[EForest]

A friend recently acquired several cord of 8 yr seasoned hardwood splits (oak & maple) from his fathers woodshed. He's been trying everything but can't get more than a 5 hr burn. Is his wood just too dang dry?
The stove is new and was professionally installed this season. His computer died a few weeks ago so here I am trying to help. Thanks for any from all of you.

cheers, Ed

 

[jotulguy]

In short YES(well maybe). Do you have a moisture meter? That is the only way to be sure. And outside of that what kind of chimney does he have? Is it an outside chimney? Is it very tall? What are the stove top temps when he is burning it? Where is the air control set? All these questions will be of great help to answering his problem. But I would wager it is a little too dry from your post.

 

[BrotherBart]

And what stove does he have? With two of mine I would start going to church again to get a five your burn.

 

[EForest]

Jotulguy,
His stove is in the basement of a raised ranch. The chimney is at least 20' tall on an exterior wall with an insulated stainless double wall pipe. He claims stove top temps @ 400-500 with air as low as it will go.

 

[EForest]

And what stove does he have? With two of mine I would start going to church again to get a five your burn.

Jotul Oslo

 

[jotulguy]

Sounds like it is running the way it should. Now lets have the talk of what manufactures call burn time and what home owners call burn time. Manufacture enough embers to relight a fire without a match. Home owners when we dont see fire any more. That maybe the difference on this one. I would still recommend a moisture meter....but I am kind of a wood burning geek and like to know all the details. I have seen many on here find one cheap at harbor freight. I do a little wood working so I am sure i over paid for mine at Grizzly wood working tools.

 

[EForest]

I'll lone him my meter in the morning.

 

[jotulguy]

Perfect! That will help him greatly! Anything under 15% I would recommend mixing some greener wood with to get better burn times.

 

[EForest]

thanks jotulguy,
I'll give the meter and your advise in the morning.

cheers, Ed

 

[Battenkiller]

Perfect! That will help him greatly! Anything under 15% I would recommend mixing some greener wood with to get better burn times.

The drier the better. Yup... within reason. 18-25%MC (as determined by using a corrected moisture meter) is ideal. Outside this range, efficiency will suffer and burn times will be shorter.

8-year old wood kept out of the rain in a shed in just about any place in the country will be close to 12% all the way through. In Hartford, CT it can get as low as the 10-11% range and stay there through most of the year. Too dry... unless you have huge splits, in which case they will burn good enough for the Pope's stove. Larger splits have larger volume to surface area ratios, so they will outgas slower and burn longer than the same weight in smaller splits.

They will burn cleaner as well. No use creating more smoke just to exercise your secondaries. Mix some greener wood in as was mentioned above and you will get a longer, better regulated burn.

 

[firefighterjake]

I guess like Jotulguy I would want to know his definition of burn time . . . for me it's when I reload the stove to when I need to reload it again . . . or in the case of a long burn such as an overnight fire . . . the time from the last reload to the time when I can easily put some small splits or kindling on the stove and have it easily ignite . . . others may have different definitions.

I should also add that my "definition" of burn time is also putting out some meaningful heat (albeit less heat) from the coals to help keep the place warm . . . I don't necessarily view burn time as the time when I see flames to the time when I don't see any flames.

 

[roddy]

well,i for one,have a hard time believing that any wood short of being kiln dried to 6 %,can be considered too dry,especially not wood in a barn for a few years,should be the cats meow as far as wood goes,.... i think burn time definitions is the real question at hand

rod

 

[Wood Duck]

A five hour burn doesn't seem too bad to me. As others have said, it all depends what you mean by burn time, but five hours of some heat output without reloading seems pretty good. Five hours from full load to cold stove and using a match to restart is a different story. How big are the splits? Dry large splits will burn longer than dry small splits. Many people report rounds burn longer than splits. There are lots of variables. Try different wood and see if you get different results. It shouldn't be too hard to find poorly seasoned wood.

 

[Backwoods Savage]

Can wood be too dry? If kiln dried, I'd then say yes that is too dry for the heating stove. However, firewood that has been in a shed for 8 years, I say there is no way it is too dry. We've burned wood much older than that.....and it burns beautifully. The past several years we've burned wood that has been cut, split and stacked for up to 7 years.

To me, using a moisture meter now is pointless and nothing but a waste of time.

Stove top temperatures of 400-500 degrees is not a hot fire! If he wants a lower temperature, then it is a simple matter of putting in less wood. Wait until cold air is here and he will think 400-500 degrees is too cool for the stove top.

One thing a new wood burner has to learn is that you can not increase or decrease the temperature like you can with oil or gas. It just doesn't happen that quickly.