The DOE recommends Pine.

[dancarbo]

You are right right, next they will be saying burn green pine? I prefer the advice of the old timers on this site, oak, ash, hicory and other hardwoods for long burns and pine on startup and the marginal season. I'm not giving up my hardwoods.

 

[madrone]

I'll probably be doing a few overnighters with Pine next year, it's what I'll have the most of. Pine works pretty well in this climate. Still, I'm a little confused by this recommendation. On the one hand, I'm pleased to see Pine get official recognition as a firewood rather than a health hazard, but on the other hand I'm not sure it's my "go to" overnight wood. I've been saving some Oak in case we get another cold snap this winter.

BTW, I dig your work, AP. I started out as a ceramicist, but wandered into metals along the way.

 

[Battenkiller]

I started out as a ceramicist, but wandered into metals along the way.

As long as there's fire involved, all is fine. ;-)

BTW, you should see the wood-fired kiln Adios uses. I think there's a video of it on YouTube. Check out his website, awesome fire-breathing dragon. It think it even digests green pine without a problem. :wow:

 

[Fsappo]

You are right right, next they will be saying burn green pine? I prefer the advice of the old timers on this site, oak, ash, hicory and other hardwoods for long burns and pine on startup and the marginal season. I'm not giving up my hardwoods.

This reminds me of a conversation I had with someone at the DEC. A few years ago, before the tax credit was announced, I was inquiring thru different NYS Agencies as to why high efficiency biomass was not considered an applicable measure in regards to energy related rebates. I finally got to talk to the person at NY DEC who "Made the call not to include pellet stoves in the definition of alternative energy sources"

Without getting into detail, it went something like this:

Me "Hello, I would like to know why you would not consider someone swapping out an oil boiler for a pellet boiler for a tax incentive."
DEC guy " well, a pellet boiler burns wood and pollutes the air more than an oil boiler"
Me "pollutes it with what, and what standard of tests are you using"
DEC Guy " creosote, and we were told this by folks at peerless boilers who ran their own tests"
Me "but isnt burning a renewable resource going to have less of an envirmental impact than burning fossil fuels, considering a large portion of the raw materials going into the production of pellets comes from wood waste, that 20 years ago sometimes ended up in landfills?"
Dec guy " I'm not sure, let me check into that and I'll call you tomorrow"

I call back a week later:
Me "so did you find out anything about how pellets are made and distributed and how they impact the environment along with looking at some independent studies on emission's?"
Dec guy "yes, and it turns out that pellets are renewable and oil is not. Also, the impact on the environment is better when burning pellets, except the creosote they put in the air"
Me "creosote in the air?"
DEC guy " Yes, pellets are made from wood, which makes creosote, so they can have the potential to put creosote into the air"
Me " Ok, that makes sense" (I just wanted to move on to the next point. Keep in mind, this is the fellow who reviews and makes decisions on alternative energy)
Me " so why not encourage folks to switch from oil to pellets?"
Dec guy " Because they should be switching to high efficiency propane boilers. Propane burns cleaner than oil or pellets" (Partially true)
Me " Yes, propane furnaces burn clean in regards to particulates, but how about the overall carbon footprint"?
DEC guy "if it burns cleaner, it has less of a carbon footprint, if we just leave the trees in the forest, they help clean the air"
Me" do you know what happens to a tree when it dies and decomposes and how that effects the carbon footprint in comparison to burning oil or gas?"
DEC guy" wood will turn to coal"
Me" Would you like to research that and get back to me?"
Dec guy "sure, I'll call you tomorrow"

I call a week later
Me" did you find out about the effects on the environment in regards to letting a tree rot or burning it in a high efficiency furnace?"
Dec guy " Yes, but the problem isnt with that. Its with the fossil fuel used to haul the timber out of the forest and cut it"
Me "But didnt we talk about the fact that a lot of the raw materials from pellets comes from wood waste?"
Dec guy" Yes, but you need to drive a truck to get the pellets from the factory to the peoples homes"
Me" How does crude oil or propane get to a customers home?"
Dec guy "well, oil doesnt burn that dirty and propane is cleaner than pellets and we dont have to destroy our forests to get oil or propane"
Me "so your saying the environmental impact of getting wood pellets from a lumber mill, to a pellet mill to a customers is greater than getting oil from the ground to a refinery and to a customers home?"
Dec guy "I'll have to get back to you on that one"

Then he stopped getting on the phone from me and I havent heard from him since.

I think the DEC should be run by loggers, commercial fishermen, hunters, etc. Not pencil necks who are handed a book called "Horton tells about trees"

Anyhoooooooo

 

[n3pro]

"Some well-seasoned wood can in fact be too dry for today's airtight modern stoves. If you place wood that is too dry on a bed of coals, it will instantly give up its gases as smoke, wasting unburned smoke and producing creosote buildup."

I never heard of creosote buildup from wood that is too dry. I guess I better put a spray bottle by the stove just incase I get too dry wood.

 

[oldspark]

some how a straight forward process (drying firewood) can be made complicated by "too many cooks"

 

[gibson]

I always look to the US government for good information on how to lead my life. Those folks are really looking out for us.

 

[oldspark]

"Some well-seasoned wood can in fact be too dry for today's airtight modern stoves. If you place wood that is too dry on a bed of coals, it will instantly give up its gases as smoke, wasting unburned smoke and producing creosote buildup."

I never heard of creosote buildup from wood that is too dry. I guess I better put a spray bottle by the stove just incase I get too dry wood.

I was hoping some one else had an opinion on this but I'll go first, this has been discussed (argued) on here before and I do know punky wood will gas off and kick in the secondaries imeditately after putting the wood in the stove but did not know they claimed creosote buildup. The other thing is most people say that the wood will not get too dry if kept from rotting or turning punky.

 

[benjamin]

"Some well-seasoned wood can in fact be too dry for today's airtight modern stoves. If you place wood that is too dry on a bed of coals, it will instantly give up its gases as smoke, wasting unburned smoke and producing creosote buildup."

I never heard of creosote buildup from wood that is too dry. I guess I better put a spray bottle by the stove just incase I get too dry wood.

I was hoping some one else had an opinion on this but I'll go first, this has been discussed (argued) on here before and I do now punky wood will gas off and kick in the secondaries imeditately after putting the wood in the stove but did not know they claimed creosote buildup. The other thing is most people say that the wood will not get too dry if kept from rotting or turning punky.

Agreed with regards to punky wood. Is it also possible that "too dry" wood would act like too many small pieces and burn too fast (faster than the stove is designed to handle) causing this waste of gasses?

In reality it seems extremely unlikely that this would happen but I'm careful never to split wood just in case.

Regarding the long burning of pine, are they talking about pine in relation to even less dense woods? Maybe some areas burn pine, spruce and cedar, and the pine is best for overnight burns? Just trying to fugure out what they could mean by that.

 

[firefighterjake]

Always question any government document. I've never seen anyone who could screw up more than a government agency.

Hmmm . . . maybe this explains the nervous laughter when I show up at a local business to do a fire inspection for their City license and tell them, "Hi. I'm with the government and I'm here to help."