Snowy wood!

[soupy1957]

The bottom two layers of my short stack outside (haven't needed to dig into the LONG stack yet), have had some snow fallout on them, from pulling back the tarp to get wood.

Would you bother to knock the snow off and bring those pieces into the house and let them air dry and use them, or leave them for next season's stacking? How much of the exposure to snow takes splits out of the running for this season?

How long would you let the wood that has had snow on it (seasoned wood, prior to the exposure to the snow) dry, before using it?

I sure am looking forward to the "woodshed" we'll be putting in next summer!

-Soupy1957

 

[Lighting Up]

Here's what I do when that happens and it happens alot here with snow. First if I don't need it...meaning if there are other rows of wood I just leave it and when a warmer day comes and it melts the snow then move it up on the pile to dry,

If I need it because that's all that's left in the pile I bring it in the garage, like you said, let the snow melt off and add it to a very very hot fire...mixing it with dry. I also may leave the air open a little longer to help dry it if it's really wet.

hope this helps
md

 

[JeffT]

Just knock them together and through it on the fire.It's just surface moisture,nothing to worry about.

 

[Shari]

Just knock them together and through it on the fire.It's just surface moisture,nothing to worry about.

Agree.

 

[soupy1957]

If nothing else, they should burn a tad slower I suppose.

-Soupy1957

 

[Fsappo]

Its not really "wet wood" I do exactly what Jeff said. Bang it and burn it, then get your arse back in the rocking chair with a cup of coffee.

 

[soupy1957]

Its not really "wet wood" I do exactly what Jeff said. Bang it and burn it, then get your arse back in the rocking chair with a cup of coffee.

thanks for the laugh.........I NEEDED that, this morning..........

-Soupy1957

 

[Got Wood]

Try taking your leaf blower and blowing the snow off if it bothers you.... I've done it at times when I'm bored. Also have used the blower to get the snow off the deck if its not too deep. Lazy way and my family thinks I'm nuts....they are probably right.... but it works.
As for the wood, the snow doesnt hurt anything or slow down the burning (well unless you through a shovel full in the stove). I like to get it off the pile I'm burning from because its a hassle to be knocking the snow off and cold on the hands. Its easier to get fresh snow off too before it settles.

 

[Big Al]

Just knock them together and through it on the fire.It's just surface moisture,nothing to worry about.

Agree.

Same here. It hasn't been warm enough since the storm for the snow to really melt into the wood. After banging them together, I've taken these "damp" peices and laid them out on the hearth in front of the stove and by the time I reload, they're good to go.

 

[remkel]

I usually bring it into the basement and let it sit in the stove heat to dry off. There will be no issue with the wood being "wet"

 

[PapaDave]

Soupy, I do the "bang 'em together" thing (well, not anymore since the woodshed is now operational), and most of it comes off. The little that's left will evaporate when you put in near the hot stove. It works. Just do it.
So, how's the snow removal going? We got about 3" last night, so I need to plow for a few minutes. Nothing at all like what you guys/gals out east got though.
I like Franks' reply.

 

[John_M]

My wood is stacked, uncovered, in rows under a deck. However, with a strong wind, the top pieces will get a light covering of snow. Last week I started carrying a small whisk broom in my JD Gator. When I drive it down back to get a load of wood for the garage a quick swipe of the whisk broom cleans snow and powder post beetle castings off the wood before it is loaded into the Gator. Should have come up with this idea two years ago. :-S

 

[Backwoods Savage]

This is how our wood piles usually look during the winter. We simply knock the snow off and forget about it no matter if it is wet sticky snow of the dry powdery stuff. It is only on the outside of the wood and not on the inside. Burn it.

 

[BrowningBAR]

Just knock them together and through it on the fire.It's just surface moisture,nothing to worry about.

Yup.

 

[CarbonNeutral]

I just hate having to shovel a path to the stacks. I did take the tractor-mounted snowblower round the yard yesterday. Only got stuck twice and ruined the grass in three places....

 

[JotulOwner]

Whether the wood is wet on the surface from snow or other sources, I like to bring the splits inside the house and let them dry before burning them. It also adds moisture to the air at the same time. I keep a couple of firewood rings near (not too close) to the stove and that seems to work well. Whenever I put a damp split in the stove it has a negative effect on the fire, so I try to avoid that whenever possible.

 

[Dix]

I put snowy wood in 2 milk crates, and let them sit by the back door to melt ( when it's warm enough to melt), then bring the crates inside, where they sit for a few days and then move them near the stove. I've usually got 2 days of wood near the stove, and another 2 in a holding pattern.

 

[burleymike]

Sometimes when we get that lovely blowing snot a few inches will pile up on the wood near the edges of the wood shed. It is almost always below 20° when we get the blowing snow so I just wipe the snow off the wood before loading it into the stove. If it is the wet slushy snow then I move that wood to another part of the wood shed to dry for a few days.

When we lived in NW Oregon I did not have a wood shed just some old tarps. I did not have a cat stove though so moisture would not damage anything. I had to clean the chimney a lot. I was used to burning in an old pre EPA stove so I was not concerned with moisture levels. All summer and even pine would not season very well. I am used to the bone dry intermountain west.

 

[gibson]

++ on "bang it - burn it". If I didn't burn wood with snow on it, I wouldn't burn wood.

 

[bpm44]

Soupy - my method for dealing with that is to bang 'em and bring them in to burn. Once in the house they go into my woodrack by the stove. I made the woodrack to be 5' long and 3 1/2' high and divided in the middle. That way I burn everything in the left half and by the time thats empty the right half is more than ready to go, and then I refill the left half. Its also nice to only bring in half the rack at any time just from the "work" factor of it, as well as it giving me a little lee-way weather wise to pick the better day for a rack re-fill.

 

[Battenkiller]

Whether the wood is wet on the surface from snow or other sources, I like to bring the splits inside the house and let them dry before burning them. It also adds moisture to the air at the same time. I keep a couple of firewood rings near (not too close) to the stove and that seems to work well. Whenever I put a damp split in the stove it has a negative effect on the fire, so I try to avoid that whenever possible.

I'm with you, JotulOwner.

Nothing goes into my stove that hasn't been inside for at least a few days and is warm and as dry as dry can be on the outside. Sure the stuff will burn, but like JotulOwner, I also notice a negative effect on the fire if I add wet wood.

I brought some wood in two days ago. Several splits had been soaked with snow melt and iced over. Most of it looks good by now, but I found two splits with pretty dramatic examples of how deeply water can enter end-grain and soak it.

Both splits are sitting in a stack that is 42" away from the front of a stove that has been running at 650-750º most of that time. Basement temps are in the upper 80s almost all day long. These are the ends that are facing the stove. And as I said, they've been inside for over 48 hours.

It is pretty easy to see where the dry ends and the wet begins. The split on the top row is 16% MC in the dry part, 36% MC in the wet part. The bottom row shows another split that was so dry that it won't even register on the dry part, but the wet part is still 32% MC. I'm sure this water goes deep.

Yes, this will go away in a few more days, but it's outer water at the moment and can have an effect of the ignition time of your startups and reloads, which are the smokiest parts of the burn.

If you can't bring in several days worth ahead of time, build a wood shed, or cover your seasoned wood completely in the fall. This has always been SOP for wood burners who must store their wood exposed to the elements. Fall and winter rains can soak end-grain very deeply, then it gets frozen inside the wood and pretty much stays there. This was just from snow melt. Imagine what a week's soaking rain can do to your wood.

 

[jeff_t]

I've never covered a stack. But I have a furnace in the basement and plenty of room to store wood. I usually bring in about half a cord at a time, and work with two stacks. When one is gone, I start burning the other one and replace the one I just finished burning. It's got plenty of time to dry off before I need it. That said though, I've burned some that I just brought in just to see, and never noticed an appreciable difference. The surface moisture evaporates in short order and it always takes right off. Might be different on a cold start, but on a live coal bed, no issues.

 

[Battenkiller]

I've never covered a stack. But I have a furnace in the basement and plenty of room to store wood. I usually bring in about half a cord at a time, and work with two stacks.

I've burned some that I just brought in just to see, and never noticed an appreciable difference. The surface moisture evaporates in short order and it always takes right off. Might be different on a cold start, but on a live coal bed, no issues.

I use the same basic rotation. You have a furnace, so that is working for you. I used to burn in an ancient behemoth of a furnace. Whole wheelbarrows of icy, green wood would go into that thing and light off without a hiccup. In fact, it was the only way to slow that beast down. A small stove is a different animal.

Maybe I'm being a bit anal about this, but I just don't see letting your wood get wet at any time except while it is seasoning. You work hard to get that water out, why let it just soak back in? I don't worry because it will be dry well before it goes near the load door, but the poor newbie that's maybe just learning to build a fire for the first time in his life needs all the help he can get. Anyway, I think that 95% of the sizzling wood I've seen way back in my beginning days was only wet at the ends from rain and snow melt soaking in.

 

[jeff_t]

Just saying, rain and snow don't have much affect on already seasoned wood. It's pretty hard to put moisture back in it.

 

[Battenkiller]

Just saying, rain and snow don't have much affect on already seasoned wood. It's pretty hard to put moisture back in it.

OK.. take a split of your very best seasoned wood and weigh it. Then wait until a long, rainy spell and leave it outside for a week and re-weigh it. Then see how long it takes in sun and rain to get back to its original weight. It will be longer than you think.

Wood is always compared to a sponge in every wood tech book I have ever read. You can't squeeze it like a sponge, but it not only soaks up large amounts of water into the ends, it is also hygroscopic and picks up moisture from the air when it is humid. True, it will never again come close to turning green again, but wood is definitely a two-way street when it comes to water. Surface water does indeed penetrate back into wood. It is then called waterlogged.