Apple wood - What's up with this

[nhchad]

Newbie here with a 2 week old Jotul F400.

Picked up some applewood from the local orchard. Stuff burns great but results in a lot of charcoal like ashes. Doesn't hiss or pop so not sure if it's not fully dry or if this is just how it burns. I burned it in my fireplace and the same result again didn't notice any hissing or popping.

Update on the stove : Absolutely love it and it makes such a huge difference over the fireplace. Can easily keep the downstairs at a toasty 72 degrees with stove running right around 500 degrees. Slowly learning how to get longer burn times some of the large applewood chunks burned for almost 3 1/2 hours which seems like I'm going in the right direction.

Question on the "2nd burn"... the holes in the top of the stove; do the flames actually come out of those holes during secondary burn or does it look like flames with holes in the center of it located over the holes? Sorry if that doesn't make sense; but I can get lots of flames on the top with what appears no flames coming out of the actual holes?

 

[Jfigliuolo]

Newbie here with a 2 week old Jotul F400.

Picked up some applewood from the local orchard. Stuff burns great but results in a lot of charcoal like ashes. Doesn't hiss or pop so not sure if it's not fully dry or if this is just how it burns. I burned it in my fireplace and the same result again didn't notice any hissing or popping.

Update on the stove : Absolutely love it and it makes such a huge difference over the fireplace. Can easily keep the downstairs at a toasty 72 degrees with stove running right around 500 degrees. Slowly learning how to get longer burn times some of the large applewood chunks burned for almost 3 1/2 hours which seems like I'm going in the right direction.

Question on the "2nd burn"... the holes in the top of the stove; do the flames actually come out of those holes during secondary burn or does it look like flames with holes in the center of it located over the holes? Sorry if that doesn't make sense; but I can get lots of flames on the top with what appears no flames coming out of the actual holes?

Air comes out of the holes and ignites the smoke around the top of the burn chamber. You should see a plama of flames with holes where the air is shooting through during an agressive secondary burn. Sounds like that is what you are seeing.

 

[stonehouse]

Apple is great for firewood. Burns hot and for a really long time. Tough to stack though with all those tiny branches all over it.

 

[swestall]

Great burn, coals are nice, just a characteristic of Apple. Too bad you can't smell it, the burn of apple in a traditional fireplace gives off a homey type smell as well.

 

[Gibbonboy]

Apple is great wood, I lived in an orchard for a while, pruned back all the trees, and used the trimmings to stay warm. Takes a long time to season, and it's curvy and twisty, so it's hard to stack well, but it is right up there with other woods. I have a few logs that were cut in the 40's by my grandfather for making kielbasa, I still use it in my smoker. Not sure if it's better or worse than "fresh" wood, but I enjoy the feeling that Pop is looking down and approving of my cooking.

 

[BurningIsLove]

Most orchards (around here at least) sell apple wood by their stands this time of year. Imagine it's small stuff and/or prunings as I've never purchased it before. Cant imagine its cheap though

 

[stonehouse]

Most orchards (around here at least) sell apple wood by their stands this time of year. Imagine it's small stuff and/or prunings as I've never purchased it before. Cant imagine its cheap though

Probably for cooking.
That's all I use it for.
I run it in my smoker.

 

[jpl1nh]

but results in a lot of charcoal like ashes.

That's a really good thing, lots of heat in charcoal for a long time. Woods that do that are prized for heating.

 

[nhchad]

I paid $75 to fill up my pickup bed (fullsize 6 1/2' bed). Actually had a decent mix between good sized splits and small prunings. I imagine I got alittle more than a 1/3 of a cord so it's certainly not inexpensive but when seasoned cord wood is going for $250 - $350 it didn't seem so bad.

For next year I got a local wood cutter / saw mill operator that is going to sell me what he said was equivalent of 4 cords of logs for $240.00 Which I thought was a good deal. We'll see if it's dry enough to burn next year. Of course that means I got to buy a wood splitter so it's still going to cost me about $250/cord until I am done. But hopefully from this point forward I can start to get the cost down. Either way, just got oil yesterday for $3.099 a gallon so it's still cheaper than oil and I don't have to keep an eye on the thermostat constantly.

I like the NH = Live, Freeze or Die slogan. Got about 11" of snow yesterday and awaiting the next round to begin in another 30 or so hours.

 

[Gibbonboy]

You always have to factor in ALL costs of woodburning, not just what you paid (or didn't pay) for the wood itself. New liner, new stove, saws, chains, splitters, safety gear, it all adds up. But it adds up to less than oil, most of the time. People seem to skimp to save a buck, especially on safety gear, which baffles me. Sure, you can brag that your heat only cost $25 for the year, to the other guys at the amputee ward.