kiln dried wood

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Charles2

Feeling the Heat
Jun 22, 2014
283
GA
The manual for an Englander stove says, "never burn...kiln dried
wood". Is this because kiln dried wood isn't really dry enough, or because something is permanently wrong with it?
 
Charles2 said:
The manual for an Englander stove says, "never burn...kiln dried
wood". Is this because kiln dried wood isn't really dry enough, or because something is permanently wrong with it?
Click to expand...

I think what they mean is kiln dried lumber. Because the moisture content is so low, you risk having a run away fire that you can't control. It does make great kindling though, and you can experiment mixing larger amounts with less than seasoned firewood.

Kiln dried firewood, generally available at very premium price is usually somewhere between 15% to 20% moisture and ok to use.
 
Too dry wood can lead to a hard to control fire. This may seem like a bit of over-caution, but Englander is a high-volume stove that sees itself in many different user scenarios from total new burner to folks transitioning to their 1st epa stove, to seasoned pros. They can't tell which will be reading the manual (if at all). You'll never see a separate set of directions for the new burner vs a pro. That said, I think they could rephrase this section for better understanding. Filling a stove with exceptionally dry and small wood pieces can lead to a hard to control fire.

Construction scraps are usually kiln dried. Filling a stove with a full load of construction cutoffs is going to take off with a very hot fire. It is very dry and the 2" thickness is small. Conversely, if the splits are thick (6-8"), kiln dried wood should burn predictably and safely. Mixing them in with some semi-seasoned wood will also help regulate the burn.
 
ridemgis, Your answer makes no sense. Kiln dried lumber is 15% to 20% moisture, at least when new, and then reaches the same equilibrium moisture content as any other wood.
 
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Which stove and what page of the manual are you talking about? As far as I know, Englander does not prohibit the use of compressed wood logs like Biobricks so discouraging the use of kiln-dried wood seems a little odd.

And kiln-dried lumber is usually smaller than firewood. With more surface area to volume it will burn up faster and may create an overfire quickly.
 
Charles2 said:
Can't you prevent the "take off" by shutting down the air supply?
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In a modern EPA-stove you cannot snuff out the fire by reducing the primary air. The secondary air is unregulated and the stove will always draw as much as draft and stove design allows.
 
Charles2 said:
Who said anything about extinguishing? I'm just wondering how to prevent an overfire with kiln dried wood.
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Sometimes the secondary's can really get going hotter then you may want with super dry wood or bricks. Since you can't shut off all the intake air the only option that would slow the fire would be to open the door and you would want to be careful doing that. Some have temporally covered the intake hole/holes with tin foil or magnets.
 
In a small firebox stove it's going to be hard to load it up with large pieces of wood. A load of super dry small pieces of wood will ignite and burn quickly. The way to control the fire is to not do this in the first place.
 
begreen said:
In a small firebox stove it's going to be hard to load it up with large pieces of wood. A load of super dry small pieces of wood will ignite and burn quickly. The way to control the fire is to not do this in the first place.
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Correct ,but we all know crap happens! lol
 
Charles2 said:
Kiln dried lumber is 15% to 20% moisture, at least when new, and then reaches the same equilibrium moisture content as any other wood.
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My understanding is that kiln dried lumber scraps are under 10% MC, perhaps as low as 5%. But probably as much or even more important as being so dry is that lumber scraps are dimensionally smaller than splits. and the extra surface area along with dryness means very hot, intense fire. Reducing the air supply is not going to reduce the net exposed surface are of all those little scraps. Because of the ample secondary air, that can not be controlled, my stove could easily overfire on scraps, even with primary air fully shut.

I think the manual is taking a CYA stance by saying "never", because obviously there is no harm in mixing in SOME lumber with your cord wood, or using it to start fires. As BG says, Englander is giving over-caution in an attempt to prevent overfiring by anyone who might EXCLUSIVELY burn lumber scraps, which could lead to real problems.
 
I have a somewhat related question- what about a dead standing tree or very dry large limbs that fall. If you cut a tree like that and split it and try to burn exclusively it would it "over burn" your stove? Is there a mean MC count that you should follow like "don't burn wood greater than 20% moisture but not less than 10% " or something like that? I'm not talking burning with lumber scraps ....
 
Yes, ideally you want to burn wood that falls somewhere in the 15-20% range. Standing dead is often wet in the middle of a limb or trunk so be sure to check multiple samples.
 
laxin213 said:
I have a somewhat related question- what about a dead standing tree or very dry large limbs that fall. If you cut a tree like that and split it and try to burn exclusively it would it "over burn" your stove? Is there a mean MC count that you should follow like "don't burn wood greater than 20% moisture but not less than 10% " or something like that? I'm not talking burning with lumber scraps ....
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Even when very dry, something like standing dead or long-dead limbs are unlikely to be a problem if they are decent size splits. Again, I think the total combined surface area of many little pieces may be a bigger deal than MC. As someone who burns pallet cuts and lots of branch wood, I am certainly concerned with burning too much TOO SMALL -- a big load of ALL little stuff that's super dry -- but am never concerned with simply burning too dry, so long as the load consists of a few very large splits or rounds
 
laxin213 said:
I have a somewhat related question- what about a dead standing tree or very dry large limbs that fall. If you cut a tree like that and split it and try to burn exclusively it would it "over burn" your stove? Is there a mean MC count that you should follow like "don't burn wood greater than 20% moisture but not less than 10% " or something like that? I'm not talking burning with lumber scraps ....
Click to expand...
I just checked some splits from a standing dead hickory, that i css in march, it is around 18%. The standing dead pine that i css a week ago is 45%.
 
Charles 2 is correct. Kiln dried wood may come out of the kiln at 18 percent, but, once it sets around, in the wood pile for a while, it will absorb moisture from the air, and it will attain the same moisture content as any other wood in the wood pile.
I found this out the hard way. I ordered a truck load of kiln dried Southern Yellow Pine, tongue and grooved, to make the ceiling for a log house I was building. I had the rafters up, and was going to nail the t and g pine on top for the ceiling.
The wood sat out for a week or two before I could get it installed, this in the humid air of central Georgia.
I installed the ceiling. Several months later, the house was finished. I cranked up the wood stove and that wood started to get skinny on me. The tongues were 3/8 inch wide, in many cases, the tongues pulled right out of the grooves. So that, a 1x6 shrank a half inch!
 
The oak pallets I have been burning that I get from work usually measure 5% moisture or less. They burn very quickly. I could see how it could easily overfire a stove. I just use it as kindling or to mix with 20-25% wood
 
jrems said:
The oak pallets I have been burning that I get from work usually measure 5% moisture or less. They burn very quickly. I could see how it could easily overfire a stove. I just use it as kindling or to mix with 20-25% wood
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This sounds like a mis-measurement. It's really hard to get wood down to 8-10% and stay there. 5% would be fresh out of the oven in the desert. If the meter is reading 5% it is either defective or it is measuring in the wrong location like the end grain.
 
ridemgis said:
My bad! Thought it was much drier. ;em
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Ridemgis. You are correct. Kiln dried lumber is dried to 6% to 8% moisture content. Outdoor equilibrium moisture content varies by geographic location and time of year. It might be 4% in Phoenix in June and 20% in Portland in Dec but on average is 10 to 12 % in USA. Kiln dried firewood is a whole different product as mentioned.
 
Exactly. The range varies a lot according to who has tested kiln dried lumber, but an average is about 12% according to building science corp. When OMNI labs tested 2x4s and 4x4s that had acclimatized they were getting 18-20%.
 
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