Drying stacked splits in stove room?

[farmwithjunk]

I couldn't find any threads where people talked about stacking wood where the stove is, in my case the basement. With my old wood furnace I'd stack a few pieces on the ductwork and it would be cracker dry the next day for a cold start and light with a match.

Can drying a few % out not be expedited if its kept hot and extremely low humidity? I have enough room to store several cord in the walk out basement if I wanted and it would help some of my marginal wood. Most of it was just split but was cut into logs nearly a year ago. Some of its measuring under 20% which is good and I verified with a second meter to make sure.

I'm still waiting on a tee to install my F5200 so I have not had a chance to try it out.

 

[begreen]

Splits stored at room temp and low humidity will dry out quicker. It's not unusual to see a few percent drop in a couple of weeks. A trick that helps this is airflow if an oscillating fan is blowing across the wood stack. However, the moisture in the wood will raise the humidity in the room too. You can measure the moisture loss by weighing a few splits at the start and in a couple of weeks. The weight drop is surprising.

Also, be mindful of bringing bugs into the house.

 

[stoveliker]

When I was still trying to get ahead, and had poor wood, I've done the same.
I stacked a week or two worth near my stove. When the stove is burning, it's 80 in my basement.
But it's not the temperature in itself that dried the wood. I had a fan that I ran 5 minutes or so every hour. So the wood can "outgas" some water, making the air humid, locally. Then I'd blow it that humid air out of it. I did not think it would need a continuous air flow - though every bit helps if you're in a pinch.

 

[DonTee]

I’ve done the same also. I used to keep a face cord in the house by the stove. My wife loved that. Haha. But it did help to dry the wood pretty quick.

 

[Eman85]

Just keep in mind any bugs in the wood will be in your house. If you get powder post beetles you don't want them in your house.

 

[farmwithjunk]

Just keep in mind any bugs in the wood will be in your house. If you get powder post beetles you don't want them in your house.

Thats true but I've sprayed 3 gallons of Boracare around the baseplate inside and 2 gallons of fipronil outside around the house so hopefully any stop dead in their tracks.

 

[Seanbear]

I have weeks worth in the room by stove is in, keeps it drier and its right by it. Im lazy sometimes.

 

[ElPedro]

I just mvoed into the house we're in this year, and burning wood cut and stacked from this year - from end of December 21 to October 2022. I do sort of the same thing with my wood. I have a 4'x6' bin in my garage that during spring/summer is a meat chicken brooder. There is a fan mounted above the box that blows across the wood. I also have about a days worth, or maybe a little more, always stacked on the hearth in the house. By the time it goes from the wood pile to the brooder box to the hearth, its good to go. We've only had about a weeks worth of weather cold enough to need the inserts, but so far, so good.