Less than ideal moisture reading. Now what?!?!

[kversch]

Started having some issues with burn times and secondary's. So I checked some of the moisture readings On some cherry, black walnut, oak and maple splits. Readings were in the low 20's to 30. Is it ok the burn at theses levels? This is coming from the stacks I had cut, split and stacked for a year. I plan to tarp the stacks tomorrow to keep any fall rain or early snow off the wood.

Any input would be a great help.

 

[claydogg84]

Yes, you can burn it. As you've already experienced it's not going to burn great, but it will provide heat. You'll appreciate getting a few years ahead after struggling to burn mediocre wood an entire season. The Oak is most likely the wood giving you the most grief. You can either throw that to the side for next year, or put them next to the stove to sort of "kiln dry" them.

 

[jatoxico]

Gotta use the bag of tricks. First off, lots of air. Bring as much wood into the stove room as you can to help dry it some. Split it down smaller first if you're up for that. Pallets, scrap lumber or some compressed bricks mixed in with the marginal wood helps a lot. Get the coal bed hot before using the wet stuff. Keep an eye on the cap. Sucks but most of us have been there.

 

[gzecc]

Buy some wood now for the future. Covering is not what you need. You need seasoning time. Split, stacked off the ground in single rows for 1-3 yrs depending on the species.

 

[Seanm]

I plan to tarp the stacks tomorrow to keep any fall rain or early snow off the wood.

This is a good idea but only top cover with a bit draped down the sides. Arrange it so that if a whopper of a storm comes you can pull it to the ground. Do this only until the storm passes so that you dont trap moisture under the tarps. If youre expecting minor rain or snow leave them top covered only as any wet ends from rain will dry in no time. Good luck. If you were in my area I would help you with some standing dead pine to get you through.

 

[Fred Wright]

Well, yeah... you can burn it. Or try, anyway. With moisture content that high it probably won't burn very well or very hot.

Recommend that you keep an eye on your flue for creosote buildup.

 

[Oldman47]

How much is heating oil this year? Burning wet wood is a serious fire risk.

 

[weatherguy]

I'd put the oak aside for next year, that will really slow down your burns if its mixed in with the other wood. I would venture to guess the oak is the highest reading. If you can get some NEIL's or bio bricks to mix in you should be able to get a good burn going.

 

[FaithfulWoodsman]

You might be able to get some ready to burn wood from dead standing ash. I got back into burning this time last year and made it through the winter with dead ash. Tops were dry so I mixed in some of the mid 20% stuff and did OK. As others said keep flue temps up and an eye on the creosote.

 

[FaithfulWoodsman]

Also elm without the bark can be ready or close to it
as well.

 

[AmbDrvr253]

We have, well most, all been there. Any access to lumber scraps? These will help a little. I made it through my first year this way with birch and scraps. I continue to get as many pallets as I can. Burn them in shoulder season with punks and chunks. Keep the good stuff for winter.

 

[kversch]

You might be able to get some ready to burn wood from dead standing ash. I got back into burning this time last year and made it through the winter with dead ash. Tops were dry so I mixed in some of the mid 20% stuff and did OK. As others said keep flue temps up and an eye on the creosote.

not to many dead standing ash in Ny yet that are accessible to me any way. Early in april of last year I did split and put up some stone dead sugar maple trees that where cut down. maybe I'll have to go out back and take a few splits of that and check the moisture on that. I also have a black locust tree that has one half of the tree standing dead with no bark on it. Do you guys think that would be burnable now?? I wasnt going to take that down till next summer but maybe that will come down sooner.

Also with my job we cut a lot of dead limbs out of trees, not usually huge limbs sometimes 6 to 8 in stuff, what are the chances this stuff could be low enough moisture to burn now to help with the less than ideal stuff I have stacked up?


Along with all your suggestions I stacked up some wood in the stove room and just for the hell of it I plugged the dehumidifier in to let it run, maybe it wont help maybe it will I figure hey why not try it got nothing to loose. I may also put a box fan down and blow the warm air right at the wood when I home.

 

[solarguy2003]

This may not solve your immediate problem, but I have had drastically reduced drying times when I built my greenhouse/solar wood dryer. Page 2 on the thread has most of the informative pictures.

https://www.hearth.com/talk/threads...re-and-dry-wood-working-awesome.129149/page-2

Approximately 1/4 of the normal drying time...

And, this guy is taking that concept and running with it, and making little "mini kilns" with pallets and plastic, so that bears watching as well.

https://www.hearth.com/talk/threads/experimental-passive-solar-wood-kilns.149388/

 

[claydogg84]

not to many dead standing ash in Ny yet that are accessible to me any way. Early in april of last year I did split and put up some stone dead sugar maple trees that where cut down. maybe I'll have to go out back and take a few splits of that and check the moisture on that. I also have a black locust tree that has one half of the tree standing dead with no bark on it. Do you guys think that would be burnable now?? I wasnt going to take that down till next summer but maybe that will come down sooner.

Also with my job we cut a lot of dead limbs out of trees, not usually huge limbs sometimes 6 to 8 in stuff, what are the chances this stuff could be low enough moisture to burn now to help with the less than ideal stuff I have stacked up?


Along with all your suggestions I stacked up some wood in the stove room and just for the hell of it I plugged the dehumidifier in to let it run, maybe it wont help maybe it will I figure hey why not try it got nothing to loose. I may also put a box fan down and blow the warm air right at the wood when I home.

I've cut and split dead standing Black Locust without bark and got readings of 10 - 15% on the moisture meter. Might be worth checking that tree out.

 

[FaithfulWoodsman]

I've cut and split dead standing Black Locust without bark and got readings of 10 - 15% on the moisture meter. Might be worth checking that tree out.

X2 on the black locust

 

[Woody Stover]

I've cut and split dead standing Black Locust without bark and got readings of 10 - 15%

Yep, it can be pretty low when bark-less, possibly sub-20.

 

[smee]

I got what must have been dead standing black locust and was surprised to find it at around 20%

 

[CentralVAWoodHeat]

Find someone in your area that kiln dries firewood. That will get you through this winter until you have time to get ahead. The price will be higher than normal but it will be well worth it. A cord of kiln dried oak in our neck of the woods is still 1/3 of what propane costs. The extra bit of money is nothing in the scheme of things when you consider how difficult, fruitless, and dangerous burning wet wood is.

 

[nmaho]

Why elm without the bark?

 

[claydogg84]

Why elm without the bark?

Dead standing barkless Elm dries out very well. If it's dead but has bark, or dead and laying on the ground with or without bark, it's most likely full of water.

 

[FaithfulWoodsman]

Why elm without the bark?

Dutch elm disease causes the tree to die from blocking the sapwood from the stump. Once the bark is falling or gone its already been dead for a while and has already lost a lot of moisture.

 

[paul bunion]

Along with all your suggestions I stacked up some wood in the stove room and just for the hell of it I plugged the dehumidifier in to let it run, maybe it wont help maybe it will I figure hey why not try it got nothing to loose. I may also put a box fan down and blow the warm air right at the wood when I home.

Running the dehumidifier is probably only costing you money. Your stoves intake is pulling many many times the volume of your room. Any air that your dehumidifier dried goes straight up your stack. You also must note that raising the ambient temperature by 20 degrees will cut the RH in half. So assume that outside air is 40 degrees and 100% RH. At 60 degrees it will be 50% and at 80 degrees it will be cut in half again to 25%. Unless you are pulling a fog bank into your house air isn't that wet and the temp range can be a lot more so the reduction in RH is even greater. In the cold of January and February you are essentially starting out with 0% humidity. Just use the fan to circulate your heated air across the wood, your RH advantage is extreme.