Based on my experience and from what I have read it seems that most pre epa wood stoves will burn less than seasoned wood ok as newer epa approved stoves often will go out or burn with very little flame or heat output. Why is this? Dont get me wrong I am more than satisfied with my epa stove and have learned to allow my wood to season properly before attempting to burn. Any thoughts on why these newer stoves are more "pickey" when it comes to wood?
Why do pre-epa stoves seem to be more tolerant of not so well seasoned wood?
- Thread starter wood4heat
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Pre-EPA stoves provide a great deal more air to the firebox. It takes lots of air to get poorly seasoned wood to burn, and it burns much faster than dry wood because the higher burn rate is needed to generate the heat needed to evaporate the moisture and keep a flame going.
EPA stoves aren't any less tolerant of less than dry wood. They will burn it. What they are less tolerant of is poor draft. With the right sized chimney and some primary air they will toast crappy wood just as well as the infamous "smoke dragons". But they won't do it on the same crappy flue as the old stoves. Too long a trip for that primary air to get to the wood for them to burn like stoves that just had a couple of hole in the front of the stove aimed at the wood.
And with the old stove a person just looked for the wood to burn. When they get a new one they jump on hearth.com and start wanting the infamous "secondary burn" which the moisture in wet wood ain't gonna let happen.
Ever wonder where the millions of new stove owners that just want a nice fire in their stove are instead of here? Just watching the pretty flames. And figure all wood stoves smoke.
And with the old stove a person just looked for the wood to burn. When they get a new one they jump on hearth.com and start wanting the infamous "secondary burn" which the moisture in wet wood ain't gonna let happen.
Ever wonder where the millions of new stove owners that just want a nice fire in their stove are instead of here? Just watching the pretty flames. And figure all wood stoves smoke.
+1 to Brother Bart
The EPA exempt stove on average burn 35Lbs of oxygen for every 1 Lb of wood. Once the fire get going it isnt difficult to get a good draft...
The EPA exempt stove on average burn 35Lbs of oxygen for every 1 Lb of wood. Once the fire get going it isnt difficult to get a good draft...
wood4heat said:
They may have burned less than seasoned wood but not okay. Many still do today as I see it all around us. Some folks will never learn and many have no intention of ever changing their ways. As for us, we had trouble burning less than seasoned wood in the old stoves the same as with the new stoves. Fortunately I learned at a very young age that dry wood burns a whole lot better than partially seasoned wood. My biggest lesson came with getting wood for my mother's wood cook stove. I learned really fast that you had to have dry wood for that, so putting 2 and 2 together, and coming up with 22, I figured what was good in the cook stove must also be the same in the heating stove. I lucked out and was right and have stuck with that ever since.
Brotherbart is right on. Another reason Those older stoves seem to heat ok with green wood is because they tend to be larger than alot of the newer EPA stoves. If you have someone that did ok burning green wood in their smoke dragon with a 3.5-4cubic foot firebox and then they get sold on buying an EPA stove with a 2.5 cubic foot firebox, then that green wood is going to cause problems and the new stove gets the blame.
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