Must be true it was on TV ;)

[peakbagger]

The local news station in NH WMUR, has a noon time segment between a Ray Brewer a long term reporter and the state cooperative extension at Noon called Grow it Green. Today's segment was on firewood. The co-op employee said that most wood needs to be seasoned 6 months but some like ash can be burnt as soon as its cut. The show is filmed in the Concord NH so there is a lot of oak in the area. When drying, it needs to be stacked up off the ground and baked in the sun during the summer and then covered up tight in the winter to keep the snow out. The background was some sort of wood shed that obviously was loaded from another opening as with the door open all the wood was jackstrawed, not stacked. They also stressed that wood needs to be stored away from the house with only the wood being burnt that day being brought in. I was waiting for her to tell the viewing audience not to burn pine as it causes chimney fires.

Good to see they were doing a service disservice to the general public.

 

[brenndatomu]

Ugh...for Pete's sake, it's 2022 in the US of A...and this prattle is still being propagated!

 

[EbS-P]

I’d expect that down here but up your way….. I wonder how many NH winters the co-op employee has seen, and how many cords they have burned. Probably just doing what they say being done. Doesn’t make it right.

Would it be hard for every new stove to come with a moisture meter? What’s 39 more $$ added to the price of a new stove. And let’s calibrate it to say 40F.

 

[stoveliker]

I think the 70 F calibration is ideal; 40 F depends on the weather and thus location. Many folks won't have access to 40 F. Everyone with a stove has a home where it is generally around 70 F. Just leave a few splits inside for a day and you're good to go.

Imagine having to test some wood in January in NH - where do you find 40 F?

I think the availability of near 70 F everywhere is why they were calibrated like that.

 

[EbS-P]

I think the 70 F calibration is ideal; 40 F depends on the weather and thus location. Many folks won't have access to 40 F. Everyone with a stove has a home where it is generally around 70 F. Just leave a few splits inside for a day and you're good to go.

Imagine having to test some wood in January in NH - where do you find 40 F?

I think the availability of near 70 F everywhere is why they were calibrated like that.

Yeah but it’s probably going to be closer to the actual temp of the wood for the person that doesn’t read instructions. It’s always 40 degrees somewhere

When it’s 10 degrees outside I don’t care what the moisture is I’m not checking. When it’s 70 I’m not thinking about firewood it’s July (expect this past summer when we were there. 90+ is way to hot for NH). In full set disclosure I’ve brought at least 4 life’s in the week to test….. and they all went into the stove before I split and tested them. My eye ball burn o meter says stack 2 is 24-26%. , and stack one (away from the tarp leak) is 19-21%. Should have been lower I need a real woodshed.

 

[mpaul]

Regardless of calibration status, moisture meters are only a tool if they are in the wood burners toolbox.
Telling people it only takes six months for wood to sufficiently dry is ridiculous and will only lead to issues for tomorrow”s wood burner.