Multiple chimney fires
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stoveliker
Minister of Fire
If you put two two by fours on cinder blocks, and stick two shorter pieces in the holes of the blocks on each end, you can easily create a rack that stores one face cord off the ground. Put a tarp on it and let it sit, preferably for two yet.
This is what we call the two or three year plan here.
It'll burn much better, keep your chimney cleaner, and gives much more heat. Why? Because you don't have to boil off as much water using the BTUs of the wood itself. A split of 5 lbs at 20 percent moisture content has a full lbs of water in it. You need to boil that into vapor to push it up your chimney. And we all know how much energy it takes to boil water
This is what we call the two or three year plan here.
It'll burn much better, keep your chimney cleaner, and gives much more heat. Why? Because you don't have to boil off as much water using the BTUs of the wood itself. A split of 5 lbs at 20 percent moisture content has a full lbs of water in it. You need to boil that into vapor to push it up your chimney. And we all know how much energy it takes to boil water
You have to physically split the wood, then check on the fresh surface with your moisture meter.
xman23
Minister of Fire
Woodsplitter67
Minister of Fire
So just as a heads up.. wood dries from the outside inward.. so by your method your measuring the driest part.. you need to resplit the wood and check the moisture on the freshly split face with the pins going with the grain.. your issue is not with the stove but the wood your putting in it. If you are burning oak.. that species takes roughly 24 months to season.. I bet once you test the wood properly you'll see your moisture being more towards the upper 20s to low 30% moisture content..
You're not alone, it's not uncommon. Basic instructions on testing wood moisture content should be in every stove manual.
Woodsplitter67
Minister of Fire
brenndatomu
Minister of Fire
This ^ ^ ^
And by "top cover" that means only the top, leave the sides open for air flow...otherwise the wood won't dry and you will only be growing mushrooms.
And consider installing a modern clean burn stove or insert...they actually put most of the heat into the house, instead of up the chimney.
Open fireplaces are very inefficient, and as you have found, dirty burners (creosote makers) especially with wet wood.
Im pretty sure he got the idea by now.......fresh split room temp, all of that. We all make mistakes in life.
not many people read the directions on anything they buy and wonder where they gone wrong. i have a old defiant 1 very old creosote factory if not burned right. i clean my chimney once a year and have no problems other than the first year that i burned it and didn't read here. now i burn it hot and have no problems
Trevor Tahclep
Burning Hunk
I seriously doubt 7% - 9%, borrow another moisture meter or two and validate your readings.
7% - 9% is wood that normally has been sitting in a covered well ventilated wood shed for 2 & 3 years and such dry would not make enough creosote to start a fire if burned correctly.
Take a existing split inside the house and let it warm up and acclimate for 30-36 hours, re-split it in 1/2 and take another reading on the new freshly split face.
Another test is drill 2 holes the size of your testers pins at least 1/4'' deep on a freshly split face and push the pins in as deep as they will go and take a reading, you will probably be surprised.
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