Burning white pine

[2broke2ride]

Ok guys, don't flame me to bad, this is my first year in my first house and I jumped in feet first to heating 100% with wood. I am almost out of the hardwood I had cut split and stacked last summer. I have about 4 cord of white pine I got this winter. It was cut I to 4 to 6 foot lengths about two years ago, I bucked it split and stacked it about 3 months ago hoping to use it next winter............ Well it looks like I'm gonna end up having to burn at least some of it this winter, I know it's not seasoned as well as it should be but none of my wood this winter really was. I'm looking for any tips you guys have about burning this stuff and getting it to hold some without tarring up my chimney too bad.
Btw, my stove is an old smoke dragon, a Shenandoah R77, I have been cleaning my chimney every 3-4 weeks since I had a chimney fire two days before Christmas.

 

[Ashful]

If you burn that pine now, then you're sure to not have any seasoned wood next year, either. It's time to bite the bullet, and flip that boiler back on for the rest of next year, while preparing for next. That is, unless you enjoy chimney fires and burning un-seasoned wood...

 

[2broke2ride]

Well if that's the case then it looks like I will have to head out to the back 40 and find some standing dead stuff to cut up........... Turning the boiler on is not an option, it's either oil or pay the mortgage and oil does me little good when I'm living in a cardboard box. I went into this winter with about 7 cords split and stacked, some standing dead and blow downs and some very much alive and only seasoned about 6 months.............everyone I know who heats with wood uses 4 to 6 cord a year, well it looks like I'm heading more toward the. 8- 10 mark.

 

[jatoxico]

Phew no easy answer. Use some pine to stretch what's left your hardwood. Only you can say what ratio will work but once you get a coal bed you ought to be able to burn some of the greener wood. Use more air to try to burn as clean and hot as possible. Go after pallets and scrap lumber from job sites, lumber yard etc. I did much the same my first year but it wasn't my only heat source so I feel for you buddy.

Pallets are a bit of a PITA but there's some good hardwood in some and will be another way to stretch the greener wood wherever you find it.

 

[2broke2ride]

Pallets give me an idea.......... I have about a dozen here and I'm thinking I know where I can get a bunch more.

 

[jatoxico]

Pallets give me an idea.......... I have about a dozen here and I'm thinking I know where I can get a bunch more.

Pallets will work. Get you a nice sized crowbar and a circular saw with a demo blade. Burns the nails and don't use the ash on the driveway . There's a few youtube vid's showing different ways guys break them up.

 

[2broke2ride]

My fathers work used to burn pallets in a huge wood furnace in the shop, they could just cut each one I to three pieces and shove them in........... Then they burned the shop down, insurance said no more wood furnace even though it had nothing to do with the fire. So now they have mountains of pallets sitting around. I also have a pile of pine logs on my property that have been sitting there long enough that there are 3" diameter oak trees growing up through them, I will investigate how dry these are as well as the half dozen standing dead red pines I know I have around the propery..

 

[Poindexter]

Yup pallets and/or bio logs to mix in with your damp wood. Good luck, been there, done that, got the t shirt.

Keep cleaning your chimney.

 

[sepulvd]

Yep I been burning pallets only the last couple of weeks to stretch out my supply. Only problem I have is the need to reload every 2 hours or so but I am using a 30 year old fisher wood stove

 

[drz1050]

You've already burned through 7 full cords? Dayum! Close the windows! How big is your house?

Seriously though, another vote for pallets here. Lots of them are made out of oak, and they're dry.

 

[Ashful]

Well if that's the case then it looks like I will have to head out to the back 40 and find some standing dead stuff to cut up........... Turning the boiler on is not an option, it's either oil or pay the mortgage and oil does me little good when I'm living in a cardboard box. I went into this winter with about 7 cords split and stacked, some standing dead and blow downs and some very much alive and only seasoned about 6 months.............everyone I know who heats with wood uses 4 to 6 cord a year, well it looks like I'm heading more toward the. 8- 10 mark.

Been there. You gotta do, what you gotta do, then. I remember one autumn having to choose between having my chimney repaired (for my furnace) or eating. That was a long few months, with nothing but Ramen Noodles and store-brand Mac and Cheese in the pantry.

On wood usage, obviously anything you can do to tighten up the house will pay big dividends in saved wood, and that doesn't have to cost alot. I remember using masking tape to seal drafty window and door stops, in my first house.

Another big factor is your stove, which is likely using 50% more wood for the same heat as an EPA stove. I'd start shopping for a used catalytic or non-cat EPA stove, or saving for a cheap steel non-cat (eg. Englander NC-30). Your 8-10 cords may drop to 6 cords, just by replacing your old smoke dragon.

I know how hard it is to get 3 years ahead on seasoned firewood, when you're burning 10 cord/year.

 

[2broke2ride]

Thanks for the advice............ There has been a very steep learning curve with running this old stove and I know a lot of my excessive wood usage is because of the stove and because I was trying to get a balance of hot enough flue temps but not sending all of my heat out the chimney.......... Also the majority of that 7 cords was poplar with some birch and a very little black cherry and sugar maple mixed in and about a cord of really really dry pine so not the best hard wood.

I am actually thinking of going to the englander add on furnace ( don't remember the model number) for next year....... Part of my problem is the big stove is in the basement and the house isn't laid out very well for heating with a wood stove so I ended up having to install a second stove in the fireplace in the living room to supplement the Shenandoah on really cold days. The house is a 2200 sq ft ranch. But the master bedroom and bathroom are on a slab so not much basement heat gets to them.

 

[BIGDADDY]

You may have to burn more unseasoned wood then seasoned to heat your home,because you're burning wood to burn the moisture out of the unseasoned wood.
Its a rotton way to use firewood but you gotta do what you gotta do.
Do you know the moisture content on your white pine?

 

[rideau]

Seven cords so far equals a heck of a lot of pallets for the rest of the season. I'd look at the standing dead, and any big dead branches/tree tops.

 

[Ashful]

Well, you have some good advice on how to get thru this year. Let's look at why you're using so much wood, so you can do better next year.

1. non-EPA stove: Already discussed, but to elaborate... published efficiencies put the wood usage of non-EPA stoves around 50% higher than a catalytic stove, for the same BTU's generated. Just changing out your stove may knock your usage down by 50%, if your current stove is keeping you warm, or keep you warmer for the same wood usage if it is not.

2. Green wood: You are putting some energy into boiling off the extra moisture content in your wood. Some rough numbers, ash is 41 lb./ft3 at 20% MC, but 48 lb./ft3 green. Oak would be an extra 19 lb. difference between green and 20%. That extra 7-19 lb. of water per cu.ft. will cost you about 7000 - 18,000 BTU's right off the top of your load, assuming you can cram 2.0 cu.ft. of solid wood into a 3.0 cu.ft. firebox, with wood starting at 20F and exhaust temp of 500F in your old stove.

(One thing worth noting here is that the extra moisture hurts much less in your already inefficient old stove. In an EPA stove, green wood means the secondary combustion system will not operate properly, bringing their efficiency down from 50% above yours, to almost match what you would get from your current stove with green wood.)

3. Heating from basement: Unless your basement is superbly insulated, the vast majority of heat you are generating with that stove is going to heat your concrete walls and floor, and the earth around your house. Only a percentage of the heat you are making is actually going upstairs, with those ideal heat sinks on 5 sides of your heated space. You will burn a LOT less wood if you run the stove upstairs.

These three items are perennial topics here, and you're not the first to deal with them. If you search the forum, you'll find many folks started in the same place as you, and you'll find their subsequent success stories all over this forum. This year may be rough, but with a little work, you can make some great improvements that will cut down your work load and keep you much warmer.

 

[billb3]

I wouldn't bother with a crowbar or trying to bust apart pallets. Takes too long.
Just cut the deck boards from the runners leaving that little tiny bit of deck board still attached and then carefully rip the runners to the stove length you need.
Circular saw or sawzall. Circ is faster IMO.
Deckboards will burn like kindling depending what they are made of.
Careful with pallets and pine - can be a lot of flame to ignite creosote.

 

[Ram 1500 with an axe...]

Dam, I can't imagine having to have 30 cords of wood drying at the same time but unfortunately that's what you need to do otherwise you will be going through this same thing every single year..... Keep talking with Joful, he has a wealth of knowledge to help you with and Good Luck.....

 

[Dune]

Most of it is covered but to emphasize; Uninsulated basement walls, way worse than you think
smoke dragon, burn 2 times as much
Poplar, pine, burn 2 times as much
wet wood, burn more get less heat.
White pine is great fuel, 2 years from split stacked top covered is best.

Standing dead, top half or so could be ready to go, bottom half could be good next year
again, top cover to prevent rot,
Get enough of the semi-dry pine inside for a couple, few weeks, burn pallets while you finish curing it inside.

Easiest way to process pallets; stack up 4
cut close to inside runner with skill saw, both sides. break off deck boards by hand.
flip over, repeat, cut runners at fork notch (no nails there). Done thousands of pallets this way.

Beware, old pallets burn like gasoline.

 

[Tom Wallace]

I think that since the hardwood you already burned was cut and split last summer, it wasn't seasoned either. If you have wood available to cut down, I'd get on it now. Cut a bunch down for the next few years.

Then look into ways to reduce your wood consumption in the future. Add home insulation, replace stove with EPA stove, use block off plate and add chimney liner. I realize none of that is financially feasible for you now, but hopefully things will change for you.

 

[2broke2ride]

Started burning some of this pine tonight mixing it with my better wood (none of my wood is great), it seems to burn fine with no sizzling from the ends, I know it could be better but for an old smoke dragon it seems ok

A new stove and liner are in the plans for the off season, it still won't be an EPA stove, I'm gonna go with the englander add on furnace and run ductwork to put the heat where I need it. My biggest problem with heating the house is it has a poor layout and the location of the chimneys is making it necessary to run two stoves almost 24/7 to heat the living spaces. The big basement stove eats a rounded wheelbarrow a day and the efel in the livingroom about 1/2 to 2/3 a wheelbarrow.

I don't mind burning 10 cords as long as I have the 10 cords put up, like I said, this was my first year and I underestimated the amount of wood I would need.

 

[Poindexter]

One thing you can do that will help, given how late in the season it is.

When you come into some rounds, split them all once into half rounds. They will start drying while you keep scrounging. Once you have your ten cords split into half rounds, then finish splitting and stack.

I was dealing with some 16" diameter birch rounds a couple years ago, split them once, let them set just a week in August, they were noticeably lighter after just seven days.