wood stoves and fresh Christmas trees

  • Active since 1995, Hearth.com is THE place on the internet for free information and advice about wood stoves, pellet stoves and other energy saving equipment.

    We strive to provide opinions, articles, discussions and history related to Hearth Products and in a more general sense, energy issues.

    We promote the EFFICIENT, RESPONSIBLE, CLEAN and SAFE use of all fuels, whether renewable or fossil.
Status
Not open for further replies.
B

bears12th

Member
Hearth Supporter
Feb 28, 2008
53
Eastern Connecticut
So here the question:

Wife and I have had a fake tree since we put the wood stove in three years ago. We (read - she) want to have a fresh cut tree this year and have no better place than to put it in our family room where our Jotul Winterport is located. It can get warm in our little family room - no real open floor plan. I am wondering what others' experiences are with fresh cut Christmas trees and wood stoves located in the same room. How long until you start worrying about tree drying out and what not? How close is too close for a tree/stove relationship?

Thanks all.
 
bears12th said:
So here the question:

Wife and I have had a fake tree since we put the wood stove in three years ago. We (read - she) want to have a fresh cut tree this year and have no better place than to put it in our family room where our Jotul Winterport is located. It can get warm in our little family room - no real open floor plan. I am wondering what others' experiences are with fresh cut Christmas trees and wood stoves located in the same room. How long until you start worrying about tree drying out and what not? How close is too close for a tree/stove relationship?

Thanks all.
Click to expand...

I would keep it as far away as possible. I have an add-on so my unit isn't even on the same floor as the Christmas tree, but the air in the house still gets very dry when we're burning 24/7, and our tree drank like there was no tomorrow last year. It didn't turn brown or anything, but it did drop a lot of needles. I'm going to try using a humidifier in the living room this year.
 
Not that you'd have it any where near the fire, but I'll throw this out there:



I would prefer a real tree (apart from the expense), but we resign ourselves to a fake one.....
 
This is a better one:

 
distance is your friend. Keep it as far as possible from the stove. And make sure to keep adding water to it as needed. Those things dry up pretty fast in dry heat which stoves produce.
 
bears12th said:
So here the question:

How close is too close for a tree/stove relationship?

Thanks all.
Click to expand...

Depends on which side of the fence you're on. My stove has a close tree/stove relationship everyday. It loves trees in bite sized chunks. :cheese:
 
I cut down a pine tree every year for the house(and use the first 6' of it, the rest is split/stacked for next year's stoves). We keep them in the same room about 15 feet apart. We keep a pot on the stove with water and keep the tree well watered. I have not noticed a problem yet.
 
Fires with real Christmas trees is mostly a myth! This probably started when in the old days people used candles on their trees. Not a good thing to do!

I hope our friend Firefighter Jake gets to this thread to help set it straight. He had a good thread about this (but I won't search for it) and it seems to me he was invited to speak about fires with real Christmas trees....and he couldn't get it to even burn.

We've always had real trees and have never had a problem. One thing we do though is cut our own tree, then add sugar to the water and make sure the tree does not run out of water. It should be good for at least a month without losing a lot of needles. That is, if it is not a spruce. Scotch pine keeps the needles well. Spruce are pretty but make a poor Christmas tree.

btw, yes, we have the tree in the stove room and it sits about 12' from the stove.
 
It's an annual topic. Cut at least an inch off the bottom of the tree before putting it in the stand. Keep the tree watered. When it stops taking up water it will start to dry out. Once the tree is fully dry and needles are dropping it's time to remove it. There is probably as much or more danger from the old style incandescent bulbs starting a tree fire at that point as there is from the stove unless it's really close by. (And that would be bad to do at any time, synthetic, fresh or not.)
 
Dammit, you people with your real life anecdotes, don't tell my wife, we'll be in for $60 every year now. So, I guess the key is to keep it watered....
 
Many years ago we lived in a house with a fireplace and had the tree in the same room. While we were taking down the tree one day in Feb-March, some one threw a branch into the fire. It was amazing how quick it incinrerated.

Poof, gone!

It really hit home how flamable this tree was at the end of the season. Now that I'm older I have a small artificial tree for reasons other than flamability, money and convienience, mostly. But I also enjoy one less fire hazard in my house.

Bah Humbug!
 
Dennis is right. I saw the other threads that Jake gave out the real info. Bottom line is the only way a tree will burn like that video is if it is totally dried out (as in no water for a month dry).

Just keep it watered and you are fine.

I have our real tree in the same room as the hearth and its nowhere near 15ft away. No issues. Even the day we take it down in Jan it probably still wont lite if you put a match to it. When I was a kid we always did the same with my Dad's old '79 resolute and Im still here to tell the tale ;)
 
CarbonNeutral said:
Dammit, you people with your real life anecdotes, don't tell my wife, we'll be in for $60 every year now. So, I guess the key is to keep it watered....
Click to expand...


$60. Wow! Sure makes me happy when every year I walk out behind the house with a saw and bring back a tree. Shoot, we have a neighbor out of work so I invited him to also come cut a tree for his family. Dang, I love living in the country!
 
Backwoods Savage said:
Shoot, we have a neighbor out of work so I invited him to also come cut a tree for his family. Dang, I love living in the country!
Click to expand...

Dennis - your just good people. It wouldn't matter if you were in the country or on an island. :)
 
Thanks Jags. We just try to be good neighbors. We also like that statement that a famous person once made. It is something like, "Inasmuch as you have done onto the least of these you have done it unto me."
 
jharkin said:
Bottom line is the only way a tree will burn like that video is if it is totally dried out (as in no water for a month dry).

Just keep it watered and you are fine.

)
Click to expand...

How long ago were those purty store bought trees cut down before they went down the highway at 70mph ?

How many people ( and resellers) do not cut an inch or so of the trunk to increase water uptake ?
 
billb3 said:
How long ago were those purty store bought trees cut down before they went down the highway at 70mph ?

How many people ( and resellers) do not cut an inch or so of the trunk to increase water uptake ?
Click to expand...

We cut our own at a local farm that's 15 minutes away-even still I always make a second cut immediately before actually putting the tree in the stand just in case. Sap fills up wounds pretty quickly.
 
Wow that tree had some good secondaries going when it went up. Wife wanted a real tree, but I don't want the mess of the needles and such. I'll stick with my fake tree.
 
Backwoods Savage said:
CarbonNeutral said:
Dammit, you people with your real life anecdotes, don't tell my wife, we'll be in for $60 every year now. So, I guess the key is to keep it watered....
Click to expand...


$60. Wow! Sure makes me happy when every year I walk out behind the house with a saw and bring back a tree. Shoot, we have a neighbor out of work so I invited him to also come cut a tree for his family. Dang, I love living in the country!
Click to expand...

Your Aces Dennis. Wish i had you as my neighbor.
 
billb3 said:
jharkin said:
Bottom line is the only way a tree will burn like that video is if it is totally dried out (as in no water for a month dry).

Just keep it watered and you are fine.

)
Click to expand...

How long ago were those purty store bought trees cut down before they went down the highway at 70mph ? Hard to say . . . I would guess it would range from fresh cut (at you pick places) to several weeks since many trees are cut right before or around Thanksgiving. Fortunately . . . for the tree . . . they retain water for quite a while . . . as we wood burners know from the need to season wood for month before they are truly good to go in the woodstove.

How many people ( and resellers) do not cut an inch or so of the trunk to increase water uptake ? Hard to say . . . I would hope most folks either get the re-seller to cut an inch or two off the base . . . or do so themselves.
Click to expand...
 
Backwoods Savage said:
Thanks Jags. We just try to be good neighbors. We also like that statement that a famous person once made. It is something like, "Inasmuch as you have done onto the least of these you have done it unto me."
Click to expand...

Was that Fossil . . . no, wait a minute . . . it was that guy that Fossil knew when he was hanging out in Palestine, right? :) ;)
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

Similar threads

S&S_BRH
Cooking The Christmas Ham In Our Kitchen Wood Stove/Oven.
Replies
17
Views
1K
The Hearth Room - Wood Stoves and Fireplaces
begreen
begreen
D
Need advice/opinions
Replies
19
Views
981
The Wood Shed
davidon
D
SwedeFP
First Wood Stove in Years
Replies
11
Views
875
The Hearth Room - Wood Stoves and Fireplaces
SwedeFP
SwedeFP
Wheelhorse
Wood stove different placement for better heating house
Replies
10
Views
962
The Hearth Room - Wood Stoves and Fireplaces
jeffreyscott
J
T
Should I upgradeto a wood furnace add on or just upgrade my wood stove to one with a blower?
Replies
18
Views
865
The Hearth Room - Wood Stoves and Fireplaces
thebettycrocker
T
Top Bottom
Back