New to stoves

[Gmaynard]

Hi All,
I’m new to wood stove burning and had some questions I’m hoping can be answered. I have an older Jotul F500.

1. we moved into our current house about a month ago and the owner left us some wood. After two burns I began to notice the wood seemed a little green; it smoldered a lot, wasn’t hot enough and produced a decent amount of smoke . I am currently waiting on quotes for seasoned wood, but I bought some bags of seasoned, kiln dried wood the other week and those seemed to fire up hotter and didn’t smolder. Would the amount of burning I did with the greener wood create creosote That I should be concerned about?
2. Where should I place my thermometer? I’ve heard different opinions, some put it on the flue and others put it on the top.
3. When I burned the seasoned wood I noticed an ember or two shoot out of my chimney, is this something to be concerned about? It could have happened with the green stuff, I just happened to be outside when I saw it.

Even though it’s been inspected recently I’m a little anxious to be using my stove. it does do a good job of heating our home and I’d like to keep using it without feeling like I’m going to burn my house down every time. It ends up being nervewracking instead of relaxing.

any insight would be appreciated!

 

[begreen]

Burning a small amount of poorly seasoned wood is not much to worry about it. If buring a lot then the chimney may need to be cleaned monthly or after every cord burned. An occasional spark out the chimney is nothing to be worried about unless this is in a very dry area where wildfires are a possibility.

 

[logfarmer]

You could buy the bio bricks to substitute with the wet wood or i should say mix with the wet wood.

 

[Caw]

I noticed you're in MA. Legit, dry seasoned firewood will run you $300 a cord +$50 for delivery here. I can share the dealer I use if I'm in a pinch if you're interested. Very reliable with a quality product.

Also, depending on where in MA, we have a local guy who sells decent standing dead red oak split. Its probably 20-22% ish and would work for this season at a cheaper rate and he sells in 1/3 a cord volumes. Way cheaper than store bought stuff. Shoot me a DM and we can chat.

 

[ispinwool]

Welcome @Gmaynard ...settle in by your fire, put up your feet and read
through the site. It's a lovely place

 

[ChadMc]

When we first got our stoves in the new house 2 winters ago I burned 2 cords of crap the I bought. I got a sooteater and cleaned the chimney once a month. Even with the not so seasoned wood though I never had much in the chimney. I wouldn’t worry about it unless your burning a serious amount of sub par wood. However get a good cleaner brush. You’ll need it anyway and it take me about 20 mins to do my whole set up. Will certainly help with any anxiety you have of build up.