OK, I'm getting the first 2 cord delivered tomorrow of maple that's been down, but not split, for a year and a half. Any idea what range moisture content I should be looking for? Thanks.
Any idea what the moisture content should be?
- Thread starter HollowHill
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Looking into my crystal ball I can see a number...looks like 33.4.... Seriously though, the answer is It Depends. I'd expect it to be high, like similar to green, but likely dry faster than green.
HollowHill said:
20% MC would be a good start for many current stoves. 10% would be a big improvement.
Say you get it down to 20% outdoors, and start gradually bringing some in, once you start burning. And you stack that near the stove, maybe a couple of feet away, depending on infrared intensity. You might see, as in my case, the MC go off-scale low, and the wood burn fantastically. (Quick-lighting, clean-burning, un-fussy.)
Side benefit in many cases: the moisture driven out of the wood humidifies the house. Don't get carried away with that and damage the house, though. The "tighter" the house, the more that's in play.
CTYank said:
Good tip, CTYank, thanks! I'll give that a try. No need to worry about my house being too tight, tho :-S
20% is about maximum but lower would be better. Keep in mind that wood can absorb moisture outside from humidity under a tarp or direct rain or snow that blows under a cover, so bring it indoors for as long as possible before burning.
Well, that is what I was thinking, too, to bring it in the garage when it gets to be late Fall. But, the people I'm buying the stove from are recommending that I leave it out in the snow because of the shorter than desired seasoning time.Wood Heat Stoves said:
Seems I've read where most consumer meters report moisture content in a way that is roughly 5% higher than what it should be for the purposes that we are after. In other words, we should mentally adjust what the reading we see on most meters downward by about 5%. Something about measuring mc percentages in respect to the original moisture content versus measuring moisture content as actual water weight compared to wood fiber weight.
....or something like that.
hh:
Anybody want to make a stab at this?
Ed
....or something like that.
hh: Anybody want to make a stab at this?
Ed
HollowHill said:
That also is what I would do. It will dry outdoors. If you have a wet fall you could cover the top of the stacks; otherwise, cover before the snow flies. If you have some room in the garage, you might consider bringing in enough for 3-4 days or a week as needed.
As for rain, we do not worry about that at all. Wood is not a sponge and won't soak up the rain.....unless it is punk and in that case it is best left in the woods to finish rotting. We hopefully are at the end of a long rainy spell and I still don't have all the wood stacked from what I cut and split this year. Yesterday though it did not rain so I stacked some in late afternoon. Before I went back I dumped 1.4" of rain from the rain gauge. The wood was dry except for that which was touching the ground. Yet the interesting part of this is that some of the wood was turning to punk (from that pin oak that died) and it was dry!
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