What exactly is “seasoned” wood?

[livetosail]

Okay. This is my first year with a wood burning stove. I installed a US Stove Country Hearth 2500 in mid-December. First fire was the 20th of December. Although I own ten acres of prime hardwood forest in the Midwest, since we began this year, I had to buy wood for this winter.

Since the 20th of December I have bought four ricks of wood from four different individuals all advertising “seasoned” wood.

We have heated the home 100% with wood since then; haven’t even turned on the furnace since then. Everything has been grand. Nights with temps below zero outside, able to keep all three floors above 70 inside.

Three days ago, however, I noticed a backdraft when I opened the door to the stove. It got so bad that I couldn’t open the door without the house smelling like a campfire. I read about the causes and decided that, despite my doubts, it must be a build up in my chimney. I headed to Lowes, bought a chimney sweep brush, and climbed the ladder to the roof.

This is what I found:



The inside of the chimney had about a quarter centimeter deep layer of fluffy powder-like creosote, but the chimney cap (especially the spark arrestor) had the bad stuff- dark, tarry, flakey, crispy creosote. There was so much that I could not see into the spark arrestor at all.

So, that answers that. The draft was definitely compromised, not because the inside of the chimney, but because the cap was encapsulated with creosote.

The question is: WTF is seasoned wood!!?!?!?!

Seriously!? Every bit of wood I put in the stove was purported to be “seasoned.” Yet, how was my stove able to create that much buildup in only two months?

I bought and used a moisture meter to test the wood, but there seems to be no consistency. For instance, if I pushed a little on some wood, I’d get a reading in the teens. Push a little more, and the reading is in the 20-30s. I have never once had a piece of wood that didn’t give me a reading of less than 30 when I really pushed the spikes in.

So, two questions:

1. Is this just what I should consider part and parcel of what it takes to heat with wood? I mean, should I just expect to scrape creosote 2-3 times a year?

2. What exactly is “seasoned?” When you say “at least one year” do you mean C/S/S in the spring, and burned the following winter (i.e., one full cycle of the seasons of the year), or do you mean C/S/S in the spring and left alone for more than 12 months, burning in year 2? I ask because I have been C/S/Sing wood every day for two months in anticipation of next winter. Should I not even bother, given that we are going to move a year from this spring? (Military family on orders)

Or am I simply the dope who bought crappy wood from four different people?



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[firefighterjake]

"Seasoned" to many folks selling wood is whatever they want it to mean . . . it could be that the trees were cut down in the Winter and left tree length until they were bucked up and split right before delivery or maybe to them it means it was bucked up and split several months ago, but then left in a giant pile of wood or maybe it means . . . the point being that unless one asks for the specific details the word "seasoned" may not mean anything in particular for a wood seller except that it is a good word to use when advertising one's wood for sale.

"Seasoned" to many folks around here using pre-EPA stoves is wood cut, split and stacked sometime in the Spring or Summer and then burned four months later.

"Seasoned" for me is wood cut, split and stacked at least a year or two (but in reality it has worked out to be more like three or four years) before burning.

Other folks here would define "seasoned wood" as being under a certain moisture percentage as measured by a fresh split wood face.

 

[armanidog]

It's a common story. If you buy wood let it dry at least a year. Can you get some standing dead ash locally? It may be dry enough to burn now.
Do you have a friend or neighbor with some dry wood that you could use this year in trade for some wood next year?

 

[Jan Pijpelink]

Seasoned or "stove dry" wood has a moisture content of less than 20% in a fresh split piece of wood at indoor ambient temperature (at least indoors for 24 hrs). When you burn that wood, it should start to burn within less than 10 minutes after you light the fire in your wood stove. When you have a "full" fire inside your stove, and go outside to look at your chimney you should see a heat wave but no smoke. These are simple indications to check if your wood is "dry".

 

[livetosail]

It's a common story. If you buy wood let it dry at least a year. Can you get some standing dead ash locally? It may be dry enough to burn now.
Do you have a friend or neighbor with some dry wood that you could use this year in trade for some wood next year?

No good. I have plenty of standing dead trees, but they are still very wet when split. Again, using the moisture meter to check, I don’t get anything less than 30%, and that’s after a few days being split and stacked, even from standing dead trees.


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[livetosail]

Seasoned or "stove dry" wood has a moisture content of less than 20% in a fresh split piece of wood at indoor ambient temperature (at least indoors for 24 hrs). When you burn that wood, it should start to burn within less than 10 minutes after you light the fire in your wood stove. When you have a "full" fire inside your stove, and go outside to look at your chimney you should see a heat wave but no smoke. These are simple indications to check if your wood is "dry".

Good description. The only problem I have is that every single piece of wood I have burnt meets that description, minus the moisture content. In other words, everything I have bought feels dry, sounds dry, and catches fire quickly. Also, I have checked for white smoke out of the chimney and haven’t seen anything except for once or twice on dead starts in the early morning.

So, unfortunately none of this description would have prevented this amount of creosote build up, as far as I can tell.


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[Jan Pijpelink]

Good description. The only problem I have is that every single piece of wood I have burnt meets that description, minus the moisture content. In other words, everything I have bought feels dry, sounds dry, and catches fire quickly. Also, I have checked for white smoke out of the chimney and haven’t seen anything except for once or twice on dead starts in the early morning.

So, unfortunately none of this description would have prevented this amount of creosote build up, as far as I can tell.


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Questions:
Is your stove connected to a liner?
Is the liner insulated?
What species of wood do you burn?
What is your stove top temp?
What is your stove pipe temp at 12-18 inch above the stove top?

Most hardwoods, like red and white oak, need 12-18 months minimum in wind and sun, top covered to come even close to 20% moisture. In most cases 24-36 months.
Any "dry" wood in which you slam a moisture meter in, no matter how deep the pins go, at any depth, less than 20% is considered good.

On a side note, yes, you might have bought bad wood. No worries, we all have done it.

 

[Poindexter]

I think the OP should invest $30 bucks in a moisture meter and get next year's wood spit and stacked right away.

 

[Woody Stover]

Wood sellers will go out to their pile of unsplit rounds and sprinkle salt and pepper on them. That way, when they split the rounds and bring you the wet wood, they can still call it "seasoned."
Get a big split to test, let it get to room temp for a couple days, then resplit and test. If the wood is cold, it will test low. Anything above 20% gets progressively worse for burning and creo buildup. Clean your chimney often until you know what you have to do to be safe.
Once you test, and know your wood is sopping-wet Red Oak, go into your woodlot and find small dead trees (<8") with all the bark fallen off. Buck it and haul it back to the house. Get a couple of those warm and test them. Then toss the 20% moisture wood you have just harvested into the stove.
Oh, BTW, where ya at in IN? And welcome..

 

[weatherguy]

If you cut ash now and split and stack it, it will be seasoned next year even if you cut it dead or live. I let hickory and oak sit two full years and it's seasoned. I like to let every species sit stacked for 2 years. Get 3 years ahead and throw away the moisture meter.
When you buy from someone you don't really know how dry it is. My moisture meter I bought at Lowe's for $30 is pretty accurate. I test a room temp split.

 

[Tar12]

You got your wake up call and it said the bottom line was is your wood still has to much moisture and I personally would lose the spark arrestor screen and check your pipe at least every 4-6 weeks until you have truly seasoned wood on hand...getting your hands dirty will keep you safe....how much wood have you burned this year? What ever number that is buy that amount again to get a head start.When you process your standing dead stuff...split it small and stack it single row in the sunniest spot you have...repeat until you are ahead 3 years...this is the commitment you must make to ensure safe future burning...it is easy to burn safe and clean once you get ahead...getting there is the battle.

 

[Woody Stover]

If you cut ash now and split and stack it, it will be seasoned next year even if you cut it dead or live.

I cut some White Ash about a year ago and quartered the rounds so I could pick them up, so they are pretty big. I split one last week, and it was still 30%, which surprised me. Figured it would have dried a bit, even though the splits were big. Coulda been an outlier I guess. It wasn't covered though, so I think it's all that wet.

lose the spark arrestor screen.

Don't forget, that screen will also prevent having a stove full of birds over the summer.

 

[kennyp2339]

I think that happens to every single one of us to an extent when we first start burning. Its nice to see that your figuring this out now before you have a serious problem like a chimney fire.
It is important when testing wood that you take a room temp piece and resplit it, testing with the meter the fresh split side to get a true accurate moisture reading.
As far as your chimney condition, what you have is hot flue gasses with moisture in it that stayed warm enough up the chimney but then in the cap area they cooled rapidly and condensed, that's how the cap is more mucked up then the rest of the pipe. I suspect either you burn the stove with the air controller pulled out some or you have a strong draft when the pipe is clean. When you burn drier wood <18% to 15 you will notice that you can shut your air control all the down and still maintain a vibrant flame in the box and have very little steam coming out the stack on reloadings and just heat vapors, seriously wood should be burnt at 20% or below, but when you hit 18% it suddenly becomes so much easier to burn and you'll see the difference in flames in the fire box.

 

[Tar12]

I cit some White Ash about a year ago and quartered the rounds so I could pick them up. I split one last week, and it was still 30%, which surprised me. Coulda been an outlier I guess.. It wasn't covered though, so I think it's all that wet.
Don't forget, that screen will also prevent having a stove full of birds over the summer.

True enough! I forgot about providing advice in covering for the off season! I was once greeted by a ash covered sparrow in the living room! Another member here had a squirrel streaking around the living quarters!

 

[zig]

Dead standing ash cut and split smaller, stacked loosely now in a windy spot should be fine next year. I have never covered mine, just moved to the shed in oct. and it's great by the time i have to use hard wood; late fall is poplar and pine. You may want to get a different cap without the spark screening since the cap is always the coldest part of the pipe. Even dry wood will leave creosote on it.

 

[Tar12]

I just reread your post and realized I missed that you are a Military man...thank you for your service sir!

 

[livetosail]

All good points.

My takeaway:

1. I was unlucky with the quality of wood I bought.
2. Moisture meter should be used on sample that has been inside for 24 hours and freshly cut to be accurate.
3. C/S/S and leave for 12+ months to be safe, more to be truly safe.

As I mentioned, we will only be here through spring of next year, so I won’t ever have the chance to get 2-3 years ahead like some have advocated. Nevertheless, I’ll take this knowledge with me to the next place we go.

Lessons learned.

P.S, thanks for the support, and we’re in Morgan County, midway between Bloomington and Indy.


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[Bootstrap]

I see recommendations to dry oak for up to 3 years.
I completely disagree with that, but that's me. I have typically let mine dry for 9-12 months, and get moisture content between 17% and 20%. Maybe I am splitting thinner....maybe my stacks were special I don't know.

Regardless, if you buy wood expecting it to burn good right now because they say its seasoned, well you found out what the case really is.
I've never had to season wood more than 9 months to get it to burn good. At 12 months time, it burns very good. And I burn maple and red oak mostly, and some pine from time to time. I like the pine to season for close to 12 months.

 

[Manly]

Dry wood is key. However, from my experience your screen, or spark arrester, will always cause a problem. Over our many years of burning, I have installed a screen around the cap at various times to address bird issues. When I start burning in the fall, all is well. I forget about the screen then in mid winter I suddenly loose draft and get smoke in the house. Dang, I forgot about that screen again. My burns and flue are good and hot, but when the exhaust hits that cold screen, it does eventually cake up and block draft. The pipe itself is clean, but that screen always causes me an issue. I have even opened up the grids on the screen, and it will run longer but eventually builds up enough to impede draft. I check my wood with a meter and it is dry for the most part. Just my experience, yours may differ.

 

[Bootstrap]

View attachment 223423

My chimney cap in my previous house used to be almost this bad when I ran a wood furnace add on, Englander 28-3500. I went up there twice in the winter to clean it out.

 

[Manly]

"Since the 20th of December I have bought four ricks of wood from four different individuals all advertising “seasoned” wood."

As being one always looking to learn, exactly what is a rick? I am familiar with rickets which I had as a child, and I also had a guy named Rick who I used to buy wood from. Since I began visiting this forum, I have learned a few new "slangs" used here, such as "face cord". Around here we used to call that "a ripoff". Thank you for your input.

 

[livetosail]

As being one always looking to learn, exactly what is a rick?

From the newbie: A rick is 1/3 of a cord, and measures 8 feet long by 4 feet high and approximately 16in wide. A cord of wood is 8 feet long by 4 feet high by 4 feet wide.

So, three rows of 16in wood stacked 8 feet long and 4 feet high will make one cord. Each of those rows is referred to as a "rick" (at least in these parts).

What I have learned from the locals in my exactly 2 months of burning wood is that a Rick is typically the unit of measurement used for buying and selling because (1) it is fairly easy to measure, and (2) it roughly fills up the back of a standard pickup truck.

I like the term 'rick' because I can easily build stands to hold firewood with these dimensions, and I know that three of them equals one cord of wood.

For my two months of burning, which was 24/7 from late December to two days ago, I used approximately one rick of firewood every two weeks. This means, for planning purposes, I can expect to use approximately one cord of wood every month and a half. So for a 'typical' Indiana winter (if there is such a thing anymore), measuring from around Mid-November to Mid-March I need around 3 cords of wood minimum for next year. This is what I am currently aiming to have C/S/S before Easter of this year, which I have been told is the minimum target to have wood seasoned for the following winter.

 

[livetosail]

Just my experience, yours may differ.

I was coming to the same conclusion. After inspecting the cap, I cleaned it thoroughly, and in the process learned that the screen can easily be removed with just three sheet metal screws. So I think that I will leave the screen up there until next season, and then remove it for the duration of the cold months... or at least that's the plan.

 

[livetosail]

I see recommendations to dry oak for up to 3 years.
I completely disagree with that, but that's me. I have typically let mine dry for 9-12 months, and get moisture content between 17% and 20%. Maybe I am splitting thinner....maybe my stacks were special I don't know.

Regardless, if you buy wood expecting it to burn good right now because they say its seasoned, well you found out what the case really is.
I've never had to season wood more than 9 months to get it to burn good. At 12 months time, it burns very good. And I burn maple and red oak mostly, and some pine from time to time. I like the pine to season for close to 12 months.

I have an abundance of Red and White Oak on my property. So much that I cannot throw a stone without hitting one of these trees. The problem is that my entire property is perched on the side of a mountain, completely surrounded by forest. I do not have any flat areas (other than my stone patio and deck) on the land, and there are virtually no areas that get abundant direct sunlight in the summertime due to the large canopy above us (60+ feet high). SOoooooo... I am concerned because the vast majority of my woodpile (1.5 cords so far) is made up of red oak that I was expecting to burn next winter. With not a lot of direct sunlight and only 10 or so months of seasoning, it does not sound like I am going to be free of these creosote headaches next year either.

 

[yooper08]

One thing you can do right away is remove the screen around the cap. Some do that during the burning season and then put it back on come spring. Screens are known to get clogged like that.

I get the idea but I don't see how these screens really stop sparks that theoretically make it all the way up the flue. The screen is quite large compared to a spark. My wood is tarped near the base of my chimney, there aren't any burn holes in it and I don't have a screen.