Tips on burning wet wood?

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Josie Wales

Josie Wales

New Member
Feb 22, 2019
17
Canada
I'm new to this whole wood heat thing and my house is totally heated by one wood stove with no other backups. I ran through all the seasoned firewood here a few weeks back and started burning up soft and hardwood off cuts. Yesterday I bought a cord and had it delivered. I find it hard to get going, im not sure how seasoned it is, and it sat outside all night in the slush with a snowfall.
 
I wouldn't even try to burn truly wet (unseasoned) wood, it will be a major exercise in frustration and disappointment. Minimal heat, high wood usage, lots of creosote, dirty glass, etc.... basically its all bad news.

On the other hand if the wood was seasoned but just happened to get wet you can dry it off by leaving it in the house, near the stove. Do yourself a favor and pick up a moisture meter, cut a split in half and measure the actual moisture. Pretty much anything below 20% will be good to go.

This is the one I use, it works great.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B06XGJDVFV/?tag=hearthamazon-20
 
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Burning wet wood sucks.

The first thing I would do is make sure it's split into the smallest size you can, as that will allow it to dry out as quickly as possible in the fire, instead of turning into one big inert lump.

Some people on this forum suggest buying some pressed wood bricks to supplement the wood, as they are pre-dried.

Beware, wet wood will produce exponentially more creosote and it will be especially gummy and a pain to remove.
 
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At this point I dont have much choice. Everyone around here in a 80km radius is sold out of anything dry. This is my first year of living with wood heat only and I did not have time to prep anything before hand. For a bit there I was burning solid wood kitchen doors from old kitchens I had renovated.
 
The only tip I have about burning wet wood is... not to burn wet wood.. I'd pick up 2 things right now1. Compressed logs like a bio brick. 2. Get a moisture meter so you know exactly how wet or seasoned your wood is.
Some advice .. dont leave you wood out exposed .. keep it off the ground, best is to stack in a wood shed.. next best is to tarp.. you compounded the problem by letting the wood get even wetter
 
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Josie Wales said:
At this point I dont have much choice. Everyone around here in a 80km radius is sold out of anything dry. This is my first year of living with wood heat only and I did not have time to prep anything before hand. For a bit there I was burning solid wood kitchen doors from old kitchens I had renovated.
Click to expand...

If wood heat is your primary heating then you should have next years wood already.. if not you need to get moving as in most areas it takes 18 months to season wood.. mimium of 4 cords per year you need to be sitting on 8 cords
 
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I plan on getting on that in early spring. There is 5ft of snow here currently so I cannot do much, the woodshed had stacks from the early 90s which I burned through from october till late december
 
Bringing the wet wood inside to dry is good. Now I would get a hot bed of coals and keep them going as you put a piece or two at a time in your stove.
Wet wood to a stove is like donuts to an insulin diabetic. Normally these are avoided , but if your blood sugar is in the 70s or 80s the donuts are a lifeline. Right now burn the wood you need and worry about a creosote cleaning later in the spring.
What kind of stove do you have if we might know?
 
Yeah, compressed wood bricks or kiln-dried is probably your best bet right now. Or the least frustrating anyway. Trying to burn wet poorly seasoned wood is work. Some form of dry wood used to burn off the moisture and get that wet wood burning like pallets, poring through construction dumpsters for pine cut-offs, etc. all take time but could help. Burning green wood sucks but sometimes you do what you gotta do and make efforts never to repeat the experience in the future. Keep an eye on your chimney for creosote build up. It can happen quick with crap wood. Garbage in, garbage out.
 
billb3 said:
Yeah, compressed wood bricks or kiln-dried is probably your best bet right now. Or the least frustrating anyway. Trying to burn wet poorly seasoned wood is work. Some form of dry wood used to burn off the moisture and get that wet wood burning like pallets, poring through construction dumpsters for pine cut-offs, etc. all take time but could help. Burning green wood sucks but sometimes you do what you gotta do and make efforts never to repeat the experience in the future. Keep an eye on your chimney for creosote build up. It can happen quick with crap wood. Garbage in, garbage out.
Click to expand...

Yes, skids or construction scraps would work too.
 
If that's all I had, and the choice was burn or freeze. I would be burning. Enough air and anything will burn.
 
Texas123 said:
Bringing the wet wood inside to dry is good. Now I would get a hot bed of coals and keep them going as you put a piece or two at a time in your stove.
Wet wood to a stove is like donuts to an insulin diabetic. Normally these are avoided , but if your blood sugar is in the 70s or 80s the donuts are a lifeline. Right now burn the wood you need and worry about a creosote cleaning later in the spring.
What kind of stove do you have if we might know?
Click to expand...


My stove is similar to this one
stoveolympic.jpg
 
I once watched someone try to burn wet wood in a fireplace,produced a lot of smoke,wasted a lot of wood and the stuff refused to burn until it was reduced to coals. Net heat produced was in the negative range. Big waste of time and wood.
 
Get some pallets to break up and mix in with the wet wood. Drive thru a local industrial area and there will be plenty in the parking lots free for the taking. If you have a cat stove you may want to pull out the nails. Pallets burn quick and hot and will help dry out your wet wood.
 
Splitting all of the wood into 2x2s or smaller helped big time. I also found a bunch of dry oak cut offs from a wood shop to mix in. Still doesn't crank out the heat like the fully seasoned stuff but its better then nothing. I have a eco fan on the stove that turns by heat and it spins but not as fast as usual.
 
Buy some large plastic totes at Wallyword, and bring stack the wood in those in the stove room. It will help a lot.
 
Your money would have been better spent buying bio bricks or similar. Dont know your budget but getting bio bricks now and mixing would work, or get free pallets and mix them in. Otherwise bring the wood near the stove to dry out and put next load directly near stove for a few hours before burning.
 
Find a sawmi
weatherguy said:
. Otherwise bring the wood near the stove to dry out and put next load directly near stove for a few hours before burning.
Click to expand...
I was wondering how that would work ,i guess you could place it just far enough from the stove so it gets very warm but not too hot,but you will need a hot stove for that to work. Seems very unprepared for a house with no other heat source. Can always crank up the stove oven and open the oven door. That heats up my 440Sq ft kitchen in a hurry. What does not work is trying to get heat from a fuel that is 30% water.
 
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Sounds like having a few electric heaters around might help you out. The oil filled radiators are pretty cheap. I would not feel ok about wood being my only heat source. What if you got hurt and were unable to load the stove? At least an electric radiator or three will keep the pipes from freezing in an emergency.
 
See if there are any wooden pallet companies in your area, they have trimmings that are kiln dried , and ready to go.
 
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