DeadTreeBurner
Member
It's amazing how stubbornly dumb some people can be.Thank you for posting this. You can tell people until you are blue in the face the importance of dry wood, but a picture is worth a thousand words!
It's amazing how stubbornly dumb some people can be.Thank you for posting this. You can tell people until you are blue in the face the importance of dry wood, but a picture is worth a thousand words!
Your not testing every piece of every batch, you testing the pile, so bring a couple random splits inside, let them warm up, re-split and test, if its in the ball park and batch was cut and split at the same time and kept in a place were the batch is kept together, 3 or 4 random pieces will tell you whether the whole pile is good or not.I got a MM with my furnace. The main problem I have with using it is the standard that the wood should be at 70 degrees. If I had stuff at 70 degrees regularly, I'd have so much less use for wood!
Seriously - does anybody have any real info on how temperature affects the readings? Being able to convert to 50 or 20 would make the thing usable.
Not that it's hard to tell with softwood if it's dry or not, but it would be a fun toy to have to compare to the moisture levels so many people post about.
Drying time also depends on the split thickness. Locally a friend is testing this with 3" thick oak splits that was stacked last summer. We'll be checking it around August to see how it's doing.If you cant get oak ready in two years you need to find a new place to stack where its exposed to sun and wind. I know not everyone has that option but two years where I stack and it's down to 20%.
Jotul says 24 months but they probably should give a specific moisture content instead. With very dry wood (like 15%) I’d try not to load in a hot stove (more than 350 stovetop). I have a newer 2020 regency 2450 that goes a bit crazy if I load very dry wood on hot coals.How dry is too dry? In my Jotul manual it states wood seasoned more than 24 months hurts the lower end efficiency of the stove. Also looking at the EPA test of my stove they used Red Oak at 19-20% moisture. So if they used 15% Oak how would that effect the test?
lately I’ve been burning 5 year old mixed hardwood that is very dry 15% give or take. Most of the time it likes to outgass just about all at once, burns very hot for an hour then turns into a big pile of coal which doesn’t seem to give off much heat. Maybe that’s what Jotul means by low end efficiency? I have to keep adjusting the air higher throughout the burn in order to burn the coals down enough for the next reload. In comparison when I burn a full load of 1 year old18-20% Aspen it off gasses slower and burns through to a smaller base of coals without messing with the air. I know there are many variables in all this but I think I prefer burning the Aspen . It only takes 6-12 months to drop to 20% and I don’t need to stock pile 3 years worth of harder woods to get to the magic 20%.
Agreed, moisture content would be better but they use 20% for testing so is that what they consider optimal? I’m thinking 15% could be too dry in certain situations.Jotul says 24 months but they probably should give a specific moisture content instead. With very dry wood (like 15%) I’d try not to load in a hot stove (more than 350 stovetop). I have a newer 2020 regency 2450 that goes a bit crazy if I load very dry wood on hot coals.
Could be, which you’d figure would be more user friendly for most. I’ve noticed a big difference with my normal 18-21 percent wood, compared to either times of drought or when I had inherited some bone dry wood stored in a shed for several years.Agreed, moisture content would be better but they use 20% for testing so is that what they consider optimal? I’m thinking 15% could be too dry in certain situations.
Dang, this has me rethinking my 3 year wood plan.Agreed, moisture content would be better but they use 20% for testing so is that what they consider optimal? I’m thinking 15% could be too dry in certain situations.
I’d always go for 3yrs as opposed to less. Can always turn the stove down sooner.Dang, this has me rethinking my 3 year wood plan.
Maybe try an E/W load if your getting down to your lowest air setting. This year, with my wood being drier, besides shutting down faster I can shut it farther without smoking the glassI definitely have to turn the stove down sooner with this wood, 10 min and I’m at low. It slows it down temporarily but it still comes back strong and is at full off gassing in 30-45 min. I haven’t overfired yet but need to keep a closer eye on things.
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