Non-split rounds

[curtis]

Hello everyone, I have purchased a garn to heat my house this year and have been cutting lots of standing dead ash for the boiler. In the garn manual it says that 24-32 inch long wood is best, anything under 7 inches in diameter dosent need to be split. I had a small pile of maple that I cut last spring just for "camp wood" and I found a two foot long pice that was about 4" in diameter. I decided to split it open and test it with my moisture meter. It read 34%. Now granted this piece was just laying on the ground. But
My question is what is everyone's thoughts on rounds that long that aren't split? I don't want to burn wet wood in the garn but I also have read that if I split the small pieces there may be too much surface area of wood causing the garn to not burn right. Any thoughts?

 

[red oak]

Hi Curtis - welcome!

Rounds will not be as dry as split pieces unless they are really short - then they can lose moisture through the ends. 7" is a piece that I would split usually unless it had a knot in it somewhere or I was tired. Split pieces will burn better than rounds, so for me rounds go in when I already have a good bed of coals.

 

[NortheastAl]

Does the manual give any hint as to moisture content? If its like an outdoor boiler, they burn green wood lots of times. Too dry wood is an issue with burn management, from what I've read. Check with the manufacturer to get the true answer.

 

[bogydave]

I split everything. Most of my wood is birch, needs to be split to dry well.

+1 with red oak

Rounds will not be as dry as split pieces unless they are really short - then they can lose moisture through the ends. 7" is a piece that I would split usually unless it had a knot in it somewhere or I was tired. Split pieces will burn better than rounds, so for me rounds go in when I already have a good bed of coals.

 

[red oak]

Does the manual give any hint as to moisture content? If its like an outdoor boiler, they burn green wood lots of times. Too dry wood is an issue with burn management, from what I've read. Check with the manufacturer to get the true answer.

I don't understand this. Isn't that the equivalent of throwing water on the fire?

 

[curtis]

I don't understand this. Isn't that the equivalent of throwing water on the fire?

Tha garn is not a outdoor wood boiler that you guys are thinking, it is designed to burn dry wood. The manual states to load the boiler with wood that has been seasoned and is between 20-28% moisture content.

 

[Jags]

Garn is a gasser that needs dry wood. Wet wood in a gasser is every bit as frustrating as it would be in an epa stove.

Ground contact wood is probably not the litmus test I would use. They will almost ALWAYS be higher in moisture. That said:
Split your rounds.

 

[NortheastAl]

I don't understand this. Isn't that the equivalent of throwing water on the fire?

That's what I thought, too. The theory is you can use cheap unseasoned wood if you have to purchase it. The intense fire needs to be slowed down anyway, so I guess this is the reason. This is what I read on one of the outdoor boiler's claims.

 

[Jags]

The intense fire needs to be slowed down anyway,

Hmmm...be advised that an OWB and a gasser are two different things. The majority of the OWB crowd wants to slow down the fire for longevity, usually due to the lack of sufficient heat storage. A gasser is a different beast. Generally speaking, these things are batch burned and burned hot. Wet wood is a hindrance to the burn on a gassifying unit.

Truth be told - wet wood is a hindrance to OWB users too, but that is a whole 'nuther bag of discussion there.

 

[NortheastAl]

Hmmm...be advised that an OWB and a gasser are two different things. The majority of the OWB crowd wants to slow down the fire for longevity, usually due to the lack of sufficient heat storage. A gasser is a different beast. Generally speaking, these things are batch burned and burned hot. Wet wood is a hindrance to the burn on a gassifying unit.

Truth be told - wet wood is a hindrance to OWB users too, but that is a whole 'nuther bag of discussion there.

I understand what you are saying. That's why I asked if the GARN was the same as an OWB.

I guess burn time matters when the unit is outdoors. Who wants to refill constantly because of too fast of a burn. I'm sure it's not efficient to burn green wood, but companies can make a selling point out of anything.

 

[Jags]

Who wants to refill constantly because of too fast of a burn.

Exactly the reason that most gassers are paired with water storage. Burn in batch - heat up the water - use hot water till you need to bring the temp back up, then re-fire. Properly sized storage is key in a gasser environment.

 

[NortheastAl]

Exactly the reason that most gassers are paired with water storage. Burn in batch - heat up the water - use hot water till you need to bring the temp back up, then re-fire. Properly sized storage is key in a gasser environment.

Similar to the heat storage of a masonry fireplace. Hot fast fire and long slow release of heat. The water is the mass to be heated and the stored energy is in the tank. If it were me, I would rather have the inside gasser in place of the OWB. OWB's are being heavily regulated here because of the smoke they churn out. Probably because of less than perfect wood, I might add. I dont think I can even have one if wanted it now because of recent regs here.

 

[curtis]

Well it sounds like I should probably split even the small rounds in order for them to properly season. Hopefully someone with a garn will chime in here and let me know what they do with the small rounds. I dont think it would matter so much if they were cut shorter but being 24" wood it seems to change the drying quite a bit.

 

[maple1]

Anything that is not split takes a looong time to dry.

I'd split.

 

[oldspark]

Yea 24 inch long rounds=24 years, if you want rounds that dry much quicker try 12 inch but I split everthing below about 5 inch.

 

[Paulywalnut]

Friend of mine burns anything and everything in his OWB. You can hear it hissing from some of the logs he tosses in.
I told him about seasoning wood. He listened but that was it.

 

[Backwoods Savage]

Tha garn is not a outdoor wood boiler that you guys are thinking, it is designed to burn dry wood. The manual states to load the boiler with wood that has been seasoned and is between 20-28% moisture content.

Curtis, it will not do harm to split the wood. Even if it is only one split it will help to dry the wood faster. I also disagree with their figure of 20-28%. Normally one wants 20% or lower.

As for the standing dead ash, sometimes it is ready and sometimes not. I recall cutting in the winter of 2009-2010 and most of that was dead ash. I was surprised especially when splitting it because some of that wood was ready to burn right then. Same thing happened with the ash we cut last winter. Some of that is really dry. For what it is worth, our ash trees started dieing off in 2002 or 2003. They are all dead now and I am sure most of what is left will be super dry and even showing some punk. So far I've left only a very few short logs in the woods because they were so far gone. I expect to find more of that sort of thing this coming winter.

 

[Woodfarmer1]

Split everything under 6" for the garn, if you need it sooner split it all.

 

[Poindexter]

You might try zipping or striping some of your pieces diameter pieces. My results with birch have been so-so, but better than leaving the bark intact on pieces that can't be split. or would be a PITA to split.

I find birch branches under 1" diameter dry to 16% in one summer when stacked off the ground. From 1 inch diameter up to about 2.5" diameter if the bark is zipped open those will also season to or under 16% in one summer. Branches over 2.5-3" need to be split open to dry to 16% in one summer.


Just run a chainsaw down the length of the piece like these:

 

[Woodfarmer1]

I hope you do that before cutting to length, could be a little dangerous for some.

 

[maple1]

Yes, that's done before cutting to length. I have been doing it on the small birch too, nice to hear of other input on its effectiveness - I wasn't really sure so far on how much it helps. Sure beats making toothpicks out of it to get it to dry.