Will Wood Dry in the Winter Months

[Thomask9590]

If I leave wood out all year but cover it from snow, will it continue to season or just freeze?

 

[savageactor7]

HUH? ...never figured it would but truthfully I dunno. Guess I'm just old school.

 

[BrotherBart]

Snow and ice evaporate because the humidity is so low in winter so it stands to reason that moisture evaporates out of wood under the same conditions.

Heck it is raining so much here this summer, winter will be the only time my wood gets to dry out.

 

[mtarbert]

Frozen water will evaporate (Sublime) given enough time. Frozen wet wood would take years to dry out.
Mike

 

[RedRanger]

Frozen water will evaporate (Sublime) given enough time. Frozen wet wood would take years to dry out.
Mike

Then I guess that all of us that live in the northern clime`s will never be able to burn firewood. Makes about as much sense as putting huckleberries on the bbq stick :vampire: Nonsense!!

 

[fossil]

Of course the wood will continue to season, so long as you protect the stack from precipitation. Even if it gets wet on the outside, it will continue to season. If the wood starts out with a really high moisture content and freezes hard immediately (not likely), the worst that could happen, seems to me, is cracks tend to form in it, which will promote the eventual seasoning anyway. If it's that wet, you aint gonna be burning it for a year or two anyway. I don't know of any woodburner who doesn't store firewood outside all year long. Rick

 

[gyrfalcon]

If I leave wood out all year but cover it from snow, will it continue to season or just freeze?

I left some unseasoned rock maple splits stacked next to the north wall of my barn uncovered last winter. By springtime, the wood had definitely seasoned some and the smaller splits were certainly burnable. To the extent it got wet from snow, it didn't stay wet for long. (It's now stacked out in full sun and breeze and should be great this coming winter.)

I don't think you gain anything by covering it, especially if it's going to spend the following summer outside before burning. Even really water-wet wood in winter dries out in a couple days in the house, a couple hours if it's near the hearth, a couple weeks in a covered woodshed. I think the wood gains much more from being in sun and air than it loses by getting snow on it.

 

[dolmen]

Interesting question and answers, it had crossed my mind but I never got round to answering myself ;-) The stacks I have are well dried at the moment, they have been built since feb/mar'08 and on a wet day they do get wet, but are dry again within hours when the sun shines.

I do tend to throw them into an airy shed before summer ends, its so much nicer to handle during the wet wet winter.

Cheers

;-)

 

[Gator eye]

I got to think that wood will season in cold winter weather, ever hear of freeze dried????

Us northern people that ice fish will tell you the wind will dry you out fast on a sub zero windy day.

 

[Adios Pantalones]

It depends on the winter. One of those cold pain in the neck winters with little snow- probably get some drying at a slower rate. Last winter- cold and snowy- if you keep the top of the pile clear you're good; if not- then you have wood buried in snow and a warmish day will soak everything. Those sloppy warmer winters with lots of rain and slush- they aint doing anything for anyone or their wood.

Some piles I get to the bottom and the wood is soaked because of the snow piled against the backside, or that slides in a big pile off the top.

 

[Jags]

Ever wonder about that package of chicken breasts that you forgot in the bottom of the freezer? Why do they look so white? Hmmm...could probably ram a stick into it and use it as a rubber mallet. Yep....Moisture got sucked out of it from the cold, dry environment.

I think wood will act similar.

 

[billb3]

Laundry dries in the wind in the Winter.

You can get wind burn and sun burn in the Winter, too.

 

[myzamboni]

Frozen water will evaporate (Sublime) given enough time. Frozen wet wood would take years to dry out.
Mike

assuming perpetual winter, you're right.

 

[Adios Pantalones]

Well, come Ragnarock- this could be a real issue then

 

[RedRanger]

Frozen water will evaporate (Sublime) given enough time. Frozen wet wood would take years to dry out.
Mike

Some of the members here had to dig out some wood from under the snow and stacked it-ends up around the hearth to dry out. and it dryed and was burnable in a matter of hours. because only the outside of it was wet. Please let this guy know, that it never really soaks up that much moisture once it is properly dried during the summer months.

This guy just doesn`t seem to get it?

 

[woodconvert]

Kinda one of those "depends where you are" questions. If you are below freezing for the most part then for sure, you'll continue to season the wood through sublimation. Typically here in Michigan, we get plenty of sub freezing days with low humidity. This is a bonus. If you live where there are mild winters, mostly humid conditions and little sun/wind then seasoning wood in the winter prolly isn't so good. Regardless, frozen wet wood does sublimate moisture thus season but I believe at a slower rate.

 

[savageactor7]

^right location is the factor.

CNY is the cloud graveyard, if wood is seasoning here in the winter it would be 'just barely' and nothing you should ever depend or count on. Once again I'm just going by my personal experience.

 

[BrotherBart]

Hmmm... Let's see here. If wood doesn't season in winter then wood split and stacked in May would be just as seasoned by October as wood split and stacked the previous October.

Ergo, why season it for a year?

 

[Adios Pantalones]

It probably makes less difference on that end, IMO. One dry sunny day with a little breeze is worth a couple weeks in the winter I'd guess. I think that when in the year the tree is cut (if alive) is probably more important: they contain so much less water in dormant months. A tree in the winter has allowed a good amount of water to drain out I think- that's water that you'd have to let dry if it was cut in the summer, so you lose some time anyway.


(We could use the Clausius Clapeyron equation to figure it out I suppose- LOL)

 

[Jags]

Or if you cut/split/stack in Jan. and burn it the next Jan. is it really only 6 or 7 months seasoned? :coolsmirk:

 

[gerry100]

If it's coated in ice, no.

But the air in the winter is drier even though it's colder.

The moisture content in the wood will naturally move towards eqiulibrium with it's surroundings.

 

[JustWood]

You're already ahead of the game by cutting your wood Nov 1 - Jan 1(trees are dormant at this time) because it will have a lower moisture content than wood cut in Mar Apr or May. Wood cut in spring is just loaded with sap. Even if you can cut the tree off the stump in fall and wait to process it later you'll be further ahead.

 

[Ken45]

Frozen water will evaporate (Sublime) given enough time. Frozen wet wood would take years to dry out.
Mike

assuming perpetual winter, you're right.

Is there a new ice age coming? What happened to "global warming"? ;-)

Ken

 

[fossil]

If it's coated in ice, no.

Agreed, "it's the humidity, stupid!" If it's coated in ice, then you forgot to do something you should probably have done...cover the top of the stack. Rick

 

[fossil]

...Is there a new ice age coming?

In all probability...as is the death of the sun, during which the earth will be swallowed up by the expanding corona and pretty much vaporized...but I don't think we have to worry about any of this before the next burning season. Rick