Does my cordwood have too much moisture in it?

[Andropolis]

I'm having a difficult time getting my stove going. I'm wondering if there's too much moisture in my wood. Some of the logs sizzle a bit and the ends of the logs get wet and some even begin to drip.

Is this normal or is it way too moist? I can never seem to get the box up to temperature either and I'm nearly always burning wide open with only 300 - 400 degree stove top temperature. The manual says between 500 and 600 F is optimum. I know that If I leave the door cracked It defeats the purpose since I'm sucking combustion air through all the cracks in the house...

Also...

How long must wood be seasoned before it is burned? I'm hoping to harvest and prepare wood this spring... will it be useable in the late fall/winter?

p.s. the wood I have now was purchased being that I just bought the Napoleon 1401.

Thanks for your input.

Andropolis

 

[babalu87]

Only way to know 100% is to get a moisture meter.
Harbor Freight has one that works fine for $25.00

Other than that make sure its at least a year old and was stacked and off the ground

 

[babalu87]

But Winston nice big 20+ inch rounds burn all night

I would rather wait a year or so than have to stuff little pieces of wood in my stove.

 

[tutu_sue]

You are definitely describing what happens when the wood is very wet. Properly seasoned wood makes running your stove a pleasure, not a chore. Here are some tips regarding seasoning of wood:

Drying your fire wood

1. Cut the wood to length - The wood you have purchased or cut yourself should be the right length for your stove, fireplace or furnace. This is usually about three inches shorter than the firebox width or length, depending on how you load the wood.

2. Split it to the right size - Next, split the wood to the proper size for your burner. For most efficient wood stoves, this is usually no more than six inches measured at the largest cross sectional dimension. A range of piece sizes is best so that when kindling a fire or reloading on a coal bed you have some smallish pieces that will help you achieve the desirable instant ignition. A selection of sizes from three to six inches in diameter for wood stoves will probably serve you well. Keep in mind that firewood only begins to dry seriously once it is cut and split to the right size because in log form the moisture is held in by the bark. So, when buying wood, ask when the wood was cut split and properly stacked to get an idea of how ready it is for burning. For this reason, experienced woodburners like to get their wood in the early spring so they can manage the drying process themselves.

3. Pile in a single row exposed to the sun and wind - If wood is to be below 20% moisture content when you burn it in the winter, it must have the moisture removed. The only practical way homeowners can do this is to allow the sun and wind to dry the wood for them. With this in mind, the wood should be piled in a place where the sun can warm it and the wind can blow through it. As the sun heats and evaporates the water from the wood pile the wind whisks it away.

4. Let the wood dry all summer - Most folks who split their wood and stack it in well-spaced rows find that they can dry their wood in four or five months. If you have your wood stacked in May or June it should be ready to put away for winter’s use by October. There should be no need to dry it longer than that, unless you live in a damp maritime climate and/or use very dense wood like Oak, which is notorious for taking a long time to dry.

 

[wahoowad]

Andropolis,

To answer your questions...(a) YES, your wood sounds waaay too moist; (b) season it a year by stacking this winter for next year.

 

[Todd]

If it sizzles and drips it's too wet. Maybe you can call the guy you bought it from and tell him you got wet wood and want a refund or replacement? Or you could try splitting it into smaller pieces and store a bunch next to the stove to help suck the moisture out. Another option is to just keep this wood for next year and find another supplier for this year? I like to get at least 1 year ahead on my wood supply to make sure it's fully seasoned.

 

[Andropolis]

I try to do a cold start up from scratch on my lunch break. Today my wife is sick so I picked her up and took her home and tried to get the fire going.

It's rather frustrating... The wood just burns slowly with the air control AND the door wide open.

Does dryer wood sizzle at all??? I'm not buyin wood from this guy again.

I wonder if it's hard to dry wood here in Northeastern Ohio. It tends to be a bit humid. I want to purchase a black/dark colored tarp so perhaps I can get some solar warmth to warm the wood pile too.

I don't even know how my stove operates since it's new and I've been using moist wood for the last 2 weeks. Yeash

Frustrating.

 

[babalu87]

Only cover the TOPS of the wood piles.
Wind does much to help wood dry as well.

If the tarp is covered 100% it will never dry , cover just the tops and if you can get enough put a layer of cardboard under the tarp.
If the wood is seasoned well it shouldnt be sizzling.

 

[CK-1]

You are definitely describing what happens when the wood is very wet. Properly seasoned wood makes running your stove a pleasure, not a chore. Here are some tips regarding seasoning of wood:

Drying your fire wood

1. Cut the wood to length - The wood you have purchased or cut yourself should be the right length for your stove, fireplace or furnace. This is usually about three inches shorter than the firebox width or length, depending on how you load the wood.

2. Split it to the right size - Next, split the wood to the proper size for your burner. For most efficient wood stoves, this is usually no more than six inches measured at the largest cross sectional dimension. A range of piece sizes is best so that when kindling a fire or reloading on a coal bed you have some smallish pieces that will help you achieve the desirable instant ignition. A selection of sizes from three to six inches in diameter for wood stoves will probably serve you well. Keep in mind that firewood only begins to dry seriously once it is cut and split to the right size because in log form the moisture is held in by the bark. So, when buying wood, ask when the wood was cut split and properly stacked to get an idea of how ready it is for burning. For this reason, experienced woodburners like to get their wood in the early spring so they can manage the drying process themselves.

3. Pile in a single row exposed to the sun and wind - If wood is to be below 20% moisture content when you burn it in the winter, it must have the moisture removed. The only practical way homeowners can do this is to allow the sun and wind to dry the wood for them. With this in mind, the wood should be piled in a place where the sun can warm it and the wind can blow through it. As the sun heats and evaporates the water from the wood pile the wind whisks it away.

4. Let the wood dry all summer - Most folks who split their wood and stack it in well-spaced rows find that they can dry their wood in four or five months. If you have your wood stacked in May or June it should be ready to put away for winter’s use by October. There should be no need to dry it longer than that, unless you live in a damp maritime climate and/or use very dense wood like Oak, which is notorious for taking a long time to dry.

What about wood from a dead tree?..

 

[babalu87]

Wood from a standing dead tree can have as much moisture as a live tree.

 

[Eric Johnson]

Wood from a dead tree is usually a better bet, although it still may need some drying time. It's just that it should dry out much faster than green wood from a live tree.

w-smith pretty much covered all the bases. The deal on one-year drying (minimum) is that if you stack and dry your wood for one full year, you can be fairly confident that it has dried out (i.e., the "bound" water in the cell walls has left). The wood still may become wet again after the bound water leaves, but it will dry out again much more quickly than green wood containing almost all bound water.

So the one-year deal is a good guideline.

I like to burn my wood two to three years after cutting, simply because then I'm sure that it's fit to burn, regardless of species or whether it's split or how big it is.

But bottom line: at minimum, dry your wood over the summer by stacking it in a sunny place free from obstacles that would prevent air from flowing freely through the pile. No cover is needed, IMO. Then, around Columbus Day, either tarp the top or move the wood under cover (basement, garage, back porch, woodshed, etc.) and in a month or two it should be ready to burn with few or no problems. Dry it for a full year before moving it under cover, and you're pretty much guaranteed dry wood.

If you're looking at a short drying timeframe, the more splitting you do, the better. Conversely, if you know it's going to be a year or more before you burn it, there's no need to split, other than the convenience of handling smaller pieces or to ensure that you can get the chunks into the firebox.

I've burned more than my share of green wood, and I don't recommend it. Burning dry wood compared to green wood is like the difference between driving a brand new Mercedes and a 1978 Chevelle or Vega--today.

 

[tutu_sue]

Write off that wood until next season.

I get pops and cracks from oak I've had drying 16 to 18 months, but no sizzling. Only cover the top of your wood pile, maybe 8 inches down the sides at most, and let the sun and air get at it. I used folded brown/silver tarps I got from Lowes and use big logs or stones to hold them on. You don't want to trap moisture by covering the pile completely.

Just for giggles and curiousity, experiment with those bundles of firewood they have at the store.

 

[DonCT]

Seasoned wood might sizzle alittle as the last remaining moisture is driven off, but it shouldn't "Drip". That means the wood is way to wet, and you're wasting btu's trying to evaporate that moisture and not heat the stove.

.02

 

[Mo Heat]

... Then we can be reasonably confident assuming a standard distribution the standard deviation will be no more than X amount...sorry its my nostalgia for college days.

Hi Winston, I like your scientific approach. I found that web site a few years back and after cutting and drying my own wood, buying a moisture meter, and getting the data first hand, I can tell you that there is something they aren't telling us about their samples or conclusions, or the wood they are testing is very different from mine (mostly red and white oak).

Wood is so incredibly different from species to species, tree to tree, grain to grain, split to split, soil it grew in, wood pile stacking technique, average temperature and relative humidity, rainfall or snowfall exposure, direct sun exposure, and on and on. A moisture meter and a little testing will tell you more about your own wood pile than statistical analysis IMO, unless you know exactly what they did to which species, etc. etc.

BTW: If you like the numbers, here's a chart (and explanation) I find interesting. It gives Equilibrium Moisture Content (EMC) figures for various locations around the U.S.A. if you let things dry out enough. Once wood reaches around 20% EMC it burns good. Below that it burns even better! The speed of drying also decreases as the wood nears EMC if I interpret some of the info in that article correctly, so the closer you are to EMC, the slower the rate of drying. So it's difficult to predict things flatly sometimes.

http://www.woodweb.com/knowledge_base_images/zp/equilibrium_moisture_content.pdf

 

[babalu87]

Thanks for that link Mo
Yeeesh, cut a tree down in Phoenix and its dry before it hits the ground

 

[sgcsalsero]

Andropolis, fireplacesandmore store in Uniontown (near akron) had a model 1400 set up in store, believe they are pretty familiar with napoleons . . maybe worth a trip to get a couple tips/tricks