What is the best way to orient the firewood pile.

[Dmitry]

I'm stacking my firewood on a pallets in two rows about 6 feet high. The run is usualy about 20 feet.
The runs oriented south to north. Is this the best way? The idea is that both sides gonna get some sun exposure.
Rows of the wood


North ____________ South

____________

 

[Little Digger]

All of my stacks run north to south. Not necessarily for the sun exposure since I don't get a heck of a lot of sun regardless of the season due to the amount of trees and the mountains. It's more because I prefer a tight yard as oriented to the house and the convenience during the heating season.

 

[DoubleB]

I also run north-to-south to try to get more cross-section from the prevailing west winds.

I also stack 2 pallets wide (about 7 ft) and 20 ft long.

 

[Stinkpickle]

As long as air can circulate, i haven't noticed any difference.

 

[billb3]

East-west stacks.
1.) Predominant SW wind
2.)The stacks are perpendicular to my driveway and it is convenient.
3.) I rather doubt #1 makes a hill of beans difference as long as the wind goes by somehow, someway not being behind a large wind protecting screen of some sort.

 

[BlueRidgeMark]

It. Doesn't. Matter.

 

[mass_burner]

Wind blows too erratically where I live to matter. Its a question if limited options. Mine face south east-ish, to get the most sun exposure, the best, really only option.

 

[maple1]

Stack so prevailing winds blow into the end of the stack, and not into the side of the stack.

So if prevailing winds are from the south, stack north-south.

That way wind won't drive rain into the pile (most of the time - of course the wind doesn't blow the same way all the time). If you then top cover and run the cover down over the end of the stack that faces prevailing wind, or even screw a piece of plywood over the end, you will get next to no wet in the stacks. And wind will draw moisture out of the stack as it blows across the ends of the wood, both sides.

I see this all the time in my yard. I have two stacks running at 90° to each other, the one with the end facing prevailing winds always seems drier.

(I double stack, if that would make a difference).

 

[Paulywalnut]

I feel like our wind blows every which way, so I've never made too much out of direction of stacking. Sun to me helps in the process along with wind to circulate. I leave all stacks three years anyway, but I know from experience it takes 3 years or so to get to that point.

 

[TedyOH]

End grain facing south, can't go wrong.

 

[tsquini]

Stack it perpendicular to the wind.

 

[Poindexter]

EW stack with southern exposure to the left. West bound wind in the AM, East bound wind in the PM, I am between a river and a ridge.

Kinda stuck because of my lot lines...

 

[LocustPocust]

I don't really think it matters much. Keeping rain off your stacks and letting them breathe is the important thing.

 

[maple1]

End grain facing south, can't go wrong.

If prevailing winds are from the south, that will give a double handicap - prevailing rains will get driven into the entire wood pile & ends, and the other (north) side of the pile will never get any sun.

 

[sportbikerider78]

I live over the edge of a ridgeline looking down on a valley...the wind is so crazy that it sounds like a freight train more nights than not. When I first moved here, I literally thought a farmer was operating heavy equipment at night.

 

[Wood Duck]

I stack mine so that the wood that grew on the north side of the tree is facing the south side of the stack, to reverse the chi of the wood. This causes an imbalance and dries the wood. The theory is similar to the way to have to sleep with your feet facing the mother country in order to balance your ancestral feng shui. It is intuitive, I think.

 

[TedyOH]

If prevailing winds are from the south, that will give a double handicap - prevailing rains will get driven into the entire wood pile & ends, and the other (north) side of the pile will never get any sun.

No matter how you orient your wood, there will always be one side of the wood that never gets sun.Winds here a generally WNW My opinion is the summertime sun is a more important factor than wind driven rain, end grain facing south, or wood stacked in an east/west line, will get the most sun. For me 300 days of sun and wind outweigh the downside of 56 days of rain (maybe 10 days of wind driven rain) and snow.

 

[Apprentice_GM]

+1 for maple1 comment:
"And wind will draw moisture out of the stack as it blows across the ends of the wood, both sides."

I've measured this and it is significant enough to matter, for me, in my circumstances (YMMV). Over 2 years / 3 summers the MC drop was >50% starting to 25% finishing for the rows running E-W (splits lying N-S) vs 20% finishing for the N-S rows (splits E-W) with prevailing winds N-S.

I live in a valley where the wind only blows N-S along it, which are the prevailing winds anyway. W winds occur in winter occasionally and we are very sheltered from those. My theory is more moisture escapes the ends of splits, and in fact moisture moves along a split grain far more easily than across it, and that having both ends exposed to cross winds maximises seasoning. I also like that N-S rows get even sun exposure so settle more evenly as they season, vs having the northern exposed ends of splits (I'm Down Under) shrink more rapidly and the rows toppling to the north.

Having said all that, and measured it all to satisfy my scientific curiousity, I usually end up with the majority of my rows (ricks) running E-W along a fence for ease of stacking and garden maintenance!

 

[BlueRidgeMark]

I stack mine so that the wood that grew on the north side of the tree is facing the south side of the stack, to reverse the chi of the wood. This causes an imbalance and dries the wood. The theory is similar to the way to have to sleep with your feet facing the mother country in order to balance your ancestral feng shui. It is intuitive, I think.

You are wise, grasshopper. You will soon achieve Ultimate Enlightenment and dry wood.

 

[LocustPocust]

the wind is so crazy that it sounds like a freight train more nights than not.

Got some good wind coming pretty soon in our neck of the woods. Get your saws ready!