Its all about the wood

[sandie]

I got a huge load of broken up pallets and just junk wood pieces from a friend to use as kindling SO I put paper down in knots, small piece of fire starter, and a small round on either side and then about 10 pieces of this junk wood of pallets etc and I am up to 475 degrees in about 30 min or maybe 40 but much faster than before. That wood was DRY, and it mattered. I could not figure out what in heck was the problem without being able to get to 400 degrees for a couple of hours but was using wood that was said to be seasoned or kiln dried and neither was true and I was trying to get the bigger pieces on too fast. I have a good fire going now and am happy. NOW only need to get the blocking plate down near the opening of the fireplace chimney in addition where they put it, at the top! Amazing how important the dryness of the wood is not that I thought wet wood would work but ..,
I have some maple coming for free so hope that is good for burning, it is 3 or so years sitting in shed. Best part is that it is free.

 

[pen]

If you aren't cutting, splitting and seasoning your own wood, about your only solution to this is to buy next year's wood this year and stack / season it yourself.

Very few wood sellers actually sell seasoned wood. I've heard ones say "the tree has been down for 2 years" which may be true, but the wood wasn't split until a week before being delivered which means it is NOT ready to burn in a modern appliance. Now, an old pre-EPA stove you could get away w/ that, but not the new ones w/ such precise air intakes.

pen

 

[elmoleaf]

Dry wood is the beginning and end of everything. If it's not dry, no amount of fiddling with other items will matter.

 

[cycloxer]

Maple burns great. It doesn't have quite as many BTU's as oak, but it is still considered a medium-high energy wood. I burn both red maple (aka swamp maple) off my land as well as sugar maple. The red maple is nice because it dries fairly quick, certainly less than 6 months. The sugar maple has a bit more energy and is generally considered a high quality wood. It also dries out quicker than oak. If you keep it stacked and dry it will serve you well all winter.

 

[Adios Pantalones]

Everyone has the same "ahaa!" moment. easier, safer, cheaper, more effective using "known dry" wood.

 

[sandie]

A friend called me and said "hey, do you need wood for that stove? I have a umm umm load of it in my yard and you can have it" It is about 3 years since it was cut and split and covered with a overhead shed roof. I told him, well not sure let me think about it, YES I want it.

 

[cycloxer]

It is about 3 years since it was cut and split and covered with a overhead shed roof.

As Palin would say, burn baby, burn.

 

[itsanaddiction]

Last year, my first year burning, I burned a lot of "wet" wood. When I went up to check my chimney in January, I found black creosote running down the outside of my liner. Took a lot of cleaning to get it all gone. I'll only burn dry wood from now on, and I'll try to not buy it, there's nothing like knowing how long the wood has been sitting on my property...