What to do with a sizzler

[Ashful]

So, I'm waiting up again on one of my stoves. Last loaded 2 hours ago, it's been running wide-open in bypass, and still has not hit 500F. There's flame on the logs, but looking into the firebox, I see one or two that just aren't charring. I heard them sizzling in the first few minutes after loading, which begs the question, what do you do when you hear a sizzler?

I've been waiting 'em out, usually having no more than one every third load or so, but once in a while I get a load like this. I'm guessing, with as slow as this one is taking off, there were a few sizzlers in this load. In fact, I think they all came from the same big split, which I re-split when I was moving them to the house yesterday. The re-splits I checked were all 17% - 22% MC, but this may have been one I did not check.

I think that next time I hear one, I might be tempted to grab it out of the firebox and run it outside. That could be a challenge if it's on the bottom of a load of 6 or 7 splits, tho...

I'm going thru about 15 splits per stove per day, so even if only one in 50 splits is wet, I'm stuck waiting on a stove to take of once every second day.

 

[BrowningBAR]

I crack the door open on the 30 when stuff just isn't burning right. On the Defiant and the Encore I'll leave it in updraft mode until it burns right.

 

[Hogwildz]

I just let the stove full open air on the intake lever, and let it get up to normal temp or even a little higher before starting to close the air down.

 

[Beer Belly]

I don't think I'd be comfortable with grabbing a split out of the stove and running thru the house to take it outside....too many things can go wrong...let it burn

 

[EatenByLimestone]

I just let the stove full open air on the intake lever, and let it get up to normal temp or even a little higher before starting to close the air down.

This. Get it hot and cook out the water.

 

[rwhite]

What kind of wood? I have this issue with some 3 yo silver maple. I know it's dry and seasoned and it burns well but every once it a while I'll get a piece that has some tight bark and some moisture trapped in it. Usually only sizzles for 10-15 minutes before it takes off. I usually just make sure I don't do a cold start with only that wood and I've been ok.

 

[Matt93eg]

I don't think I'd be comfortable with grabbing a split out of the stove and running thru the house to take it outside....too many things can go wrong...let it burn

I agree, in that situation you will be "rushing" to get that log outside, you could trip and fall, hit your head and get knocked out and now you have a hot log laying on your floor. Maybe that sounds far fetched but just saying.

I do understand the frustration, as this is my first year burning wood so getting seasoned wood was not in the equation. I have been dealing with less than ideal wood so far this season and will have to ride the entire season out this year, it gets "OLD" waiting on a load to take off in the middle of the night when you really just want to be back in bed and sleep 2 more hours before you get up for a day of work but I will continue to wait it out rather than grab a log back out of the stove.

 

[Matt Ruggeri]

I would go with the majority here. Happens to me every now and then, random split here or there that's not ready, or sometimes is holding a ton of surface moisture. I just open the air full and wait to close the bypass. Had a HUGE maple split (mixed with 3 other splits of Oak) that appeared to be seasoned, but obviously wasn't, hissed and popped for a good half-hour and left the glass and sides of the stove black. Wasn't happy about it, but it's not like I was gonna try and pull it out of there.

 

[Nick Mystic]

When this happens to me I will usually find some smaller pieces of very dry wood that I can squeeze into the stove in various openings to accelerate the fire. If it is just one or two splits that are high in moisture content then you can generally get the stove fired off nicely if the remaining splits get going. The added kindling can help accomplish this and greatly speed up the drying out process of those wetter splits.

 

[firefighterjake]

Wait it out . . . air control open a bit longer than normal. Sometimes if there is room I will put another split into the firebox. I think the last thing I would do is think about taking a partially burned piece of charred wood for a walk through the house in an effort to get it outside.

 

[eclecticcottage]

If you have space in your sealed ash bucket and you simply cannot contain your urge to remove the split, put it into the ash bucket, put the lid back on, then take that outside. At least you won't be rushing through the house with a flaming log. We are lucky in that our stove is right next to a door to the outside which doesn't lead to a deck or anything so we could (if for some reason we needed to) open the door then the stove and toss the log right outside, no steps needed.

Personally, I'd leave it. If there's room and you have some smaller splits/kindling, I might add a few small really dry pieces that'll burn quick but bring up the temps quick enough to cook out the water faster.

 

[oldspark]

Throw some construction lumber in there to cook out the water.

 

[Dave A.]

If you have space in your sealed ash bucket and you simply cannot contain your urge to remove the split, put it into the ash bucket, put the lid back on, then take that outside

That's the only way I'd consider doing it. Ash bucket remains on hearth whole time split is being removed from the stove. Unfortunately my ash bucket is not large enough to contain a full16" split, so I don't think I'd be doing that maneuver anyway. Removing hot coals and pieces of a burned down split to the ash bucket, has been dicey enough.

 

[Ashful]

We have 7 or 8 exterior doors on the first floor alone, so there's doors within a few steps of each stove, and actually three exterior doors in the room with the one stove causing me the most trouble. However, I agree with it being dangerous taking a burning split out, mostly with respect to dropping an unseen ember onto a rug.

In this case, the load was still not taking off after 2 hours with the air full open, and the stove in bypass. I could open the front door a half inch, and it would get going nice, but temps would drop back below 500F any time I closed the door. I can't get cat light off at any temp below 500F.

This is not the norm, but it seems to happen from time to time. Both loads this morning took off okay.

 

[jharkin]

In this case, the load was still not taking off after 2 hours with the air full open, and the stove in bypass.

Wow thats gotta be some weeeeeet wood. I dont recall having that much trouble even my very first year when I had to buy wood and burn it within 3 months (maybe 45 min at most ).

How big are you splitting? Maybe smaller cuts to dry faster?

 

[Ashful]

Yeah, that was the problem, Jeremy. I think you responded to my other thread on that topic.

 

[Paulywalnut]

I like that idea of opening the door slightly to let a little air in.
Getting a hotter fire will take the hiss out faster. It is amazing how all the
splits from one round are a little different in moisture. It's happened to me too.

 

[xman23]

In the early season I burn up stuff that's punkey or piles left out for years uncovered. Many times some wet pieces get in a cold start up. I just move this around so I can get some of my normal pile, real dry pieces in there. They fire right up and cook the wet stuff until it burns.

 

[rwhite]

Guess I misunderstood the difference between a sizzler an downright wet wood.

 

[Ashful]

Every piece I re split and tested came in at or below 20% on my MM, with the exception of a couple real big splits that rang 22%. None of these should be that wet, but clearly a few are.

 

[gyrfalcon]

Yeah, that was the problem, Jeremy. I think you responded to my other thread on that topic.

Did you try just poking things around in there? I knock myself out to make sure there are little cracks of air between splits if my coal bed is below par, but sometimes the whole pile of dry wood sits there and burns only reluctantly, and I find if I rearrange it just a bit by giving it a poke here or there, whatever the blockage is that's been holding things back opens up and I get good ignition right away just from shifting the wood a bit.

Also, oddly enough, putting some smaller dry stuff on top of whatever isn't burning right seems to draw the flame upwards to engulf the misbehaving split and get it going better than if you put the dry stuff underneath it, which is intuitively what you'd do.

 

[Woody Stover]

Every piece I re split and tested came in at or below 20% on my MM, with the exception of a couple real big splits that rang 22%. None of these should be that wet, but clearly a few are.

I get a bit of sizzle, even at 18%. Not bad enough to impede the burn, but 20+ might be more of a problem. I understand a lot of people don't like to do it, but if you can stack wood by the stove for a couple of days, it should dry it out enough to get it to start quicker. Or at least do that with the bigger splits.
Instead of running through the house with a flaming log, just toss it out the nearest window. Unless there are Pine needles out there.
And always wear flame-resistant pajamas.

 

[ddahlgren]

A good time to have some very small dry splits on hand. Every time I run across a nice straight grained piece I re-split it down to 1X2 or 2X2 pieces and have a large box full on hand for this. I have to buy wood so know all about marginal wood. If you have enough room a bio brick or two will also save the day. I also do not do a full reload I do it in two stages so the stove is hot and have a good draft before topping it off. I scored 7 large trash bags of cedar shingles at a construction site tis summer and wow they burn like crazy.

 

[oldspark]

I get a bit of sizzle, even at 18%. Not bad enough to impede the burn, but 20+ might be more of a problem

I did some testing a couple of years ago and even at 22% my wood did not sizzle, its reported on wood burning sites it happens above 25%.
I wonder if you have some surface moisture doing that.

 

[jatoxico]

Did you try just poking things around in there? I knock myself out to make sure there are little cracks of air between splits if my coal bed is below par, but sometimes the whole pile of dry wood sits there and burns only reluctantly, and I find if I rearrange it just a bit by giving it a poke here or there, whatever the blockage is that's been holding things back opens up and I get good ignition right away just from shifting the wood a bit.

Also, oddly enough, putting some smaller dry stuff on top of whatever isn't burning right seems to draw the flame upwards to engulf the misbehaving split and get it going better than if you put the dry stuff underneath it, which is intuitively what you'd do.

I need to poke things around as well. My fire box is 24" W but only a bit over a foot deep so mostly have to load E/W and the air from the dog house doesn't always get to where it needs to go even with an ash channel. I do a lot of arranging splits to try to promote air flow but still needs a poke sometimes.

When I have shorter splits and can load even part of the load N/S it helps a lot. Been thinking to cut some splits down and do a full load E/W and see what happens, exciting stuff right?