I've got bunch of limb wood I was going to burn but I was wondering how much mixing I should do with splits?
This is my first year with my Tarm so I'm just curious.
Thanks,
K
This is my first year with my Tarm so I'm just curious.
Thanks,
K
Limb wood in a gasser
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jebatty
Minister of Fire
This will be an exciting year for you with the Tarm. The short answer to almost all "can I burn it" questions is "yes, provided its dry and not too large." Limb wood is great. Wood is wood, and within a short range all wood has the same btu's per pound. I usually cut everything down to about 2-3" diameter. Smaller than that is too much of a hassle, plus the small stuff left on the ground is good to rebuild the soil.
Thanks,
That's what I figured. I'm talking a cord or more of it so I wanted to make sure there was no issues with it not coming up to temp like spilts.
K
That's what I figured. I'm talking a cord or more of it so I wanted to make sure there was no issues with it not coming up to temp like spilts.
K
I find that limbwood-- as long as it is not crooked-- works especially well in my Econoburn 150 (which functions similarly to a Tarm). It fits quite well in the firebox (less hanging up than one gets with many 'splits'- and fewer/ smaller voids between individual pieces of wood) and is especially good at not "bridging" so it throws a lot of heat and burns very consistently throughout the overall unfolding of the burn.
About the only drawback is that since it lacks edges, it's harder to initially light, and is not particularly good, all by itself, at initially getting up to high temperatures and establishing the 'glowing coal bed' on the bottom of the firebox that is really essential to good and sustained gasification/ secondary combustion. Once there is a glowing coal bed underneath everything, then limbwood will light right off and replenish the coals at a perfect steady pace.
So you'd definitely want to start a fire with lots of kindling and/ or small splits, but once you've got a coal bed (or even, when starting from "cold" putting lots of small splits in the bottom 1/3 and then limbwood in the top 2/3 of the available firebox space), I'd almost consider limbwood _ideal_ in a downdraft gasifier.
About the only drawback is that since it lacks edges, it's harder to initially light, and is not particularly good, all by itself, at initially getting up to high temperatures and establishing the 'glowing coal bed' on the bottom of the firebox that is really essential to good and sustained gasification/ secondary combustion. Once there is a glowing coal bed underneath everything, then limbwood will light right off and replenish the coals at a perfect steady pace.
So you'd definitely want to start a fire with lots of kindling and/ or small splits, but once you've got a coal bed (or even, when starting from "cold" putting lots of small splits in the bottom 1/3 and then limbwood in the top 2/3 of the available firebox space), I'd almost consider limbwood _ideal_ in a downdraft gasifier.
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