Safe to lean wood against a wood stove? You tell me.

[joefrompa]

I tried an experiment today. I leaned slightly wet ash (fresh split, the inside had palpable moisture) against the wood stove for a few hours while I was in the room. I also leaned a few pieces of some unknown wood up against it that was more dry, but still I'm sure not fully seasoned.

Stove was cranking along at 300-450 stove top, mostly around 350, blower on medium to medium high.

After about 2-3 hours, I'm walking around and I smell something very sweet and slightly "burning" smell. I track it down to a single piece of ash, leaned up against the stove where the tip of a split was evenly laid against the steel side for about 3" of ash.

The tip, and extending from it in both directions 1/2" (horizontal and vertical from the tip), were not charred....but were nicely browned. Smelled the tip:

Ahhh, the sweet smell of caramelization. My ash was caramelizing as some of the original sugars slowly roasted.

 

[oldspark]

Only if you want to burn the house down!

 

[SnapCracklePop]

Things I would lean against a stove:

A crowbar
A concrete block
A former boss from hell

Things I would not lean against a stove:
Wood

Nancy

 

[DanCorcoran]

"My ash was caramelizing..."

That won't be all, if you keep wood leaning against your stove.

 

[Fsappo]

I've done it before, just to dry it out. Its one of those things. Never a problem until you spazz out, forget what you did, go next door to talk to your neighbor, start having a few beers and come home because your wife is screaming out the front door that the stove room is full of smoke. Thats a nice "oh poop" moment. Never happened to me though.

 

[NH_Wood]

Sh!t! You're supposed to put the wood IN the stove?! %-P Cheers!

 

[fishingpol]

Tap a sugar maple and boil down some sap if you want the smell. Otherwise be safe, distractions can lead to trouble.

 

[raybonz]

I have placed "soldiers" around the stove if they are damp but keep an eye on them.. I have NOT placed them against the stove but 12-18" away and only if I am there.. Using an IR scanner I have seen surface temps around 250 degrees on oak.. I recall 450 degrees being needed for ignition.. This comes in handy if snow blows into the wood shelter and gets on the wood otherwise they usually reside in the 40" dia. wood hoop 8' away...

Ray

 

[rdust]

Safe to lean wood against a wood stove? You tell me.

No

 

[BrowningBAR]

I have placed "soldiers" around the stove if they are damp but keep an eye on them.. I have NOT placed them against the stove but 12-18" away and only if I am there.. Using an IR scanner I have seen surface temps around 250 degrees on oak.. I recall 450 degrees being needed for ignition.. This comes in handy if snow blows into the wood shelter and gets on the wood otherwise they usually reside in the 40" dia. wood hoop 8' away...

Ray

Being without a wood shed, I do this a lot when it rains or it gets icy. I don't like doing it as I know I am forgetful at times, but I do. I have never come close to an "oh sh!t" moment doing this. I do not lean wood against the stove, though. Knowing your own stupidity is key when it comes to every day life. I know how stupid I am. So I set my boundaries accordingly.

 

[raybonz]

I have placed "soldiers" around the stove if they are damp but keep an eye on them.. I have NOT placed them against the stove but 12-18" away and only if I am there.. Using an IR scanner I have seen surface temps around 250 degrees on oak.. I recall 450 degrees being needed for ignition.. This comes in handy if snow blows into the wood shelter and gets on the wood otherwise they usually reside in the 40" dia. wood hoop 8' away...

Ray

Being without a wood shed, I do this a lot when it rains or it gets icy. I don't like doing it as I know I am forgetful at times, but I do. I have never come close to an "oh sh!t" moment doing this. I do not lean wood against the stove, though. Knowing your own stupidity is key when it comes to every day life. I know how stupid I am. So I set my boundaries accordingly.

Never considered you to be stupid.. We all forget things or get distracted so don't be so hard on yourself .. When I place the soldiers around the stove I check to which way they are likely to fall and place them accordingly so they would tend to fall away from the stove.. We have cats here and they like to brush against things so I keep that in mind as they can be really stupid for real lol...

Ray

 

[North of 60]

Its just a dumb question waiting for an obvious answer in my opinion. Nothing to be taken personal though or heart felt.

As I have heard before though.........there is no such thing is a stupid question. Leave it to Forest Gump to play with a few of these words.
Cheers, Really.

 

[joefrompa]

I wanted to post this guys because I've seen this discussed on here before and people seem to have honest to God questions about "Would it really light". I wanted to try it out in a controlled environment and report back. I knew it wouldn't suddenly ignite, it'd smoke first - as it did here (though not visible smoke, just the strong smell).

I have been, for weeks now, putting splits within 6-10" of the stove in a criss-cross pattern to help dry them out. Even with 500 degree stove top temps for hours on end, those puppies barely feel warm to the touch due to the blower moving that hot air AWAY from the stove.

As a side note: I have my insert in the my fireplace, and about 2' away is a 30 inch high, 30 inch wide, 36" deep brick cavity to store wood. Alot of people on here report drying their wood out keeping it near the stove. I can tell you that wood kept in that cavity will have ice on it 2-days later after being brought into a warm home, if it's packed into the back of a pile of cold wood. If you want significant drying to occur, you need to bring the wood out and get either some air circulation or some direct line-of-sight heat transferrance to it.

Joe

 

[pen]

You are right Joe, there are places very close to the stove where heat simply does not transfer. However, the stove comes with specifications for clearances to combustables and these really should be maintained whether it makes sense or not or whether it is a permanent fixture or not. It's just the way it needs to be because of that freak day that your stove is the 1:25,000 that blows a weld out the back and suddenly your area where you could safely keep combustibles for years is not so safe.

I think this "just in case" mentality must also go into the ratings for the hearth pad requirements. The coolest spot within 5 feet of my stove is directly underneath it! The hottest places is about 2 to 3 feet in front of it! Yet the requirements for a hearth pad protect my coolest area and say my hottest area is safe w/ carpet. Go figure.

pen

 

[par0thead151]

Only if you want to burn the house down!

this.
i hope the OP is not serious.
and i hope you read your manual for the stove again.

clearance to combustibles is not a recommendation, its what you MUST obey to avoid a fire.
wet wood too close to the stove will burn your house down just as well as dry wood will...

 

[iceisasolid]

Tap a sugar maple and boil down some sap if you want the smell. Otherwise be safe, distractions can lead to trouble.

do the same with paper birch.

oh yeah... don't lean wood against the stove.

 

[Mrs. Krabappel]

Knowing your own stupidity is key when it comes to every day life. I know how stupid I am. So I set my boundaries accordingly.

Classic!!

 

[tsquini]

This is not a wise decision. There was recently a post about drying wood on top of a stove, also not a brilliant idea (https://www.hearth.com/econtent/index.php/forums/viewthread/70544/). I have come to the conclusion that if someone needs to ask someone else if a method of seasoning fire wood is safe or not safe, most likely is not safe. I personally find the best way to season wood is keep it outside and about 93 million miles or 149 million kilometers away from the sun. If you can add a touch of wind it will help.

 

[BrotherBart]

The bottom line is that it is just not worth the risk. Back in the day I have laid snow covered wood next to the stove to try to dry it out. Now I get concerned about the wood rack three feet away. Just too many news stories about burned down houses where the wood was stored too close to the stove.

Every near disaster story posted on this forum starts off with "And I got distracted..."

Load your stove and position combustibles just like you expect to have to run out the door for an emergency any minute.

 

[raybonz]

The bottom line is that it is just not worth the risk. Back in the day I have laid snow covered wood next to the stove to try to dry it out. Now I get concerned about the wood rack three feet away. Just too many news stories about burned down houses where the wood was stored too close to the stove.

Every near disaster story posted on this forum starts off with "And I got distracted..."

Load your stove and position combustibles just like you expect to have to run out the door for an emergency any minute.

+1 Well said Bart and probably the wisest advice you've ever given in my 3 years here..

Thanx,

Ray

 

[BrotherBart]

Well heck. I though post number 12,234 was pretty good. :-S

 

[BrowningBAR]

Knowing your own stupidity is key when it comes to every day life. I know how stupid I am. So I set my boundaries accordingly.

Classic!!

Just being honest with myself...

 

[BrowningBAR]

Never considered you to be stupid.. We all forget things or get distracted so don't be so hard on yourself

I have a long list of examples and references to prove my case

 

[CarbonNeutral]

This is not a wise decision. There was recently a post about drying wood on top of a stove, also not a brilliant idea (https://www.hearth.com/econtent/index.php/forums/viewthread/70544/). I have come to the conclusion that if someone needs to ask someone else if a method of seasoning fire wood is safe or not safe, most likely is not safe. I personally find the best way to season wood is keep it outside and about 93 million miles or 149 million kilometers away from the sun. If you can add a touch of wind it will help.

I wonder what the clearance to combustibles is from the sun - don't have to worry about convective heat, just radiant..... Does anyone have the manual for the (our) sun?? I had one hanging around for Betelgeuse, but I don't think they're by the same manufacturer...

 

[yooperdave]

safe to lean against a wood stove??????? absolutely not...you already know, right?
a few years back, a fellow i know was ice fishing (drinking) at a big ice shack he made with his buddies. (drinking) they used a barrel stove for heat since the shack was so big...something like 12x20 or 12x24. had to dis-assemble and re-assemble whenever it was moved. lp cook stove, kitchen table/chairs, tv, beds, cabinets...you get the picture. once when everyone was out on a weekend fishing (drinking) he decided to stand a little close to the stove and leaned up against it (drinking). ended up with burns from his knee to his lower back and was rolling around in the snow in his bvd's (drinking). took months for him to heal well enough not to be in pain. i guess the stove felt that he had invaded the "stoves space". (drinking)
with that example in mind, don't lean anything against the stove