I've burned through 3/4 cord of stuff I've scrounged over the past few years, all of which was in the vicinity of 13-15% moisture content (as measured by moisture meter on a fresh split at room temp 
). Having put the wood into the basement in reverse order, I'm now getting into some ash that I split, stacked & covered mid-summer this past year and I immediately noticed something different in fire behavior. Once up to temp and air shut down, I was seeing stovetop temps dip, so I was having to run it with the primary air cracked open a hair. And the suspect ash splits would look like black rectangles surrounded by active coals and flames until much later in the cycle. I tested the splits after a few loads like this, and they were at 18-19%, so still in "burnable" range, but boy what a noticeable difference compared to the primo dry stuff. I've corrected it by placing the wetter splits towards the front and adding a few small dry splits on either side after the first burn-off period to keep things hot. I imagine after a few years of burning, I will become a certifiable "fire watcher" who can calculate heat output and burn efficiency, and maybe even wood species, by a simple glance at a woodstove! 
). Having put the wood into the basement in reverse order, I'm now getting into some ash that I split, stacked & covered mid-summer this past year and I immediately noticed something different in fire behavior. Once up to temp and air shut down, I was seeing stovetop temps dip, so I was having to run it with the primary air cracked open a hair. And the suspect ash splits would look like black rectangles surrounded by active coals and flames until much later in the cycle. I tested the splits after a few loads like this, and they were at 18-19%, so still in "burnable" range, but boy what a noticeable difference compared to the primo dry stuff. I've corrected it by placing the wetter splits towards the front and adding a few small dry splits on either side after the first burn-off period to keep things hot. I imagine after a few years of burning, I will become a certifiable "fire watcher" who can calculate heat output and burn efficiency, and maybe even wood species, by a simple glance at a woodstove! 
