Burn unseasoned wood, burn biomass, or don't burn?

[edge-of-the-woods]

So we researched our stove insert a lot before we bought it, but we didn't research wood. Long story short, we have a nice new Regency CI2600, a cord of wood that was felled a year ago but only split 6 months ago, and many local providers are out of wood or "split to order".

I found a guy who can get us a cord of wood he claims has moisture content "under 40%".

Should we get and burn that this year, or will it fill our chimney with creosote? Are we better off burning bio bricks, a mix of this wood and bio bricks, or just not burning this year?

Thanks!

 

[R'Lee]

40% ??? That's awfully green... I'm not familiar with the Regency altho I've heard the name mentioned many times. The only folks around me that would burn 40% are those that have the OWB smoke-dragons. Personally, I'd try to get a deal on some of those bio-bricks but, that's just me. I have 10 cord of CSS, 1/2 of which is +/- 10%... but, my BKK all but requires low moisture.

 

[Z33]

If it were me I would order a cord of that 40% MC and go ahead and get it stacked and drying for next year.

That being said you can try and burn it but you are going to be mad, frustrated, disappointed and generally ticked at the money you are sending up in smoke if you try and burn either of those options.

 

[mgv02002]

As a fellow connecticutian (i think thats what we are) if the price is right buy it and keep it for next year. 40% is way to high to burn even with a Regency. I was able to get some decently dried wood early in the season but like you said most people left are cut to order. Best bet would be to keep searching. CL has some places but you will be paying $250/cord. I would say with the price of electricity going up in January you might want to bite the bullet and pay the prices now and maybe even pay for some extra for next year.

 

[Fred Wright]

Bio bricks would be your best choice for this winter, considering the circumstances. Burning unseasoned wood will result in fast creosote buildup ~ if it will burn at all.

If you decide to purchase unseasoned firewood for later use, you shouldn't have to pay full price for it.

 

[Chimney Smoke]

What type of wood do you have that was spilt 6 months ago? Was it stacked to dry 6 months ago? I checked some random splits this past weekend and was surprised. I split a few pieces of beech and black out that was CSS in May this year and checked with the MM. This wood is planned for 2015/16 and I was pleasantly surprised to find most of it 25%. That's not great but definitely burnable this year if I needed to.

 

[prezes13]

Where in ct do you live? I work with a guy who sells wood. It's not going to be seasoned wood at least not in below 20% moisture but it should be ready next year and I think he charges $200-$225 a cord split and delivered. I know of few places worth a try of seasoned wood but you must have a truck. My choice of bricks are eco bricks.

 

[prezes13]

Just on a side note I am splitting white and red oak which was cut and bucked at my house about month or two ago and it's in a low 30% moisture content.

 

[Knots]

I would burn 1/2 cord on the coldest, darkest days. Hold the other half in case there's a big ice storm or other emergency. Start cutting and splitting for next year!

 

[toddnic]

Find a friend with some dry wood. Last winter I had a neighbor with plenty of wood that let me borrow 2 cords that I replaced in the spring. Don't burn anything under 25%....you will be really disappointed in how your stove operates and the creosote build up in your chimney pipe. You should look for 20% or less moisture in your seasoned wood.

 

[R'Lee]

Toddnic; that's ANOTHER reason why I have 3-5 yrs worth of wood, css. I have a widowed sister-in-law & an elderly father-in-law that I have concerns for. If they need wood; it's available for them

 

[Poindexter]

How many cords can you season on your own property all at once? The thing about burnign wood is once you have one winters worth of dry wood stored in your shed, the time to get on next winter's wood is right away. Ocne you have two winter's worth of seqasoned wood in your shed you can start getting picky, until then you are officially scrounging.

If you can find seasoned wood and afford it, you are still scrounging, you are just at the top of the food chain doing it.

Once you have enough seasoned wood that you are thinking about next winter, you aren't scrounging anymore, now you are just working.

If you got room to season ten cords, I would say get a green split cord at "under 40%" (excuse my smirk), get it stacked up somewhere to start seasoning for next winter. You might see about getting a five cord truckload of logs delivered - and ask if the seller will bring you pine. If you can get that cut up, split and stacked over this winter so it can dry next summer you'll have all that pine ready to burn by August or September of 2015. Once that is up, then spend the rest of this winter looking for green hard wood that can season summer 2015 and summer 2016 to be ready to burn September 2016...

Its a committment for sure. Our housecat figured it out faster than my teenagers have.

Imma start a thread, or add to same if someone else starts it, "Successful wood handling for new burners" or something like that. I have about 12 cords of wood on my suburban 1/4 acre lot right now - but i also have room for seven more and room to play croquet in the yard while my wife is sunbathing and my youngest is watering the garden. I'll do it over T-giving weekend if not before.

 

[NewStoveGuy]

As a fellow connecticutian (i think thats what we are)...

Nutmegger (from a former one).

>

 

[edge-of-the-woods]

Thanks for all the replies! We're brand new to this, and just figured you could go out and get wood when you needed it...had no idea that it needed to be split for so long to properly season, or that a lot of the people selling "firewood" would be selling wood that wasn't ready to burn. Sure some are selling it for people to burn next year, but some of these guys are saying it's fine to burn wood that was felled 6 months ago and split yesterday.

We've got .6 acres in Hamden CT. How do you manage to fit all the wood on your lot??

At this point I am done trying to get properly seasoned wood for this year, and just asking our dealer for bio bricks. Unless someone knows a guy who knows a guy...

 

[Knots]

My buddy lives on a postage stamp lot in Milford. He gets at least a years worth in his back yard with room left over.

The trick is, you want to stack it where the sun and wind can get at it...

<CT refugee>

 

[R'Lee]

Thanks for all the replies! We're brand new to this, and just figured you could go out and get wood when you needed it...had no idea that it needed to be split for so long to properly season, or that a lot of the people selling "firewood" would be selling wood that wasn't ready to burn. Sure some are selling it for people to burn next year, but some of these guys are saying it's fine to burn wood that was felled 6 months ago and split yesterday.

We've got .6 acres in Hamden CT. How do you manage to fit all the wood on your lot??

At this point I am done trying to get properly seasoned wood for this year, and just asking our dealer for bio bricks. Unless someone knows a guy who knows a guy...

******
Some folks have homebrewed, or otherwise have less picky Woodburners where they can cut standing deadwood and burn it as-is or, css green and 6 months later (*with most species) is do able "for them." They waste a lot of fuel, smokes heavy and they have the creosote issues. My sister in law for example has to clean her chimney about once a month. Those sellers are catering toward them versus those of us that have more efficient burners albeit, far pickier on burn options. In your case, bio-bricks may be the way to go for now while getting what you can for next year (*or the year after). Around here (MI), wood is plentiful however, I wouldn't guarantee the moisture levels; last winter caught everyone off guard and whatever was really-seasoned "here" & "available" quickly got consumed. My father in law who sells wood didn't even have enough for him

 

[Byrond]

TSC had 20lb packs of ECO bricks for $2.49. I saw them and have never tried them so I bought a few. After burning 3 blocks I decided to experiment a little and put 3 more mixed with unseasoned cord wood. Holy nosmokes.... After about 10 minutes the secondaries were rolling and chimney was emmjting very little smoke. Going back today and buying a pallet of them.

 

[OhioBurner©]

So we researched our stove insert a lot before we bought it, but we didn't research wood. Long story short, we have a nice new Regency CI2600, a cord of wood that was felled a year ago but only split 6 months ago, and many local providers are out of wood or "split to order".

Depends on what type of wood your talking about. Sometimes standing dead trees can be fairly dry to start with. I cut several ash trees down in September, and still working on splitting them now. I've been picking out the drier feeling pieces and burning them. Yes, if you try to burn many hardwoods this soon it will be a frustrating experience but this ash is burning fine. Not quite as good as well seasoned but I have no problems getting it to a proper smoke-free burn with the secondaries lit up and stovetop 500-700º. I've had similar results with about 6 months of seasoning for Cherry, and standing dead Black Locus. Many on here would have you believe the universe is going to tear apart if your stack isn't 3 years old but in reality sometimes you can get away with a lot less (especially if you mix in some Eco Bricks). Like I said it depends on the type of wood and conditions.

TSC had 20lb packs of ECO bricks for $2.49. I saw them and have never tried them so I bought a few. After burning 3 blocks I decided to experiment a little and put 3 more mixed with unseasoned cord wood. Holy nosmokes.... After about 10 minutes the secondaries were rolling and chimney was emmjting very little smoke. Going back today and buying a pallet of them.

Wow I've been wanting to buy some of those but ever since I've been checking for the last month or two they have been $3.50/6 pack and thats quite a bit more dollars per pound than my pellets so I figured I'd just use the pellet stove more. But finding the pellet stove alone is about at its limit when its 20-30º out so need some extra heat from the stove. At about 1/3rd off I might just buy a skid or two of the Eco's to supplement the ash I just cut (and hopefully allow me enough ash for next year so I can finally be a year ahead). Thanks for the heads up Byrond!

 

[edge-of-the-woods]

Thanks for all the info!

Here's a new wrinkle: our stove installer just told me we can't burn biobricks in our insert because it will void our warranty.

Wtf.

I called Regency and they confirmed that, because the bricks haven't been tested in this stove.

Ironically, our dealer emailed to say this in reply to an email I sent him on Monday, and about thirty minutes after I bought ten packs of bio bricks.

 

[R'Lee]

Thanks for all the info!

Here's a new wrinkle: our stove installer just told me we can't burn biobricks in our insert because it will void our warranty.

Wtf.

I called Regency and they confirmed that, because the bricks haven't been tested in this stove.

Ironically, our dealer emailed to say this in reply to an email I sent him on Monday, and about thirty minutes after I bought ten packs of bio bricks.

*****
Not to be a trouble-maker but, what does their published user manual specifically state? The manual that came with the appliance is the legal threshold, not the email. Unless there is some nomenclature indicating that fuel voids the warranty, I'd call their bluff, burn it anyway but just not flaunt it should some problem arise. My thoughts, my two cents, your equipment, your call. .

 

[Bret Chase]

TSC had 20lb packs of ECO bricks for $2.49. I saw them and have never tried them so I bought a few. After burning 3 blocks I decided to experiment a little and put 3 more mixed with unseasoned cord wood. Holy nosmokes.... After about 10 minutes the secondaries were rolling and chimney was emmjting very little smoke. Going back today and buying a pallet of them.

I burned a few of those last year... they were OK in my old stove, but nothing to write home about... and definitely better than nothing in the stove at all.... I ended up buying a pallet of "riologs" from a local biofuel supplier. they were made of pressed aspen... basically gigantic pellets. those worked pretty good. I ran out of wood last year.... I have 3 times as much this year..... not gonna run out!

 

[Craig S.]

x2 for bio bricks or envi blocks.

 

[OhioBurner©]

TSC had 20lb packs of ECO bricks for $2.49...

...Thanks for the heads up Byrond!

Well crap. Was all ready to head to TSC after work tonight to pick up a couple tons and was just about to call them to make sure they had some in stock so looked up the SKU on the website. No longer on sale, wtf? Do they end sales mid week? I'm not spending $750 for 2 tons of these.

I didn't think it was, but perhaps it was just one of those 2-day thanksgiving sale prices. Darn it.

 

[TheRambler]

Thanks for all the info!

Here's a new wrinkle: our stove installer just told me we can't burn biobricks in our insert because it will void our warranty.

Wtf.

I called Regency and they confirmed that, because the bricks haven't been tested in this stove.

Ironically, our dealer emailed to say this in reply to an email I sent him on Monday, and about thirty minutes after I bought ten packs of bio bricks.

You can burn biobricks in your insert, however, the stove hasnt been tested with them which is why they told you what they did. That being said, do it anyway and just be smart about it and experiment with small to medium size loads until you get your insert figured out completely. Buy the biobricks from somewhere other than your dealer that did the install. The important thing to take away here is that there is a possibility for an overfire situation by burning too many biobricks at once or burning them too hot. They really are super dry and becoming a blazing inferno in no time if your not mindful.

My vote is burn biobricks anyway, but take it slow and learn how your insert operates with them and go from there. And if anything happens, which it shouldnt if you dont let a fire get out of control, dont mention ever burning biobricks in your stove. They just make ash, not like they are going to send out a forensic team to test the ash to somehow figure out you used a biobrick.

 

[OhioBurner©]

They just make ash, not like they are going to send out a forensic team to test the ash to somehow figure out you used a biobrick.

Yeah, they are in fact made out of wood afterall. If for some reason you need a service call just make sure there aren't piles of bio bricks stacked up next to the hearth and no cordwood in sight.