drying wet seasoned wood

[j7art2]

I got about a cord of 2-3 year seasoned wood with all of the bark on it, and the moisture was REALLY held in there well. I'm not sure the type of wood, either box elder or ash -- since it's so wet, I'm going to likely guess box elder. Anyway, the ends are nice and split like they should be, but this wood is WET, maxing out my moisture meter (which caps at 70%)

I stripped all the bark off and I've had it in my basement next to the wood furnace stacked for about a week, and have an oscillating fan on it, and some pieces are getting down to 55%.

I'm wondering if there's any quicker way to do this. I've got about a face and a half down there, and am half tempted to get a shop fan instead. I've been wanting one anyway, and this gives reason to. Lol

Suggestions?

 

[Jags]

A kiln is about the only other way. Mother nature does it best with time, but I understand that in the first year that is not always possible. Hopefully you already have NEXT years fuel at the top of your priority list.

 

[j7art2]

I resurrected my beast of a wood furnace after 8 years of inactivity from the previous owner of the home in September.

I have some wood for next year, maybe half a face. I'm getting dead and down stuff for this year yet. I've got about 4 cords, burned one already. Unless there's a foot of snow on the ground, I'm going to be cutting and burning all winter until I can't.

 

[j7art2]

I've heated my home for 25 years growing up with wood, but just convinced my city girl of a wife that we needed to resurrect the beast in the new home and start heating it with wood instead of propane.

Cut 5 truckloads of wood last weekend. Whew doggie. I'll be getting another 5 this weekend, maybe more. Literally cutting from sun up to sun down. Anything dead and down, checking with a MM, and separating from there. I'm actually installing 2 300w halogen lights to the side of my barn this weekend so I can cut in the dark too. LOL

 

[Jags]

Nice. I would also like to point out that smaller wood will dry quicker than larger stuff. Maybe resplit some of the stuff you are trying to dry out. Also - more surface area will help when the wet stuff is tossed into the fire.

 

[j7art2]

Yeah. I probably should have split some of this before I brought it in the basement. Hindsight is 20-20. I did stack it a few inches from the wall though so it could 'breathe' on the other side a little better. I'd normally stack right against it. The moisture does seem to be going down on some, and I restacked it about 10 feet closer to the furnace yesterday. I'm hoping in another 2-3 weeks it'll be ready to go. Once I get a new dehumidifier, I'll be running that also I think. Since it's so late in the season, I'm taking whatever I can get that's already down and burning extremely hot provided it's under 30%. I can't afford to be picky right now. I'm already at a blessing that it's still in the 30's and no snow here in mid-Michigan. Last year it was -10 with a foot and a half of snow already at this time.

 

[Woody Stover]

A couple years ago I had a half cord of dead, down White Ash that I stacked in the house. It was split small, and it took 2 weeks to go from 25% to 20. The humidity in the room went up about 10-15%, so I think the dehumidifier will definitely help. Be sue to check your chimney often....don't want to be heating your house with a chimney fire!

 

[j7art2]

Unfortunately, I don't have a way to check it right now. 25-30 foot chimney, and my ladder broke last time. I have a new ladder, but since last incident, I need to figure out a rigging system so I don't fall and kill myself. I know nothing about rigging, pulley systems, etc. I'll be learning though. I'm considering welding a square bracket that slips around my chimney out of a bed frame with a ladder hook on it and a place to attach a pulley or carabiner. Not a fun job to do in the winter with a 12x12 pitch roof, but I don't have much choice.

 

[blades]

You might be able to do a bottom up clean on the flue.

 

[j7art2]

I wish. My clean out is about 4-6 inches square, about 10 inches off the ground of my basement tucked behind my normal furnace. I might be able to get one of those chain pulley systems to clean out the chimney that mount to the clean out. I forget the name. I saw them, but they're a good $300-400.

 

[AK13]

I wish. My clean out is about 4-6 inches square, about 10 inches off the ground of my basement tucked behind my normal furnace. I might be able to get one of those chain pulley systems to clean out the chimney that mount to the clean out. I forget the name. I saw them, but they're a good $300-400.

Would a sooteater get in there?

 

[j7art2]

I dunno. It might... I'm not super familiar with the sooteater product. I just did a quick amazon search and it appears to be a very flexible chimney rod? Or is there more to it than that? Part of the problem I face is that my cleanout goes through my basement wall, then into the masonry chimney outside. I'd have to clear 2 feet of concrete at a 90 degree angle with said tiny door just to get access to the chimney. Why in the hell did they not put a cleanout on the outside? Seriously a stupid design.

 

[AK13]

I got about a cord of 2-3 year seasoned wood with all of the bark on it, and the moisture was REALLY held in there well. I'm not sure the type of wood, either box elder or ash -- since it's so wet, I'm going to likely guess box elder. Anyway, the ends are nice and split like they should be, but this wood is WET, maxing out my moisture meter (which caps at 70%)

I stripped all the bark off and I've had it in my basement next to the wood furnace stacked for about a week, and have an oscillating fan on it, and some pieces are getting down to 55%.

I'm wondering if there's any quicker way to do this. I've got about a face and a half down there, and am half tempted to get a shop fan instead. I've been wanting one anyway, and this gives reason to. Lol

Suggestions?

I can't believe that wood seasoned that long could be that wet, bark or no bark. I don't know box elder though. But even my red oak that is freshly cut and split seems to top out in the high 30's to low 40's. I've never seen anything over 50% even on green wood. Are you sure your meter is accurate? And ash is supposed to be fairly dry even when cut. And seasons very quickly.

Is the wood all small rounds? It sounds like it wasn't split at all if it still has all the bark on it. I'm not sure I understand

 

[midwestcoast]

Sounds like you're working you butt off & I bet you'll be in a much better spot a year from now.
In the meantime I'd suggest looking for dead Standing trees (especially Ash). That wood is likely to be much drier than dead and down.
Not the best time of year to tell live from dead, but if the bark is falling off then of course that's a sure sign it's been dead for a while. Tops are usually much drier than the lower trunks.

I wouldn't run a dehumidifier just to dry wood faster. They use a lot of electricity$$ & it might not pay off versus burning propane (especially considering the time & work invested). If your house is old & drafty you won't need to worry about it, but if the house is built tight and the wood is raising humidity too much I'd not have so much wet stuff inside. You really don't want to start mold growing anywhere.

 

[j7art2]

I've got 2 horse stables off the side of my polebarn that I've been storing all my wood in, stacked nicely; 2-3 cords or so. The barn/stables are unheated. Will the wood dry out provided it's out of the weather, even in the cold? Some of what I split has some ice in it. Would be good to burn once melted and dry, but not sure just bringing it out of the weather will help much.

 

[Soundchasm]

I've been through this more times than I'll admit, and I've used my little electric to split as small as an inch to try and catch up. If it were an emergency, I'd take the saw and cut them in half, and each split now has four sides to breath out of instead of two. The short ones will dry faster than the long ones.

 

[maple1]

An electric splitter set up between the woodpile & boiler is a very handy thing to have. Resplit small& that stuff will dry quite a bit in 2-3 weeks with a box fan blowing on it.