Kiln dried firewood

[babalu87]

(broken link removed)

Story in a recent Sunday paper article was heralding the virtues of kiln dried firewood.

At $450 a cord plus delivery it better load itself

Looks like they fire the kiln with all the scraps???
My concern was how much wood does it take to kiln dry wood???

 

[Eric Johnson]

Not much, in the big scheme of things. Unlike kiln drying lumber, there's no need to worry about cracking or checking or discoloration. Just crank up the heat and cook the living daylights out of the wood until it's dry.

I don't know about the fuel requirements for kiln drying firewood, but I do know that a pellet plant uses 10 percent of the raw wood fiber it buys to dry the other 90 percent. It's probably similar with chunk firewood. It also depends on the type of wood, how much air drying it saw before hitting the kiln, etc.

 

[suematteva]

Colton sends a lot of wood down NH, Mass, CT etc..

 

[BikeMedic2709]

Hey guys. Maybe you can shed some light on this for me. I was under the impression that burning kiln dried lumber/wood was not acceptable due to the "overfiring" issues.

 

[suematteva]

Bike,

Click on the Colton link that is in Babs first post...it will explain...kiln dried cordwood.

 

[tradergordo]

Hey guys. Maybe you can shed some light on this for me. I was under the impression that burning kiln dried lumber/wood was not acceptable due to the "overfiring" issues.

Not all kiln dried wood is the same. 15-20% moisture is OK, its not like lumber. Basically just the same as properly seasoned wood. If you can buy regular seasoned wood for cheaper than this, you should.

 

[EatenByLimestone]

Some woodworkers build solar kilns to dry their lumber.

Here's a link to one for lumber drying: http://www.woodweb.com/knowledge_base/Homebuilt_solar_kiln.html


Matt

 

[recppd]

Hey guys. Maybe you can shed some light on this for me. I was under the impression that burning kiln dried lumber/wood was not acceptable due to the "overfiring" issues.

Not all ciln dried is the same. 15-20% moisture is OK, its not like lumber. Basically just the same as properly seasoned wood. If you can buy regular seasoned wood for cheaper than this, you should.

I hope you can buy a cord of seasoned firewood for less than $450. I actually burned kiln dried firewood for 1/2 a winter a few years back after my stove insert was installed, simply for convenience. It lights easy, and burns great, but you got through A LOT more of it because it's so dry! A LOT more

 

[tradergordo]

Hey guys. Maybe you can shed some light on this for me. I was under the impression that burning kiln dried lumber/wood was not acceptable due to the "overfiring" issues.

Not all ciln dried is the same. 15-20% moisture is OK, its not like lumber. Basically just the same as properly seasoned wood. If you can buy regular seasoned wood for cheaper than this, you should.

I hope you can buy a cord of seasoned firewood for less than $450. I actually burned kiln dried firewood for 1/2 a winter a few years back after my stove insert was installed, simply for convenience. It lights easy, and burns great, but you got through A LOT more of it because it's so dry! A LOT more

Sounds like the type of kiln dried wood you should never use. Can lead to overfiring and damage.

 

[BikeMedic2709]

I read the info in the linked site. I just assumed that all kiln dried wood is the same. Guess you learn something new everyday!

 

[duck]

Sorry I brought this one up from the closet, but that link was to my solar kiln. I have thought about using it to dry my firewood also, but the hassle of loading and unloading just seems like too much work to me. I guess if I had freshly cut wood, and was in dire need of it, it would work fine. I was drying lumber from 30% + mc down to 6% in about 1 month during the summer. Took about 2.5 months during the winter. It gets up to 160 in there during the summer. I guess I could dry fresh split firewood in the same amount of time since it is thicker. Here is the link to my web page:
http://www.geocities.com/dualsprings/ducktangpage1.html
I have moved from that location and now I live in a sunnier location. I am using it to just store lumber right now with a tarp over the collectors to keep it from over drying the lumber. Talk about a beast to move. I winched it up on my 18' tandem axle trailer with a 4500# winch using triple pulleys and had to pull it off with the tractor.

 

[Andre B.]

It lights easy, and burns great, but you got through A LOT more of it because it's so dry! A LOT more

Really you should use less for a given amount of heat, less energy lost to vaporizing the water in the wood. Unless it was over dried to the point that some of the hydrocarbons were lost.
But you have to adjust your burning habits, because it is so dry you have to put less wood in the stove and load more often.

Think of it this way if you had an oil furnace and the instructions said to dump 5 gallons of oil into the burn pot, toss in a match and control the amount of heat by adjusting the draft control, how well do you think it would work. That is just what happens with a wood stove and what makes long controlled burns difficult. Water in the wood helps slow down the burn rate but it also takes a bunch of heat up the stack with it.

When you have very dry wood that is ready to burn as soon as it sees fire you need to control the rate of burn just like is done in a oil burner, you adjust the rate at which the wood goes in as well as the rate the air goes in.
________________
Andre' B.

 

[Eric Johnson]

Andre nailed that one.

The amount of heat you can get out of a chunk of wood is directly proportional to the amount of water it contains.

Most people (and stoves) are accustomed to burning wood that's medium wet to medium dry, and extra dry wood takes some adjustment by both man and machine.

Very dry wood is probably best suited to things like soapstone stoves, massive heat sink units and boilers--all of which can store the heat and give it back over time.

Very dry wood is also a joy to burn. Once you're set up for it, it's very low maintenance, since you don't have to monkey around with it to get it burning or keep it burning, it burns as hot as you want it to, and it produces a lot less ash and creosote.

 

[mtarbert]

450.00 a cord.....you have got to be kidding. Makes fuel oil sound cheap

 

[Firewoodguy.com]

Wow ! $450.00 per cord . Thats cheap for K/D firewood

 

[kevinmoelk]

$450 is very expensive. I'm not getting kiln dried wood, but seasoned wood, 2 cords for $250, and that includes delivery.

-Kevin

 

[Firewoodguy.com]

$450 is very expensive. I'm not getting kiln dried wood, but seasoned wood, 2 cords for $250, and that includes delivery.

-Kevin

True, but some consumers in this region is paying $250.00 per cord for crappy, wet, green wood. I think this type of firewood is very expensive too. what u think !!





Someone has requested more information from the Web site.

Here is their information.
_________________________________________________________

Name: Cris

Address:................... Avenue,

City: Haverhill

State: MA

Zip: 01830

E-mail Address: [email protected]

Questions/Comments:
I paid $275 for a cord of crappy, wet, unseasoned wood. Please .....that with better wood...

 

[kevinmoelk]

Oh I hear you. It does depend on your situation. Maybe there is no wood available, or possibly the individual is very busy, has a bad back, is elderly, etc.

Here in WA, we're kind of close to the source. Lots of timber land, and not cramped in like you east coasters. Still, this is the only season I will pay for firewood. Next year I plan to buy a permit to cut wood out of the forest. $5 for all the wood I'll ever want.

Seems to me that pleanty of folks are getting free wood or cheap wood on the East however. I think maybe finding inexpensive or free wood is a skill, like a pig finding a truffle. But I've also noticed that the keen wood hunters are hunting all year round, and capitalizing on wood in the warmer months, when there is far less demand. It's got to be cheaper to buy wood in the summer.

-Kevin

 

[Roospike]

Most if not all wood cutters i know cut wood in the fall , winter and early spring ...............
SUMMER WOOD CUTTING!??!!? are you crazy! lol :coolcheese:
Time for a pair of Carhartts my man.

 

[kevinmoelk]

Most if not all wood cutters i know cut wood in the fall , winter and early spring ...............
SUMMER WOOD CUTTING!??!!? are you crazy! lol :coolcheese:
Time for a pair of Carhartts my man.

What do you have against working outside in the summer time?... whimp.

Just kidding. The point I was trying to make was that it would be far cheaper to buy wood in a non wood burning season.

-Kevin

 

[mtarbert]

I don't know about other parts of the country but, in North East Maryland I can't GIVE wood away. I had timber cut from my property last spring and there are lots of ends.I tried the newspaper ,a sign at the grocery store etc.....no takers.At 450.00 a cord I think I could mail wood and almost make a profit...LOL

 

[Martin Strand III]

I agree on the rant that burning very dry wood, especially if you pay more for it, in a metal stove is a waste (of the extra dry wood and money).

Think of it this way: It's like burning nitromethane fuel in your 2-cycle lawn mower. Your metal stove cannot take the heat (1800* F or better) that regularly seasoned wood puts out if it's allowed to burn in your firebox with air wide open, why would you think that burning wood with less moisture that will put out more heat would be "better"? It's a little easier to carry and light, but that's it.

A masonry heater (different materials, different design) can take the heat but that doesn't mean I'd seek out the extra kiln dry wood since the normal seasoned stuff at 20% moisture or so is so available to me and cheap (costs: chainsaw gas and sweat).

Aye,
Marty

Grandpa used to say. "If you want to waste money, burn premium in a car designed for regular."

 

[Martin Strand III]

Dylan:

You're missing the point.

Ordinary seasoned wood will "max out" a metal stove which will be overfired, probably damaged, if the air is not damped down during the burn. Why eek out more expensive fuel (kiln dried wood), which probably can burn even hotter since less energy is consumed vaporizing less water in it, when the regular blend is more than you can handle to begin with?

The 1800* F figure has been hashed through enough here and elsewhere. But, I didn't have to mention it since metal stoves can't handle even less, around 1100* F for long, which is another figure most agree the fire(box) needs to get to for optimal combustion efficiency of wood.

To put even another way, metal stoves are "wasting" wood as it is since they have too be dialed down so as not to turn their metal flue throat red (about 900* F, sign of overfiring).

The only gun I'm aware of is in your mind.

Marty

 

[Roospike]

Dylan:

You're missing the point.

Ordinary seasoned wood will "max out" a metal stove which will be overfired, probably damaged, if the air is not damped down during the burn. Why eek out more expensive fuel (kiln dried wood), which probably can burn even hotter since less energy is consumed vaporizing less water in it, when the regular blend is more than you can handle to begin with?

The 1800* F figure has been hashed through enough here and elsewhere. But, I didn't have to mention it since metal stoves can't handle even less, around 1100* F for long, which is another figure most agree the fire(box) needs to get to for optimal combustion efficiency of wood.

To put even another way, metal stoves are "wasting" wood as it is since they have too be dialed down so as not to turn their metal flue throat red (about 900* F, sign of overfiring).

The only gun I'm aware of is in your mind.

Marty

Secondary burns is 1100° - 1400° , guess my stove should of melted by now , Aye. :lol:

A cars engine will melt down with the right fuel , air and spark mix but you dont put water in the tank to control your combustion..........its called controlled combustion.

I see what your saying Marty but...........com-mon < shaking head > really , ..................

 

[Martin Strand III]

On the temperatures reached in a fire, please don't take my word for it:

"Theory of Design of an Efficient Wood-Burning Appliance

Quite a number of physical laws need to be dealt with in designing an optimal wood heating device. This paper presents an overview....

A first step is to quantify the radiation given off by the fire and also the heat given off to the firebox air movements through and above the fire, all with the intention of tracking all the heat energy getting to the stove walls and heat exchangers.

After deciding on the physical size of the hypothetical fire and its average temperature (which depends on intensity - slow fires may average 1200°F; hot, intense ones 2300°F), ...."

(http://mb-soft.com/juca/print/314.html)

Aye,
Marty