The importance of seasoned wood - Dry vs Wet

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I had a oak quartersawn into boards, and took them to get then milled into floors, but first off to a kiln. The Miller said that the lowest Mc air dried boards he sees are only 14%.
 
Not a bad idea! Should also be mandatory for anyone buying a new stove or boiler.
 
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Sorry, I was trying to quote EJL923 "new members should be forced to watch that video before activating their account. "
 
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I got a MM with my furnace. The main problem I have with using it is the standard that the wood should be at 70 degrees. If I had stuff at 70 degrees regularly, I'd have so much less use for wood!

Seriously - does anybody have any real info on how temperature affects the readings? Being able to convert to 50 or 20 would make the thing usable.

Not that it's hard to tell with softwood if it's dry or not, but it would be a fun toy to have to compare to the moisture levels so many people post about.
 
I got a MM with my furnace. The main problem I have with using it is the standard that the wood should be at 70 degrees. If I had stuff at 70 degrees regularly, I'd have so much less use for wood!

Seriously - does anybody have any real info on how temperature affects the readings? Being able to convert to 50 or 20 would make the thing usable.

Not that it's hard to tell with softwood if it's dry or not, but it would be a fun toy to have to compare to the moisture levels so many people post about.
Your not testing every piece of every batch, you testing the pile, so bring a couple random splits inside, let them warm up, re-split and test, if its in the ball park and batch was cut and split at the same time and kept in a place were the batch is kept together, 3 or 4 random pieces will tell you whether the whole pile is good or not.
 
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As far as drying wood, I figure that it takes over 12 months for almost anything to cure properly. If my supposition is true, you can test almost any part of your stacks in mid summer when everything is at 70° and have a real good idea what will be ready when fall comes around and everybody lights their fires for the heating season.

I've been using a sharpie marker to write the date stacked on the ends of a few pieces in each stack. So far, I can read the date for months but I don't have anything that is a year old yet so my "dating method" hasn't really been tested long enough but I believe that it'll prove out. Once the stack exceeds 12 months of curing time, I'll be interested in testing moisture content; until each stack passes 12 months, it's a moot point.

So, if I CSS any wood like the hickory I finished yesterday, I figure it won't be ready to test for 12 months, like the hickory will be tested next spring and I won't need to burn it until next fall which would put it cycle for use after almost 18 months of curing time. Should be good by then but like I say, I'm new at this and this is only my theory that I haven't proven out yet.

I figure if you're trying to burn anything before it's cured 12 months, you're wasting energy in BTUs lost and frustrating yourself trying to keep a fire going using wet wood. Just my $.02 worth and not worth the paper it's written on...
 
There are "general rules" for drying times of different species. Obviously will depend on climate and how it is stored. I found a BTU chart that includes them. Most pines are 6 mo, other softwoods (silver & red maple, box elder, Aspen, etc.) generally 1 yr, ash 1 year, elm 18 mo, birch-maple-locust-hickory 2 years, oaks 3 years...

Some claim to get oak ready in 1 year in a tight shed elevated off the ground, others won't use it in under 4 years.

I seperate by species now when stacking after last year having to sort through my stacks and pull out the ash for burning and leaving the maple to season longer. It was my first year with an EPA stove.
 
If you cant get oak ready in two years you need to find a new place to stack where its exposed to sun and wind. I know not everyone has that option but two years where I stack and it's down to 20%.
 
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If you cant get oak ready in two years you need to find a new place to stack where its exposed to sun and wind. I know not everyone has that option but two years where I stack and it's down to 20%.
Drying time also depends on the split thickness. Locally a friend is testing this with 3" thick oak splits that was stacked last summer. We'll be checking it around August to see how it's doing.
 
I had the opportunity to cut a little bit of wood over the weekend. Since the idea was for this wood to go straight from the forest to the furnace, I was close to the house with a warm furnace room, and able to do some moisture meter temperature correction experimenting. This is all lodgepole pine, standing dead for 5+ years, on a south facing slope in full sun. This is the driest time of the year here for standing dead here if it's on a south slope, except maybe during the peak week or few of fire season.

For what it's worth to you, here's what I found, by approximate temperature:

Tree top: 40 deg - 4%, 70 deg - 6%
Tree trunk: 40 deg - 8%, 70 deg - 11%

Different tree:
Base - 2nd round up: 45 deg -13%, 70 deg - 16%

I thought that was interesting! It's too small of a sample, but the difference sure was consistent! I wonder if the difference would hold in wetter wood, and I'm going to take a guess it probably wouldn't across species.
 
If you have the time, space and pep in your step, get on the 3 year wood plan. Basically, the wood your process today will be burnt 3 years from now. It takes a lot of space and work, but wet wood problems go away completely. I generally cut dead standing oak/hickory and it dries very nice. If I need to bump my inventory up to meet drying times, I’ll cut some red maple which dries very quickly
 
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How dry is too dry? In my Jotul manual it states wood seasoned more than 24 months hurts the lower end efficiency of the stove. Also looking at the EPA test of my stove they used Red Oak at 19-20% moisture. So if they used 15% Oak how would that effect the test?

lately I’ve been burning 5 year old mixed hardwood that is very dry 15% give or take. Most of the time it likes to outgass just about all at once, burns very hot for an hour then turns into a big pile of coal which doesn’t seem to give off much heat. Maybe that’s what Jotul means by low end efficiency? I have to keep adjusting the air higher throughout the burn in order to burn the coals down enough for the next reload. In comparison when I burn a full load of 1 year old18-20% Aspen it off gasses slower and burns through to a smaller base of coals without messing with the air. I know there are many variables in all this but I think I prefer burning the Aspen . It only takes 6-12 months to drop to 20% and I don’t need to stock pile 3 years worth of harder woods to get to the magic 20%.
 
How dry is too dry? In my Jotul manual it states wood seasoned more than 24 months hurts the lower end efficiency of the stove. Also looking at the EPA test of my stove they used Red Oak at 19-20% moisture. So if they used 15% Oak how would that effect the test?

lately I’ve been burning 5 year old mixed hardwood that is very dry 15% give or take. Most of the time it likes to outgass just about all at once, burns very hot for an hour then turns into a big pile of coal which doesn’t seem to give off much heat. Maybe that’s what Jotul means by low end efficiency? I have to keep adjusting the air higher throughout the burn in order to burn the coals down enough for the next reload. In comparison when I burn a full load of 1 year old18-20% Aspen it off gasses slower and burns through to a smaller base of coals without messing with the air. I know there are many variables in all this but I think I prefer burning the Aspen . It only takes 6-12 months to drop to 20% and I don’t need to stock pile 3 years worth of harder woods to get to the magic 20%.
Jotul says 24 months but they probably should give a specific moisture content instead. With very dry wood (like 15%) I’d try not to load in a hot stove (more than 350 stovetop). I have a newer 2020 regency 2450 that goes a bit crazy if I load very dry wood on hot coals.
 
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Jotul says 24 months but they probably should give a specific moisture content instead. With very dry wood (like 15%) I’d try not to load in a hot stove (more than 350 stovetop). I have a newer 2020 regency 2450 that goes a bit crazy if I load very dry wood on hot coals.
Agreed, moisture content would be better but they use 20% for testing so is that what they consider optimal? I’m thinking 15% could be too dry in certain situations.
 
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Agreed, moisture content would be better but they use 20% for testing so is that what they consider optimal? I’m thinking 15% could be too dry in certain situations.
Could be, which you’d figure would be more user friendly for most. I’ve noticed a big difference with my normal 18-21 percent wood, compared to either times of drought or when I had inherited some bone dry wood stored in a shed for several years.
 
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3 years in a shed should be good in almost all cases
 
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Turn the air down sooner. This year my wood is better seasoned than previous years and I've noticed I need to pay more attention to how the fire is acting rather than stt during reloads.
 
I definitely have to turn the stove down sooner with this wood, 10 min and I’m at low. It slows it down temporarily but it still comes back strong and is at full off gassing in 30-45 min. I haven’t overfired yet but need to keep a closer eye on things.
 
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I definitely have to turn the stove down sooner with this wood, 10 min and I’m at low. It slows it down temporarily but it still comes back strong and is at full off gassing in 30-45 min. I haven’t overfired yet but need to keep a closer eye on things.
Maybe try an E/W load if your getting down to your lowest air setting. This year, with my wood being drier, besides shutting down faster I can shut it farther without smoking the glass
 
My stove is *off* for the next two weeks because I burned a mix of dry and wet wood earlier this season. Now I'm getting crappy draft and smoke into the room every time I open the door. I suspect that I've got some creosote buildup as a result of burning green oak.

I was scheduled for a cleaning tomorrow but had it pushed back two weeks due a staffing issue with my sweep's company...
 
Buy a soot eater and clean it yourself from the inside up.
 
I'm on the 3-year plan now. Split one the other day and measured at 6%, wow. Fires are hotter, last longer, and burning with less wood. Have to monitor differently as they really take off and don't want an over fire.