soaked firewood

[chuck172]

I may be running short of firewood this winter. I have next years wood heaped up, uncovered and soaked.
It's seasoned, but wet. Is it possible to bring it in and dry it out load by load or maybe mix it with the remaining dry wood?

 

[huffdawg]

I may be running short of firewood this winter. I have next years wood heaped up, uncovered and soaked.
It's seasoned, but wet. Is it possible to bring it in and dry it out load by load or maybe mix it with the remaining dry wood?

I have been doing that for 3 years , I cut seasoned wood in all seasons it sits outside in the rain and snow . I can stack 2 weeks worth of wood in my boiler room. I rotate stacks and this allows them to dry in there quite fast. Its not the most ideal way but it works..

Huff

 

[chuck172]

How long does it take the soaked, soggy wood to dry in your boiler room huffdawg?

 

[huffdawg]

It depends if I'm lighting one or two fires a day. Usually a couple of days before you stop feeling the moisture in the boiler room,but its usually a week till I start burning it.. I burn softwood also and I split quite small maybe on average 3"x3" . My boiler room gets up to 140f sometimes .

 

[chuck172]

140*? You're baking that wood.

 

[huffdawg]

I use it as a sauna once in while.. with a cold beer of course.

 

[Valhalla]

I may be running short of firewood this winter. I have next years wood heaped up, uncovered and soaked.
It's seasoned, but wet. Is it possible to bring it in and dry it out load by load or maybe mix it with the remaining dry wood?

In years past, I dealt with similar situations. On dry days, leave the tarp off for the sun and air to circulate. When rain or snow is forecast cover with a small tarp to keep water off, but allow air circulation through all the sides of your stacks. Do not cover with tarp touching to the ground, as the moisture is trapped within. Rain and snowmelt will dry in a short time. Keeping the air circulating is a must.

 

[maple1]

You can dry it. Bring it inside (preferably into a warm spot), resplit smaller if at all possible, stack as much as you can, and set a box fan up blowing into the bottom of the stack on low speed during waking hours. Rotate as necessary. Start at it right now.

 

[mr.fixit]

I may be running short of firewood this winter. I have next years wood heaped up, uncovered and soaked.
It's seasoned, but wet. Is it possible to bring it in and dry it out load by load or maybe mix it with the remaining dry wood?

A simple box fan blowing on the wood inside the boiler room really speeds up the drying.

 

[chuck172]

Like the idea of using a fan to dry wood, I'll stack some in the basement and start drying today. thanks

 

[BoilerMan]

The real question is:
Where does all that moisture go?

TS

 

[huffdawg]

it goes slowly through the boiler

 

[BoilerMan]

it goes slowly through the boiler

In the house?

TS

 

[maple1]

Where does all that moisture go?

TS

Check out all the humidifier threads around this place - sounds like its needed.

 

[Floydian]

Check out all the humidifier threads around this place - sounds like its needed.

Sick and tired of that cheap, low performance, made in China humidifier? Try the all new DIY Cord Wood Humidier. Warning: Not to be used in tight houses. Wet seasoned wood only. Use of green wood in enclosed areas can cause serious health issues or even death.

Seriously, there are a lot of humidifier threads- A sure indication that there are lots of houses that could really benefit from some air sealing to lower those high natural ventilation rates.

Noah

 

[Ram 1500 with an axe...]

Damp wood sucks...

 

[BoilerMan]

Sick and tired of that cheap, low performance, made in China humidifier? Try the all new DIY Cord Wood Humidier. Warning: Not to be used in tight houses. Wet seasoned wood only. Use of green wood in enclosed areas can cause serious health issues or even death.

Seriously, there are a lot of humidifier threads- A sure indication that there are lots of houses that could really benefit from some air sealing to lower those high natural ventilation rates.

Noah

Monitoring indoor humidity levels is a good indication of how tight the building envelope is.......

TS

 

[huffdawg]

In the house?

TS

No I have a boiler room attached to the back of my shop with a weatherproof exterior door as an entrance to it . I am sure the boiler sucks all the humidity through it. a bit of the humidity escapes out into my shop when I open the door but i'm not to worried about it. I have a 6" Fresh air supply duct to supply boiler. The boiler pulls a lot of air through my boiler room.
My house has one of these ,not that particular one ,but for the same purpose. HRV.. heat recovery ventilation.

 

[arrowe44]

This was on local news last nite, no details on source of heat for kiln.
Firewood may be running low because of cold weather
Don Carrigan, NEWS CENTER

Jan 20, 2014

ALNA, Maine (NEWS CENTER) -- The return of cold weather may be a problem for people who heat their homes with wood. Firewood dealers tell us a lot of woodpiles may be running low, because the cold weather in December and early January caused people to burn more wood than usual. That means some dealers - the ones who still have dry wood available -- are scrambling to get customers re-supplied.

At Black Fly Firewood in Alna, the owners say the phones have been ringing constantly with customers worried they may run out of wood. The company specializes in kiln-dried firewood, using a heated kiln that can dry green wood to be stove ready in just a few days. They say customers are happy to be able to find dry wood this time of year, and demand is so heavy they have a six to eight week backlog of orders.

Co-owner Louis Brown says he understands the customers' problem. Brown says his own home woodpile is far lower than it would normally be this time of year, and he suspects he won't have enough to last until spring. At one customer's home where he delivered today, Brown was told the person living there had been cutting dead trees in the woods to keep fire going after the supply in the woodshed ran out.

Brown and Dwane Sukeforth had a traditional firewood business for several years, but last year they bought out another local business that did kiln drying. They say using the kiln is the best way to ensure getting dry wood during the winter, when air-dried or seasoned firewood is typically not available. The price for kiln0dired runs $325 per cord, comparied to $280 for seasoned, but Brown and Sukeforth say the kiln-dried wood produces more heat, and is very popular with customers. They say that even with the higher price, kiln-dried wood is still less costly than heating oil.

 

[Fred61]

Below is a very poor cellphone photo of 2 of 7 kilns at Treehugger Farms in Westmorland NH. The owner claims he's shipping 60 cords per day. The advantage of kiln dried firewood is that they can ship across state and county lines since it is assumed that the bugs are cooked (medium rare).

He started out with his first kiln using a Wood Gun burning the sawdust but it didn't work out for him so he went with hot air furnaces using regular firewood. This place is really steaming on those below zero mornings.

Sorry I couldn't get a better photo but I was gumming up traffic and had to move.

 

[henfruit]

I was at the local saw mill getting sawdust for the animals yesterday. I was speaking to the owner about there boiler that runs there kilns. It is a low pressure steam (13lbs). This time of the year with the green sawdust they burn, they have a hard time getting it up to 3lbs. They have been mixing in ground up kiln dried scrap that they produce. This has allowed them to get the boiler up to 8 lbs. They had a great pile of dried chips. I am tempted to try a few in my boiler and see how they work.

 

[bmblank]

Brown was told the person living there had been cutting dead trees in the woods to keep fire going after the supply in the woodshed ran out.

*GASP* You mean you've been cutting your own firewood?!?!

 

[WiscWoody]

*GASP* You mean you've been cutting your own firewood?!?!

That'll be very cold day when I pay someone for my firewood. I keep a 3 year supply so dry wood is always available. But I do realize that many can't do that due to the lack of scavenger supplied wood that is easy to come by up here and the room to store their bounty.

-26F up here now so I better put some more dry wood in der stove dare!

 

[Fred61]

I need to stack one more cord in order to complete my 2016-2017 supply.

 

[WiscWoody]

If you do need to buy wood here in Wisconsin it will cost you $50 a face cord for Maple both soft and hard and $55 for Red Oak. Not delivered.