How to burn WET wood?

[cjgoode]

I have an osburn 2200 at our cabin, last time I was there first time really trying to use it the wood was a little wet, of course that made smoke a poor burn and dirty window. Some of it burned great, some not so much. It is all at least 2 years old. I put as much good wood in the garage as I could, it should be dry but we plan to head up for two weeks and I know there is not enough wood in the garage for that. I have a larger stack of wood, but location of that pile leaves it wet and damp and I did not have time to move it last time.

So what is the best method to burn this wood. I will move as much as I can into the driveway so the sun can start drying it out. Should I stand them on end to get as much air around them as possible? Is there any trick to using wood that is damp, how long will it take to dry it out. Next year I will surely have large supply of DRY wood in a DRY location, but need some heat this year when we head up.

 

[Nick Mystic]

When I've had some wood that was wetter than it should be for proper burning I used the heat of the stove to finish drying it out. I began a rotation system that involved moving some splits into the house and placing a few on the floor of my fireplace cavity behind my woodstove. Big rounds I would stand up next to the stove at a distance where they would get some heat, but not be in danger of igniting. I would then burn the splits that were behind the stove as their moisture content dropped to a better burning level. I'd replace those splits immediately with new wetter ones to keep the rotation going. This worked well during shoulder season when I wasn't reloading three times a day. Too short an interval and there won't be much drying taking place, but you get the idea.

 

[jetsam]

Here's what I'd do. You need to know your stove and how to safely do hot reloads on it, because hot reloads are your ticket to warmth.

1) Put as much of the wet stuff as you can in the garage to dry (not on top of the dry wood). Maybe leave the car outside.

2) Keep a little pile of wet wood at a safe distance but next to / in front of the stove at all times. This dries surface moisture rapidly.

3) Start a fire with your dry stash and let it burn down some.

4) Now do a hot reload on top of that with the stuff that's been drying by the stove, and refill THAT pile with the wet wood from the garage.

5) If a hot reload isn't possible, use the original dry wood from the garage to start up again. Some dry splits on the bottom and wet ones on top also works but is slower.

It may take a while for the wet wood to steam out and catch, but the hotter your reload is, the less wait you'll have.

I would also start and end the trip with a quick chimney sweeping, because you are heading into creosote territory. If you lose draft, go clean the cap- you can plug a mesh cap in just a few days of burning wet wood.

You should be able to end your trip toasty warm, with most of your original dry wood stash intact.

 

[trueg50]

In addition to the recommendations previously made, you should consider buying packages of the smaller compressed wood blocks. You can either exclusively burn with them, or mix them with the wet wood.

 

[WES999]

Some pallet wood would help too, just don't overdo it.

 

[bcrtops]

Good suggestions above ^
If you can load that stove N&S -- "bank" the fire on the outside edges with your wetter wood (after getting a good coal bed), then when dry/starting to burn, roll them into the center & add another piece of the wetter stuff on the edge(s) again. You lose a lot of your heat/energy doing this, but you can even get away with some green pieces, , as long as not too dense of hardwood.

 

[firefighterjake]

Assuming the wood is simply wet and not unseasoned (and from the description that's what it sounds like) . . .

First year I burned wood that was outside in stacks. I top covered the stacks with a tarp to keep off the snow, rain, ice, etc. . . . which allowed wind to get to the stack of wood.

However, rain often doesn't fall straight down and when moving the tarp I would inevitably get snow on to some of the splits . . . however putting the wood in the firebox next to the woodstove (once fired up) would melt off the ice and dry up the wood nicely.

 

[Woody5506]

I got a pile of 3+ year old red oak from my Dad last year that he kept outside, uncovered. Lots of it started to rot, but it was burnable. I kept it in a pallet in my garage for weeks and it barely dried, or at least it would sizzle in the fire. It needs air and sun to dry. If you have power there, I'd suggest running a fan at your stack inside the garage. This is what I do now and it works well.

 

[Eric Baldin]

I have an osburn 2200 at our cabin, last time I was there first time really trying to use it the wood was a little wet, of course that made smoke a poor burn and dirty window. Some of it burned great, some not so much. It is all at least 2 years old. I put as much good wood in the garage as I could, it should be dry but we plan to head up for two weeks and I know there is not enough wood in the garage for that. I have a larger stack of wood, but location of that pile leaves it wet and damp and I did not have time to move it last time.

So what is the best method to burn this wood. I will move as much as I can into the driveway so the sun can start drying it out. Should I stand them on end to get as much air around them as possible? Is there any trick to using wood that is damp, how long will it take to dry it out. Next year I will surely have large supply of DRY wood in a DRY location, but need some heat this year when we head up.

Hey, I just recently made an article about this. It has step-by-step instructions on how to start a fire even if there was heavy rain the day before. If you're more of a visual learner it also has a video. If nothing else, I promise you you will learn about some new ways to make kindlings. (broken link removed)