is my wood too wet

[ctswf]

first year of burning here in ct. just got a drolet 1800I its been great so far.

I bought 1/2 cord of 3 year old maple, it burns great and is bone dry.

before that, I bought about 1 - 1/2 cords of mixed split hardwoods from someone else, some oak, some unknown.

now i can see that it is obviously wetter than the other guys 3yr old maple.

I just tossed some on a bed of coals, it does burn eventually but takes longer to fire it up with the damper open, it also smells a lot more, im assuming burning wetter wood smells?

outside it smells a lot more, inside its not as noticable unless u smoke the house out in error...my wife did somehow last night.

also perpahps different types of wood smell stronger?

so now im kind of screwed at the moment and not feeling great about the local craigslist ads. If i burn this wood over the winter is it a terrible idea? is it going to make a lot of creosote build up? I belive its not very wet, but I know it would be better using it next year. I just dont know who to buy from at the moment

 

[DougA]

CL is great for buying junk unless you know what you are buying. I'd store the new wood in a dry place outside and it should be good for next winter. If you use it this year, you'll have problem keeping a good fire going, problems getting good heat from your stove and problems with creosote building up in the chimney. There's just nothing good about green wood.
The best way to buy wood is to get a moisture meter. They're $20 or less for a cheap one on sale. When the guy arrives with your load of wood, take an axe or hatchet and split one, push the moisture meter in a fresh side right in the middle. Anything over 25% and it's too green and tell the wood guy to sell it to some other bloke. Under 20% and it's ready to burn. In between, it probably in useable later in the winter. The wood you bought was probably 35% or more.

 

[ctswf]

yeah im thinking this will be next years pile. This one actually was a hookup from a friend of mine, ironically the craigslist guy was the good wood, but it was a guy w an old small personal pile.

I dont like dealing w craislist im not sure where else to look, tried google for local places didnt find anything, maybe ill bu some bio bricks

 

[jatoxico]

Wouldn't hurt to verify it with a moisture meter but going on the assumption that you have wet wood you can do some things to get by if you need to use it.

First off mix the wet wood in with the dry maple you have. That will extend the maple and allow you to burn some of the wet stuff.

I would also split down the wet wood into smaller pieces so you get more air to the wood.

Re-splitting some of that wood and bringing into the stove room so it has a chance to dry a bit more before use will also help.

Finding other sources of dry wood like old pallets or bio-bricks to mix in with the wood is another option.

This happens to almost everyone at one time or another usually in the beginning. If you can get some more wood and get it drying for next year that's the way to go. Buying dry wood is hit and miss at best and it makes the most sense to just let it dry for a year or two on your own.

 

[ctswf]

the wood is mostly already split pretty small, I can maybe split it one more time. I do have a lot of dugfir scraps from work so I can mix that in too

thanks

the wood is kind of mixed, some is dry, some is not...most is not

 

[jatoxico]

the wood is mostly already split pretty small, I can maybe split it one more time.

Even re-splitting down once would help. You'll need to feed the fire plenty of air and be careful not to over-fill the stove with a bunch of "kindling" splits. They will eventually take off and you could over-fire.

Tough to get long burns with small split wood so you'll have to feed the stove more often but with plenty of air you can make it work.

 

[gzecc]

Get your another cord or two now, and stack it for the next few years. Nothing compares to 2 yrs split and stacked wood. Get ahead.

 

[Seanm]

Do you have a chainsaw? If you live in the city this might be harder but I would suggest that if you are near accessible forests you can drop some standing dead trees. I would be targeting some of the lower btu woods like pine that may be ready now or close to it. Good luck, planning ahead for next year will certainly make things more enjoyable for you.

 

[claydogg84]

It's commonplace around here for people to suggest not burning "wet wood". While it's not practical for reasons already mentioned, it's not impossible to do it. If there is water oozing out of the sides when you put it in there, yeah, that's too wet. But if it's only taking a little longer to get going, burn it up. If you're concerned about creosote, do a mid season check to see what the chimney looks like.

 

[Paulywalnut]

If you have no moisture meter, hit two pieces together, a "clinking" sound rather than a thud sound would be a hint that it is somewhat dry, but maybe not enough. Hissing and bubbling of your wood is never good either, although when my kids were little they always asked me to put some hissing wood in the stove. I know better now.

 

[saskwoodburner]

If you have no moisture meter, hit two pieces together, a "clinking" sound rather than a thud sound would be a hint that it is somewhat dry, but maybe not enough. Hissing and bubbling of your wood is never good either, although when my kids were little they always asked me to put some hissing wood in the stove. I know better now.

yup, the poor mans moisture tester. Tunk, took, tink. almost ready, good enough, and really good. Or something like that.

 

[Little Digger]

I know of some who will be burning or at least trying to burn wood that has 34 to 35% moisture content this season. They also have some nice fresh cut (Friday evening) Black Locust that was added to the mix yesterday and that was also when I used my Moisture Meter to check the other wood. That stuff is almost 3 times wetter than what I'll be burning this year! I didn't bother checking the black locust because it was obviously GREEN! I also brought along a split of mine and re split it to show the difference. That split tested out at 12.4% moisture content.

I was told that Old School thinking was that burning wet wood meant longer burning fires. When you try to explain how wrong that is, they turn a deaf ear and all I can think is a chimney fire in the making. I might be wrong, but the wetter the wood, the more of a chance there is for "Glazed Creosote" formation, which is the worst kind! I really just wanted to pick up a log and smack them upside the head with it.

So if you can, save your wet wood for next year, and invest in an el cheapo moisture meter. They can range from $5 to $20 but well worth the investment. Try to only burn wood that is less than 20% moisture content and you will be happy as well as toasty warm during the heating season.

 

[SeanG]

Hi, CTSWF,

I am in the same position as you are. I thought I had done my due diligence while searching for a seller on craigslist but ended up buying some wood that was wetter than what I need for this year.

So, to make up the difference I purchased one ton of RedStone Eco Bricks from Tractor supply for about $250 when they were on sale for $2.49 a package. That's equal to one cord of super dry wood. I could have bought the Envi8 or EnviBlocks locally too but the Eco Bricks were about $50 cheaper. I believe you can also get Idaho Logs in the North East:

http://www.northidahoenergylogs.com
http://www.barefootpellet.com/enviblocks/
http://www.tractorsupply.com/tsc/product/redstone-wood-fuel-pack-of-6?cm_vc=-10005

The bottom line is that you have to bring down the overall moisture level of the load of fuel in your stove. The only way you'll be able to do this is by combining the wood you have with the wood blocks/log of your choosing. It won't be ideal but it will get you through the winter.

I have also been looking for cedar trees in my area. I was able to scrounge about 1/2 cord of dead cedar limbs which should really help with my sub par wood this season.

Good luck and report back once you experiment. I have just purchased the same stove (well almost, I bought the CW2900 which is the same stove it just doesn't have an automatic blower and the door is a little different) so I for one am very curious to see how you make out this winter.

Cheers,

Sean

 

[ctswf]

Hi, CTSWF,

I am in the same position as you are. I thought I had done my due diligence while searching for a seller on craigslist but ended up buying some wood that was wetter than what I need for this year.

So, to make up the difference I purchased one ton of RedStone Eco Bricks from Tractor supply for about $250 when they were on sale for $2.49 a package. That's equal to one cord of super dry wood. I could have bought the Envi8 or EnviBlocks locally too but the Eco Bricks were about $50 cheaper. I believe you can also get Idaho Logs in the North East:

http://www.northidahoenergylogs.com
http://www.barefootpellet.com/enviblocks/
http://www.tractorsupply.com/tsc/product/redstone-wood-fuel-pack-of-6?cm_vc=-10005

The bottom line is that you have to bring down the overall moisture level of the load of fuel in your stove. The only way you'll be able to do this is by combining the wood you have with the wood blocks/log of your choosing. It won't be ideal but it will get you through the winter.

I have also been looking for cedar trees in my area. I was able to scrounge about 1/2 cord of dead cedar limbs which should really help with my sub par wood this season.

Good luck and report back once you experiment. I have just purchased the same stove (well almost, I bought the CW2900 which is the same stove it just doesn't have an automatic blower and the door is a little different) so I for one am very curious to see how you make out this winter.

Cheers,

Sean

I will report back.

I do have a cheap moisture meter, I tested a few pieces they range from 18% to 35%, its kind of a mixed bag. I also dont know the type of wood, and the meter has 4 settings for density so its hard to say

I have filled the stove with the wood after its already a hot bed of coals from my dry pile, it seems to burn well I just have to open the damper a little more and a little longer compared to the 3yr old stuff barely needs any damper "fireing" time.

ill report back when I really get in to the pile, its my first time, ive already botched the stacking last month I think, I tried to stack them the standard way but because the pieces are small I ended up w a very dense pile which looks to have little air flow.

ill prob pickup some bricks this weekend

 

[LocustPocust]

Welcome to the joys of wood heat!

I agree with the others when it comes to splitting your wetter wood small and mixing it with the dry stuff. I don't know what you've got for spare time but I would split all the wetter stuff into smaller pieces and stack them loosely under cover in an exposed area to speed up drying. Burning wet wood is never a good thing but we've all done it for one reason or another. Burn it hot and keep an eye on the chimney for excessive creosote buildup and you should be fine.

Your 1st year is always a learning experience. Next year will be better.

 

[Oldman47]

yeah im thinking this will be next years pile. This one actually was a hookup from a friend of mine, ironically the craigslist guy was the good wood, but it was a guy w an old small personal pile.

I dont like dealing w craislist im not sure where else to look, tried google for local places didnt find anything, maybe ill bu some bio bricks

A smart way to deal with CL or a similar source is to treat every find as green wood. That means that you do all of the aging/seasoning yourself. Have you tried googling local tree services? Often they have wood they need to dump and you could become their dumping site. That way you win by getting free wood and they win by not needing to pay to dump their wood. As long as you take care of splitting and seasoning the wood you will have consistently good firewood at very little or no cost.

 

[ctswf]

I ended up buying a pallet of hot bricks, made in waterbury ct.
280 no tax

they burn hot and a few tests I did, throw them in the middle of the pile of questionable wood, everything seems to burn pretty nice.

the only issue is since the questionable wood is a little wetter, I find myself keeping the damper 1/2 open.

im a little hesitant to leave it that way all night incase everything dries out and over flames 1/2 way through the burn.

its been warm for a week so haven't given it much time yet

 

[BlueRidgeMark]

A smart way to deal with CL or a similar source is to treat every find as green wood. That means that you do all of the aging/seasoning yourself.

Eggstackly!

CL is a GREAT place to get free wood! It's most of what I burn.

I would never think of counting on it for this season's wood, though I do occasionally get some that way. I count those as a fluke; a bonus. My rule is to treat it all as wet wood to be CSS and used in a couple of years.

I've never been disappointed in a CL haul.

 

[Paulywalnut]

Besides wet or green elm, I think green or wet black locust is the hardest to burn even 1 year old locust is tough to keep lit. Ash is the best to burn if you have no choice. I would rather not burn anything if I had to burn wet firewood.