Burning Pine

[Bobw]

I have a Garn 1500 heating my 1,500 sq' house.

I mostly burn a mix of red and white oak as that's what's mostly on my property and I let season for about 3 years in a carport. 4 years ago I had to cut 2.5 cords of white pines. I want to burn the pine this year to get ride of it as it's taking up to much space.

I have been tossing in a few splits of pine every fire this year, but at this rate I'll still be burning it next year.

How much of a creosote issue is there with pine and how would the Garn handle it?
Would it be safe to go with 25% pine in my fires?

Thanks

 

[MAD MARK]

I've burnt pine 100% in the shoulder season with no unordinary build up noticed.

Keep the flue temp up to temp and you will be fine.

 

[Alpine1]

If pine (or spruce or fir or larch) is properly seasoned it will not cause more crude buildup than any other wood. Old wives’ tales on burning conifers come from unseasoned wood, since resinous wood can “burn” even when wet. Try to burn wet oak, and you’ll see the mess it can make in your chimney in just a few weeks. I burn only Norway spruce, silver fir and scots pine in both my stoves without any issue. Of course, chimneys are cleaned once a year, but I would clean them with the same frequency if I were to burn any other wood species.

 

[iLoveWood]

If your pine is dry you should have no creo problems. The "pine is bad" myth will probably never die. It does burn hot and quick so Don't stuff your stove like it is the oak you are use to.

 

[Chimney Smoke]

I love having a few cord of pine stacked. During the week I only burn at night so it's great throwing in 3-4 pine splits to start the fire after work. It heats up the stove well and warms the living room before loading up with oak for the overnight.

 

[weatherguy]

Burn it 50-50. Thatll get rid of it twice as fast, I always mix it with hardwood because it doesnt coal.

 

[Bobw]

Getting a high flue temp in a Garn is not all that easy.

My next burn is when ever I want to deal with the 13" of fluffy snow in the morning.

I'll try 1/3 pine to 3/4 oak in the morning.

 

[bfitz3]

Nooooo! Don’t do it! Think of the children! (Someone needed to say that. My apologies.)

 

[lsucet]

Nooooo! Don’t do it! Think of the children! (Someone needed to say that. My apologies.)

Here it goes..
Good thing I never think of my kids, that's why I keep burning pine.

 

[Bobw]

Nooooo! Don’t do it! Think of the children! (Someone needed to say that. My apologies.)

I am thinking of my kids, but also thinking of how fun if is to brush out the heat exchanger tubes.

In winter mode were set up... If the Garn is hot we have unlimited DHW and the thermostat calls for heat at 70*. If the Garn is cold the DHW dose not always keep up and the thermostat calls for heat at 65*.

 

[lsucet]

I am thinking of my kids, but also thinking of how fun if is to brush out the heat exchanger tubes.

In winter mode were set up... If the Garn is hot we have unlimited DHW and the thermostat calls for heat at 70*. If the Garn is cold the DHW dose not always keep up and the thermostat calls for heat at 65*.

Pine is fine. Here, West, most burn pine and other softwood species. Like any hardwood it needs to be seasoned. Recommed to split big for better performance. It also dry quick.

 

[Bobw]

I cut to 20" if it's between 3 and 12". If it's over 12" I cut to 16" as that's standard where I'm at. I do not split anything under 6" and between 6 and 12" I only split once. I would rather sell 12"+ rounds then sell them than split them my self.

My water temp was 115 this morning. There were no coals this morning so the firebox got a good clean out. I started the fire with about 90 pounds of wood and tossed in about 30 more pounds after cleaning the sidewalks. I ended up burning about 30% pine. I will look at the date logger on the flu temps and the tank temp in a few hours to see how the pined did.

 

[MissMac]

i burn jack pine almost exclusively. it's what we've got up here. i love it - hot fires quickly, and as others have said it dries out quite quickly once CSS in a sunny/windy location. i think as long as you can control the air in your stove, you'll be fine.

one observation i can share with you about MC though - once i process my wood, it goes straight into my wood shed stacked neatly. my shed doesn't see a lot of sun, but it's constructed so that the wind can blow right through it. now that i've gotten into the middle of the stack in the far left stall (which receives no sun - CSS fall 2016), i've noticed that some of my larger splits (7-9 ") are still up around 17-18%, which is higher than i'd prefer and the wettest wood i've run through my stove. I see a big difference between this wood at 17-18% than i do with the majority of my splits, which are around 12-13%. the moister ones bubble sap and a bit of water out of any knots on the butt face for a couple of minutes in the stove, and you can just tell that they don't want to catch like the ones a few percentage points drier. it's kinda neat actually to observe what a difference 4-5% makes in the pine. i wonder if there's as noticeable a difference with other wood species? anyway, it all still burns quite well - i just run it an extra 15-20 minutes on high to really dry it out before i dial down the stove.

 

[Kevin Weis]

We have Virginia Pine in these parts that is a very hard and slow growing pine. Grows only on very poor soils for the most part. A 100 year old tree may be only be 16" or so DBH. If you can get it to dry out I would think it would be some tremendous heat and not burn to quickly. Since it's so hard you don't see a lot of it go down in the storms. Kevin

 

[Bobw]

I split and toss onto a concrete pad for up to a year and than stack in the carport as I pull wood out in the winter.


I'm going to go back to only burning a few sticks at a time. With the amount of flue that's in contact with the water I think my flue is staying to cold.

 

[Jay106n]

I mix pine in frequently for startups. I still have not yet mutated, and my chimney is just fine.

 

[jetsam]

I always keep at least a cord of pine on hand for cold snaps. I will go right past oak to get pine, if I am low on pine. (I prefer oak for regular burns when I am not pushing the stove hard.)

I never heard the pine thing until I moved to the northeast, but EVERYONE knows it here. I have asked probably every single person who's ever told me not to burn pine to explain exactly why that is. Answers are:

• "Your house will burn down." ("Because?" "Uhhhhhhh.....")
• "It causes creosote." ("What conditions are needed for creosote buildup in a wood burner's flue, and how does pine contribute?" "Uhhhhhhhhh......")
• "Well my sister's friend burned pine and her house burned down." ("Oh, how did a combustible part of the house get too hot as a result of her using pine?" "Uhhhhhhhhhhh....")

There are common variations on all three that feature all wood stoves instead of pine too. I overheard two guys at home depot this year while they were loading carts with $8 baggies of kiln dried kindling labeled "FIREWOOD". Guy One: "I need so much of this because I have a WOOD STOVE!" Guy Two: "Oh, those are dangerous; you'll burn your house down. You should get a nice fireplace instead."


We were talking about this in another thread (last year?) and someone actually came up with a really good theory as to where the Pine Thing came from. Back in the days of no internet and pre-EPA stoves, people would choose pine because it burns pretty much no matter how green it is, burn it low all fall in their smoke dragon with an unlined chimney, and build up ungodly creosote as a result. Then the cold hits, and they crank that baby up, and *whoosh* it is chimney fire time. Dunno if that is true, but it's the best explanation I've heard.

 

[shoot-straight]

Pine is great in my blaze king. It burned very hot and quick in my hearthstone which wasnt nearly as controllable.

The creo myth about pine is just that a myth. As long as its dry it's fine. All wet wood will cause issues.

Another note- "seasoned" is not a word. Wood is either dry <20% or varying stages of wet. Try not to burn any wood over 20% moisture

 

[Paulywalnut]

I have a Garn 1500 heating my 1,500 sq' house.

I mostly burn a mix of red and white oak as that's what's mostly on my property and I let season for about 3 years in a carport. 4 years ago I had to cut 2.5 cords of white pines. I want to burn the pine this year to get ride of it as it's taking up to much space.

I have been tossing in a few splits of pine every fire this year, but at this rate I'll still be burning it next year.

How much of a creosote issue is there with pine and how would the Garn handle it?
Would it be safe to go with 25% pine in my fires?

Thanks

If it’s really dry and seasoned, should be fine

 

[Bobw]

I know this is bad after reading around 500 post on this forum, but I have not ordered a moisture meter yet.

 

[bfitz3]

I know this is bad after reading around 500 post on this forum, but I have not ordered a moisture meter yet.

First reaction: Boooooo! Hiss! Boo! Bad burner, bad!
Second reaction: Dry wood will “ring” when struck, so who cares?! Who needs high-tech anyway? Hit your splits with other splits... if they ‘ring,’ ...burn baby, burn!
Third reaction: This thread is the million-babillionth thread about the safety of pine. Maybe a sticky about pine? Here’s my suggestion: “pine is wood. Dry wood good. Wet wood bad. Dry pine wood different than dry oak wood. Botn dry wood. Both good. Wet pine same as wet oak. Both bad. Make sure pine wood dry. Dry pine wood good. Dry wood ring (or, if you want to be all fancy pantsy, dry wood will register less than 20% moisture content with a decent moisture meter on a freshly split face that has been allowed to warm to room temperature before splitting/measuring moisture with said moisture meter.)”
Fourth reaction: beer good.
Fifth reaction: Third reactions, inspired by fourth reactions, could be reworded before imortalization in sticky form prior to said Immortalization.
Sixth reaction: hic.

 

[Alpine1]

A wood moisture meter isn’t necessary, but having one adds a little peace of mind, helps you compare different wood stack location (“uhmm... that spot is in the sun, while the other gets more wind... where will wood dry faster?”) with measurable data and is a nice toy errr TOOL for your collection. You’ll look very scientific to your better half too. And costs very little. It’s like a stove top temp meter or flue meter: we wood burning obsessed love to fiddle with the infinite nuances of fire.

 

[Alpine1]

First reaction: Boooooo! Hiss! Boo! Bad burner, bad!
Second reaction: Dry wood will “ring” when struck, so who cares?! Who needs high-tech anyway? Hit your splits with other splits... if they ‘ring,’ ...burn baby, burn!
Third reaction: This thread is the million-babillionth thread about the safety of pine. Maybe a sticky about pine? Here’s my suggestion: “pine is wood. Dry wood good. Wet wood bad. Dry pine wood different than dry oak wood. Botn dry wood. Both good. Wet pine same as wet oak. Both bad. Make sure pine wood dry. Dry pine wood good. Dry wood ring (or, if you want to be all fancy pantsy, dry wood will register less than 20% moisture content with a decent moisture meter on a freshly split face that has been allowed to warm to room temperature before splitting/measuring moisture with said moisture meter.)”
Fourth reaction: beer good.
Fifth reaction: Third reactions, inspired by fourth reactions, could be reworded before imortalization in sticky form prior to said Immortalization.
Sixth reaction: hic.

Your fourth reaction would be my first lol

 

[jetsam]

I think the sticky should just say, "beer good". Let 'em think pine has evil spirits in it or whatever.

 

[weatherguy]

I hear the sap in pine will cause a fire, it's always a variation on sap.