I've come into a bunch of pine this year for kindling. I use it to get the stove going and up to temp, then switch to oak. I did the same last year and when I cleaned my chimney a couple weeks ago, I found much more creosote than in previous years. I've been looking into a cat stove for the long clean burns. Will the cat burn up the "pitch" from the pine?
Will a cat reduce creosote buildup from burning pine?
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It will, but the times when you are planning on using the pine, the bypass will probably be open and the flue the coolest, so it might not be the magic pill you're hoping for. Might be better to use it when you're going to be home and don't mind feeding the stove more often, though folks who only have softwoods to burn still get pretty long burn times w/cat stove.
Any wood will burn fine in a cat stove as long as it's dry. It could be the Oak you burned wasn't as dry as you thought? Some Oak can take over 2 years to dry out.
The oak was seasoned a year and a half. The pine was actually cut up 2x3 lumber that I get for free by the truckload from a local steel yard. It looks to be kiln dried. I never thought about the bypass mode of the cat stove. It would pretty much be open during those times. It's not the end of the world, I guess I may need to add a mid season chimney clean to the schedule. It only take me about an hour to do. It was just strange to see so much more creosote than I had ever before.
Your problem wasn't the pine, it was the wet oak you burned. I'd be willing to bet that if you resplit one of those pieces of oak and measured it with a meter it would be well above 20% MC after 18 months of seasoning. Oak takes a loooooong time to season (<20% MC), usually 2 to 4 years... especially red oak.
I burned green hardwood (sizzled in the firebox) and seasoned pine all last year in my 3.4 I got the wood much cheaper than seasoned hardwood and my stove burned longer. At the end of the season my chimney was so clean I could see silver in most of it. It's a non cat stove. I burned it with the damper fully closed 22 out of 24 hours every day. Got steady 10-12 hour burns with it. Straight up chimney thru the roof helped
Franks said:
what do you do to burn with the dampner closed, sorry for the newbie question, do you get a nice coal bed and then just close it? or are you burning splits while its closed?
I burn with the damper(air control) closed except for a half hour or so 2 or 3 times a day when I reload. During those times I burn with the air control halfway open. No stupid questions here, just silly folks like me giving answers, so ask away.
By the way, I am not endorsing burning pine, I am just relating my personal experience
By the way, I am not endorsing burning pine, I am just relating my personal experience
A common misconception about burning pine is that the "pitch" in pine is directly related to creosote or perhaps some believe it becomes creosote. Actually pitch is extremely fast burning, the easiest burning part of pine because it contains substances like terpines and hexanes (also a derivative of petroleum) that are quite volatile. I agree with the consensus here that you're more likely to have lots of creosote from your oak than the pine. I also agree with the woodheat.org article that softwoods burn the best mixed with hardwoods. This time of year, I burn lots of small hardwood, 1-3" diam, basically branches mixed in with split softwood for those just take the chill off fires. All year long I'll throw pieces of softwood in with my load especially if I need to get a fire up to temp quicker. Burn that pine, it's fine!
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