burning underseasoned wood

[stovepipe?]

Is there any problem with burning green/underseasoned wood if you're still maintaining high temp and still have secondary burn?

I’ve started mixing in a little of my green stuff after growing rather concerned that my seasoned pile is dropping at a higher rate than I had anticipated. I have no trouble maintaining a hot firebox and secondary burn when I mix. Does the extra moisture still pose risk of faster creosote build-up? Or is there no problem if the gases get burned up in the secondary burn before they head up the flue? my "green" wood has actually been seasoning for a few months, but I very much doubt I could get a hot fire going using it alone. I have been heating up the firebox with seasoned wood and then adding in a few green logs later.

 

[begreen]

You'll get less heat out of the green wood which usually means more consumed. But sometimes ya gotta do what ya gotta in order to stay warm You're taking the right approach, but plan on more frequent chimney inspections and cleanings. What species wood and how green is it?

 

[swestall]

One of our more experienced non-CAT stove owners actually said he uses some greener splits mixed in with the dry wood to attain longer burns. I've done that in the past with my CAT stove and had no problem. With either CAT or NC version, if you have no smoke, you have no problem. And, you will get a little longer burn time as a bonus!

 

[eernest4]

stovepipe,

I have a "old timer " stove , pre epa -- no secondary burn chamber. So best advise is to call mfg and ask or read owner's manuel or wait until someone that owns a epa secondary burn stove answers this post.

I know that you can not burn sea water driftwood because the salt will corrode your stove
but fresh water driftwood is ok after it is thourghly dried & seasoned.

In my old time stove , when I burn green or wet/high moisture content wood, I have a hard time getting 450 deg stack temp but with dry wood, I can hit 900 deg stack temp
if im not carefull to avoid it.
wet ,or unseasoned wood only yields 40 % of the heat of dry wood, so you get a weak ,wimpy fire that dont heat much. All the heat goes to evaporate the water into steam which cools down the stove.

Your secondary burn combustion chamber wont work unelse you exceed a certain temp for it 2 start opperation. It has to be heated to temp to work.

I dont own a epa stove yet,so I am still learning about them.

sorry I couldn't B more help.

 

[pulldownclaw]

Good question for this time of year. After realizing that my stuff might be a little too green for this winter, I emailed a bunch of the guys on craigslist who were selling wood and asked them how long their stuff is seasoned. Of the few that answered back, I'm thinking my stuff is just as good. One person said "it's in chunks and we split it as needed for delivery" :grrr:

So, I'm thinking I'll just burn my stuff unless I find someone who really does have seasoned wood at this time of year. I may squeak by, because I'm not fully installed and burning yet....

I AM scrounging and processing like a mofo though after realizing this stuff needs to be seasoned a full year, so living and learning thanks to the fine people on Hearth.

 

[Pine Knot]

I've had good results mixing some green with dry wood in my cat stove. I pull the live coals to the front and place a greener split in the back on the bottom and place dry in front of and and on top of the green when reloading. The green stick is in the hot enviroment for several hours before it burns and gives up it's moisture slowly. The green stick is usually the source of the live coals when time to reload, and seems to prolong the burn for a while.

 

[Millworker]

My plan this year was to mix in some undeseasoned wood with the nice dry stuff. I thought it was a reasonable plan. It didn't take too long for the stove pipe cap (mesh thingy) to seal over with creosote. Once sealed over, the house instantly filled with smoke. I just got down from the roof removing the crap off of the cap. No more under-seasoned wood burning for me.

 

[Hogwildz]

The first thing to check when you FIRST notice the draft not being as good as it used to be, is the cap.