What to burn?

[Ihalmiut]

My experience with burning wood has been the outside boiler. Most of you know what that means. Burn most any kind of wood, if its a bit green, no biggie. We mostly burned red pine that beetles were getting to. Also a lot of red oak, that a tree man cleared for me and swapped a bunch of red pine sticks for. He put all the oak logs in a big pile and I just picked away at it over the years. I hurt my back one year, and I called a nearby sawmill and he'd bring out a semi load of slab wood for 300$, just to get it out of his yard. Now it's big money for that load.
At any rate, this insert business is new to me. The installer made me promise I'd keep poplar and pine out of it. Having researched this sight and others, it seems pine is fine. It is more about proper seasoning if my research is correct. Correct?
At our disposal is ample red oak, white oak, red pine, white pine, and a mother lode of box elder. Poplar too, but the btu's seem like it isn't worth the effort. The neighbor lady told me I can take any wood I want as long as I do it properly. She's 84 and has nature trails through the woods that she likes kept up and I'm happy to help her out. We had a big blow down in this area on July 1 2011. She has a lot of poplar that was knocked over about 8 feet up and they are still there, leaning, bone dry, 12 - 18 inch diameter stuff that has quite a bit of length hanging in the air. Their is actually quite a mix of species of that blow down stuff. oak and box elder besides the poplar.
So if you were me.... what would you set to doing? We can get winters that are long and cold. One year it started getting below freezing in early October and we had snow on the ground well in to April. I really want to keep the propane man out of my life as much as possible too. We also intend to put an air source heat pump in. Its primary function is cooling of course, but these new technology affairs can heat down to 30F with ease.
Jay

 

[Sprinter]

Pine is fine ( assuming it's dry). It's an old myth that pine is bad. In fact, a soft species like pine (maybe even poplar) will be a good choice for the first year or two for your new insert simply because it will have a good chance to dry out enough in that short time. But go ahead and get that oak drying for future years, but it will take up to three years to season properly.

Get thee a moisture meter and stay good friends with the neighbor lady. There's nothing as good as a nearby source of free wood. Just make sure it's dry enough before you use it. The oak will be a great score but it takes forever to dry, so get it started right away.

 

[Jay106n]

You can burn any kind of wood as long as it is dried properly. Use what is available to you. Hardwoods are obviously better than softwoods, but the hardwoods will take time to dry, so if both are available to you then get a good mix started, this way you have some for kindle, shoulder seasons, all nighters, this coming winter, and next winter.

 

[firefighterjake]

^^^ This is very good advice. In fact, I cannot really add any more that Jay hasn't said . . . so my comments will stop here.

 

[Ihalmiut]

Thanks everybody. I was just concerned about the pine, as I have believed the myth, but never cared because it didn't apply to us outside boiler's. I think we have another cool species now though. I'm so excited. Their are these trees I had never seen before in the woods, that my Misses was thinking were maple. I thought so too, but the branches are alternating. Anyhow, after looking at the dried leaves on the ground and pics of the bark and stuff, and a search around here on tree id, it appears to be red elm. Their are some dead ones with bark falling off that I'll see how dry they are. I did get a moisture meter too Sprinter, so I can check the content.

 

[Seasoned Oak]

Just remember you will need a whole lot more wood if its green,possibly twice as much. A friend of mine burns green wood and i swear he burns 5 times as much as i do for the same size house.

 

[Ihalmiut]

Oh yea. I'll season it properly. No green for this stove!

 

[Dobish]

i have been burning box elder all season, as it seasons quickly but not quite as quick as pine from what I found.

 

[AmbDrvr253]

^^^^^MTUTUALLY AGREED^^^^^

 

[heavy hammer]

All wood is good if it's dry it burns. Just some give off a little more heat, or burn a little longer. Other than a few it is all pretty good to burn.

 

[Sprinter]

Also interesting to note is that all wood provides the same number of BTU per pound regardless of species (assuming the same moisture content). But, of course, different species have different densities, so BTU per volume like a cord does vary. Some species heavy in pitch like pine do have a little more energy content per pound, however, not really significant.

If you're getting your own wood, it will become very apparent that it takes the same amount of human energy and sweat to process a low BTU species as it does a high one. I experienced that again today and I'm feeling it...

 

[Jay106n]

Thanks everybody. I was just concerned about the pine, as I have believed the myth, but never cared because it didn't apply to us outside boiler's. I think we have another cool species now though. I'm so excited. Their are these trees I had never seen before in the woods, that my Misses was thinking were maple. I thought so too, but the branches are alternating. Anyhow, after looking at the dried leaves on the ground and pics of the bark and stuff, and a search around here on tree id, it appears to be red elm. Their are some dead ones with bark falling off that I'll see how dry they are. I did get a moisture meter too Sprinter, so I can check the content.

I've burned about 1.5 cord of pine this season in my stove combined with my hardwoods. Its great for shoulder season spot fires, and I use 3-4 links on every cold start and load hardwoods on top. Its bone dry at 5% on the MM. It lights easy, burns fast, and hot.

 

[Sprinter]

I've burned about 1.5 cord of pine this season in my stove combined with my hardwoods. Its great for shoulder season spot fires, and I use 3-4 links on every cold start and load hardwoods on top. Its bone dry at 5% on the MM. It lights easy, burns fast, and hot.

Hi Jay, Did you really mean 5% MC? Unless you're kiln drying, according to all the equilibrium moisture content charts and formula, even in Arizona that would be hard to get to. In Ct, you shouldn't be able to get much below 13-14% with outdoor drying.

Around here, I've never seen anything less than 18% in a softwood, but our RH is probably higher than yours and that's the main factor in EMC.

 

[Jay106n]

Hi Jay, Did you really mean 5% MC? Unless you're kiln drying, according to all the equilibrium moisture content charts and formula, even in Arizona that would be hard to get to. In Ct, you shouldn't be able to get much below 13-14% with outdoor drying.

Around here, I've never seen anything less than 18% in a softwood, but our RH is probably higher than yours and that's the main factor in EMC.

Absolutely I did. It was 5% when i stocked my basement, now its even lower. It is several years old.

 

[Sprinter]

Absolutely I did. It was 5% when i stocked my basement, now its even lower. It is several years old.

Okay, so now you have my curiosity up. What do you measure green splits at or maybe wood that has been stacked for only a year outside?

 

[Jay106n]

Okay, so now you have my curiosity up. What do you measure green splits at or maybe wood that has been stacked for only a year outside?

At risk of waking up the wife, I went out and fresh split a few pieces, all registering zeros and flashes of 6%, which is the manufacturers minimum %, it is a Stihl MM. This stuff is exceptionally dry . I will fresh split tomorrow some fresh green maple and a red oak that was c/s/s last spring with pics. I would do it now, but its 1AM and the lady wouldn't like that much

 

[Sprinter]

At risk of waking up the wife

Do not do that! LOL
Thanks for doing that reading. I'm very interested about the greener stuff when you can get to it. I suppose a very dry basement setting could get a softwood down that far after a few years. I'm just curious about this stuff.

 

[Jay106n]

Do not do that! LOL
Thanks for doing that reading. I'm very interested about the greener stuff when you can get to it. I suppose a very dry basement setting could get a softwood down that far after a few years. I'm just curious about this stuff.

It was outside, uncovered, and already split when I acquired it this fall. I have no idea how old it is. I covered it and moved it into the basement this winter in the stove room, so it has not been there for long.

 

[Sprinter]

It was outside, uncovered, and already split when I acquired it this fall. I have no idea how old it is. I covered it and moved it into the basement this winter in the stove room, so it has not been there for long.

So you have a basement stove. How warm does the stove room get? Some of those basement installations can get warm and I presume, drier than outdoors. Softwoods like pine can dry quite quickly regardless of where they start. Some of my pine-like wood can go from heavy and green to light and 20% in maybe 6 months when properly stored.

 

[Jay106n]

So you have a basement stove. How warm does the stove room get? Some of those basement installations can get warm and I presume, drier than outdoors. Softwoods like pine can dry quite quickly regardless of where they start. Some of my pine-like wood can go from heavy and green to light and 20% in maybe 6 months when properly stored.

75-85 degrees on average when the stove is on. I've had it up to 95 once on an all oak burn. It averages 60 without the stove. So yeah its warmish at least 24/7 and is dry. The hygrometer right now says 53% humidity, i also boil water to add moisture.

 

[St. Coemgen]

if its a bit green, no biggie

Except for local air quality and lung damage, that is. Not to mention the additional tar and creosote in your chimney.

 

[Ihalmiut]

Exactly. The chimney sweep is a nice guy, but I don't want to see too much of him professionally. l
Lol.
So are the posts I see about using and cutting, splitting and stacking, and seasoning only green, live wood, and not using the already dead stuff, hung up, or on the ground, snobbish, or is their a valid reasoning for that? I have a huge Box Elder, that is mostly off the ground drying for who knows how long, easy to get at and stuff, that seems to me a waste to let it go to waste. Lots of oak too. My son commented that the amount of deadfall around this place would be a lot of cords, well on the way to drying.

 

[Seasoned Oak]

If you're getting your own wood, it will become very apparent that it takes the same amount of human energy and sweat to process a low BTU species as it does a high one. I experienced that again today and I'm feeling it...

IF the pine and softwood is lighter than the hardwood it would take less human energy unless the water in it makes up the difference.

 

[Sprinter]

IF the pine and softwood is lighter than the hardwood it would take less human energy unless the water in it makes up the difference.

Randy, it's all tongue in cheek complaining of course, but sometimes I think that my softwoods carry a greater % of water than my hardwoods when absolutely green. Maybe more space in the less dense material allows more water? Maybe just my imagination?

 

[Jay106n]

Do not do that! LOL
Thanks for doing that reading. I'm very interested about the greener stuff when you can get to it. I suppose a very dry basement setting could get a softwood down that far after a few years. I'm just curious about this stuff.

1st pic was a small 2" diameter piece of green maple, registered at 26%. It was outside and its 30 degrees.



2nd pic is a larger slice of a red oak, that has been c/s/s for one year so far, top covered. Also registered at 26%.


I also split a piece of ash that was in the basement, came in at 17%.
I'm going to let these warm up a bit and see if anything changes.