Here we go agian, moisture meter and a sober realization...

[brider]

I, too have been recently splitting representative peices of "seasoned" wood, and I'm getting 19-22% on the exterior (yay!), and 35 to meter-pegged-at-39% on the split interior.

I am seriously depressed that I may not be able to burn a good part of my pile this winter.


I also checked pieces of oak that I cut down over 3 yrs ago, and it was the same story, which tells me that oak takes a long time to season, and/or my meter may be reading high.

Last winter, when I just burned this wood in my traditional fireplace, there were occaisional splits that would NOT light worth a damn, and I now suspect these were the ones I just tested at 39% on the inside.

So I have another question: Assuming I get my stove up to operating temps on some seasoned wood, does the burning off of the outer 20% MC wood tend to dry out the interior, or does the split (and hence the fire) just "go out" when all it has left is the moist interior wood?

I kind of know the answer to this, just hoping for an optomistic answer.

 

[M1sterM]

I, too have been recently splitting representative peices of "seasoned" wood, and I'm getting 19-22% on the exterior (yay!), and 35 to meter-pegged-at-39% on the split interior.

I am seriously depressed that I may not be able to burn a good part of my pile this winter.


I also checked pieces of oak that I cut down over 3 yrs ago, and it was the same story, which tells me that oak takes a long time to season, and/or my meter may be reading high.

Last winter, when I just burned this wood in my traditional fireplace, there were occaisional splits that would NOT light worth a damn, and I now suspect these were the ones I just tested at 39% on the inside.

So I have another question: Assuming I get my stove up to operating temps on some seasoned wood, does the burning off of the outer 20% MC wood tend to dry out the interior, or does the split (and hence the fire) just "go out" when all it has left is the moist interior wood?

I kind of know the answer to this, just hoping for an optomistic answer.

Check out this thread...it's essentially the same topic:
https://www.hearth.com/talk/threads/22241/

 

[Henz]

thats exactly right. The wood should be under 20% I believe

 

[smokinj]

I, too have been recently splitting representative peices of "seasoned" wood, and I'm getting 19-22% on the exterior (yay!), and 35 to meter-pegged-at-39% on the split interior.

I am seriously depressed that I may not be able to burn a good part of my pile this winter.


I also checked pieces of oak that I cut down over 3 yrs ago, and it was the same story, which tells me that oak takes a long time to season, and/or my meter may be reading high.

Last winter, when I just burned this wood in my traditional fireplace, there were occaisional splits that would NOT light worth a damn, and I now suspect these were the ones I just tested at 39% on the inside.

So I have another question: Assuming I get my stove up to operating temps on some seasoned wood, does the burning off of the outer 20% MC wood tend to dry out the interior, or does the split (and hence the fire) just "go out" when all it has left is the moist interior wood?

I kind of know the answer to this, just hoping for an optomistic answer.

I dont think these meter are always a good thing, if i had 3 year old oak in full sun it would be a great winter no matter what that meter told me

 

[stanleyjohn]

10 years ago i had a old wood stove in the last home we owned and used it to heat the basement .The wood would burn but hiss at the start which meant not so dry wood!same when we built our new home and used the fireplace.Until recently when i bought my new wood stove and researched wood burning i thought that hissing wood was a normal thing to hear and it was jast a fact of life.Now that i know better!im trying to do things right.The wood i have now is stored in a ventilated wood shed and stacked outside with loosely covered tarps with air flow from the sides and bottom.Like you i tested my wood with a moisture reader and found the wood not as dry as i thought!It may not be super dry when i burn it this season,but its got to be much drier than the wood i burned in the past when i didnt know any better.I know how you feel!but think your wood will be fine this winter!maybe not 15 to 20 % moist!but good enough to burn good without any hissing and spitting.

 

[brider]

Thanks, Stanleyjohn, I hope you're right. The 3-yr-old wood I've been burning was stored outside all year with a tarp draped TIGHT over it, because I was not educated in wood-seasoning, and assumed the most important thing was to keep the rain OFF it.

My current method is to stack on pallets which are up in the air on foundation blocks with no tarps, at least not yet. I'm hopeful that my method will accelerate the seasoning process.

And, I ran into an encouraging source for REAL seasoned wood, a guy I work with who has heated his house for years with wood, Who will deliver cords of wood that have been split and laying outside for a year for $200/cord. I'll get 2 cords from him soon, maybe out of all of it I'll be able to keep the stove happy this, my inaugural wood-burning, winter.

 

[Todd]

You still have a couple months of drying time, so you may be fine. If it ends up a little wet, burn it a little hotter than usual and check the chimney more often. You will probably be fine.

 

[smokinj]

Thanks, Stanleyjohn, I hope you're right. The 3-yr-old wood I've been burning was stored outside all year with a tarp draped TIGHT over it, because I was not educated in wood-seasoning, and assumed the most important thing was to keep the rain OFF it.

My current method is to stack on pallets which are up in the air on foundation blocks with no tarps, at least not yet. I'm hopeful that my method will accelerate the seasoning process.

And, I ran into an encouraging source for REAL seasoned wood, a guy I work with who has heated his house for years with wood, Who will deliver cords of wood that have been split and laying outside for a year for $200/cord. I'll get 2 cords from him soon, maybe out of all of it I'll be able to keep the stove happy this, my inaugural wood-burning, winter.

You are dead on target all will be great and if you dont fill good about that 3 year old oak i will burn it for you!lol

 

[WOODBUTCHER]

I, too have been recently splitting representative peices of "seasoned" wood, and I'm getting 19-22% on the exterior (yay!), and 35 to meter-pegged-at-39% on the split interior.

I am seriously depressed that I may not be able to burn a good part of my pile this winter.


I also checked pieces of oak that I cut down over 3 yrs ago, and it was the same story, which tells me that oak takes a long time to season, and/or my meter may be reading high.

Last winter, when I just burned this wood in my traditional fireplace, there were occaisional splits that would NOT light worth a damn, and I now suspect these were the ones I just tested at 39% on the inside.

So I have another question: Assuming I get my stove up to operating temps on some seasoned wood, does the burning off of the outer 20% MC wood tend to dry out the interior, or does the split (and hence the fire) just "go out" when all it has left is the moist interior wood?

I kind of know the answer to this, just hoping for an optomistic answer.

Brider,
The oak that was cut down three years ago......was it split three years ago? or are we talking 3 year old rounds that were just split? I've had 2 year old white oak trunks.....that when split are just as nasty as the day they were cut down.


My 2 cents

WoodButcher

 

[brider]

Mine were split maybe 6 mo after being cut into rounds.

 

[begreen]

What thickness are the splits? Could you split them in half to accelerate drying?

 

[trailblaze]

what if once you get the fire going, throw both wet and dry wood in? how soon should one have to clean the chimmney if buring wet wood?

 

[smokinj]

what if once you get the fire going, throw both wet and dry wood in? how soon should one have to clean the chimmney if buring wet wood?

check it monthly no matter what your burning and you will be ok

 

[begreen]

The wet wood will slow down and cool the fire, but it may burn depending on moisture content. How often for the chimney cleaning depends on a lot of factors like the amount of wood burned, outside temps, how hot the flue gases are, etc. I would check it every 2 weeks at first until a clear indication of the speed of creosote accumulation was apparent.

 

[doug60]

I burned (so called green wood) last season with my 1978 Defiant.
There wasn't any oak in the mix. (not a big fan of oak)
I rotated the splits under the stove to dry.
It took a lot of air to maintain 375 / 400 stove top but it worked.
A paint can cap full of TSP once a week & the rotation under the stove seemed to do the trick.
I was pleasantly surprised when I cleaned the chimney.
Less than a small coffee can full ( half season) 24 /7 burn.


This year I have a new Equinox & 5 cords ready to burn splits.
Bring it on.
doug

 

[iceman]

split what splits you can and let them dry you'll be ok try to get them in the sun and loosely stacked

 

[RedRanger]

I burned (so called green wood) last season with my 1978 Defiant.
There wasn't any oak in the mix. (not a big fan of oak)
I rotated the splits under the stove to dry.
It took a lot of air to maintain 375 / 400 stove top but it worked.
A paint can cap full of TSP once a week & the rotation under the stove seemed to do the trick.
I was pleasantly surprised when I cleaned the chimney.
Less than a small coffee can full ( half season) 24 /7 burn.


This year I have a new Equinox & 5 cords ready to burn splits.
Bring it on.
doug

Yep, that very well might be. I am however finding that the newer epa stoves and inserts seem to be very demanding of well seasoned quality dry wood. My older pe insert which is now retired was not as demanding. and chimney cleaning was simpler as well -- no secondary burn tubes to be removed first, etc. but the chimney cleaning was much more frequent as well.

 

[doug60]

[
This year I have a new Equinox & 5 cords ready to burn splits.
Bring it on.
doug[/quote]

Yep, that very well might be. I am however finding that the newer epa stoves and inserts seem to be very demanding of well seasoned quality dry wood. My older pe insert which is now retired was not as demanding. and chimney cleaning was simpler as well -- no secondary burn tubes to be removed first, etc. but the chimney cleaning was much more frequent as well.[/quote]

I'm with you on that, if the woods not dry, the steam will kill the secondary burn.
Gotta get more wood / gotta stay ahead . more wood / more wood .
Not enough wood .
My wife thinks I'm obsessed & she actually swore at me yesterday. O well
Gotta get more wood .
Need a bigger pile.
Gotta stay ahead.
More wood!!

 

[brider]

Regarding chimney checking/cleaning (remember, I'm a newbie, this is my first season), how the heck do you check the chimney for creosote? It's not like there's a handy check window or inspection panel to look thru...

 

[stanleyjohn]

Regarding chimney checking/cleaning (remember, I'm a newbie, this is my first season), how the heck do you check the chimney for creosote? It's not like there's a handy check window or inspection panel to look thru...

Im glad you asked this question brider!i was going to start a thread on this.Many have said to check flue often!but how and how much creosote is the question.My chimney is 25 ft up and i dont care to get to the top of that unless i really need too.So what ways do i check??ps my wood stove is an insert.

 

[savageactor7]

^Hi Stan, if you have a basement chances are it has a clean out. On a mild day let the stove go cold and stick a mirror pointed 45* to the sky in the cleanout...you'll see the inside if the chimney pretty well to make a determination. Don't worry about the hard black glassy stuff...it's the furry shag carpet like creosote you have to manage...

...if you don't have a basement I suppose you could pull the pipe out of the wall...or go on the roof and check it out by mirroring down the chimney ...not as effective but most of the junk collects closer to the top anyway. Now if your a hot burner (450-500st) of seasoned wood you almost never have to worry about creosote...a fine brown talcum like powder is also nothing to worry about cause it won't burn but creosote of course is combustible.

 

[stanleyjohn]

^Hi Stan, if you have a basement chances are it has a clean out. On a mild day let the stove go cold and stick a mirror pointed 45* to the sky in the cleanout...you'll see the inside if the chimney pretty well to make a determination. Don't worry about the hard black glassy stuff...it's the furry shag carpet like creosote you have to manage...

...if you don't have a basement I suppose you could pull the pipe out of the wall...or go on the roof and check it out by mirroring down the chimney ...not as effective but most of the junk collects closer to the top anyway. Now if your a hot burner (450-500st) of seasoned wood you almost never have to worry about creosote...a fine brown talcum like powder is also nothing to worry about cause it won't burn but creosote of course is combustible.

Hi savageactor!
I guess ill need to get on top!I have a full ss liner!Unless i can just open up my stove bypass damper and take a look in there with a light and maybe a mirror showing me the relection of whats in the pipe.

 

[JohnCusick]

I set a ladder, climb up on the roof and pull the cap. Usually I just need to clean the cap behind the spark arrestor, every 4-6 wks, and then once or twice a winter I'll run the brush down the line. Our setup runs 25' striaght up.

 

[JPapiPE]

I too bought a moisture meter, but it was one of the cheap $20 type that only measures to 30%. I also bought 4 cord of seasoned wood, and paid a fortune for it $250/ cord. All the splits I checked were not under the 30% moisture content. I know the meter works as I checked it on some kindling I salvaged from the 4 cord delivery. I know my cordwood is much more seasoned than the stuff I used to get in July in log length sections. Evidence is that the ends are checking nicely and the heft of a split is not so bad. It other words it doesn't weigh anywhere near what a freshly cut split would weigh. I did burn wood for 10 years in the past with 2 different cast iron Jotuls. I would get the wood as dry as possible by rotating a weeks worth at a time: bringing it into the cellar and then to my one week storage wood rack next to the stove. Sure I did get some hissing but it did burn and kept the house cozy warm. And I saved lots of $. I only had to clean the double thick brick chimney once a year, but there was never any creosote build up.

The reason i didn't have much creosote build up was because when i fired up the stove usually twice a day when loading it I ran the stove hot and into the red zone of my stove thermometer for 15 minutes...twice a day. The reason for a chimney fire is that 1) The obvious: too much creosote collected on the pipe nearest the top of the chimney (or the coldest place on the chimney) We can put that into the category of poor maintenance 2) a chimney fire will usually start when a dirty chimney is fired beyond it's usual operating temperature...(lets say throwing a christmas tree into the wood stove) This superheats the chimney and ignites the creosote particles and you have a chimney fire.

Creosote looks a lot like burnt corn flakes....use a little imagination here... And if when you inspect your chimney if these burnt corn flakes seem to be greater than 1/4" stuck to the sides of your chimney, it needs cleaning. If this particulate matter is just a smudge you are ok. Start out with a chimney inspection every 2 weeks , especially with a new stove as one can't know it's burning properties yet. And then when you develop a pattern or rhythm of burning a certain way you will be able to judge whether your burn pattern needs inspections twice a month or maybe just once a month. And clean your chimney when needed. Also do not treat your stove like a car you only drive to church once a week to church. Once a new stove is broken in or seasoned, don't be afraid to run it a little hot for 5 or 10 minutes a couple of times a day. This is insurance against a chimney fire.

 

[smokinj]

We still have 8 more weeks til where in the real season of burning wood!