# I burned some cedar fence posts... may have been pressure treated. Oops?



## jdinspector (Dec 6, 2011)

There is a fence installer on my way home from work. They have a bin outside their shop that often has free kindling wood in it. I have almost never had to make kindling as a result of this good fortune. I stopped by there the other day and they had a whole bunch of 12-16" x 6" round fence post cut offs. I took 10-12 of them and burned them in my stove (catalytic). They burned great, and left very little ash and were generally pretty good burners. Later, I thought about it and figured that they may have been pressure treated. No color indicating that they were, very dry interiors (I split one to see) and no smell other than the strong cedar odor. So, if they were pressure treated, did I ruin my catalytic? I have some regular hardwoods in the stove right now and have 1200 degree cat temps and 500-550 surface temps. All seems normal. 
1. Could I have harmed the catalytic combustor in my stove? How would I know?
2. Can I tell by look, smell, moisture if the logs were pressure treated?
3. Am I just being a worry wart?
4. Should I get the additional 20 or more of these cut offs and burn them?


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## spirilis (Dec 6, 2011)

Sounds like your cat is still working fine, but if you are concerned with it be VERY careful about disposing of your ashes.  Try not to breathe any of the ashes or make it airborne/disperse it throughout the room.  Not sure if there's a so-called "safe" way to dispose of arsenic so I'd probably just put those ashes in their own metal bucket before loading it into trash bags and letting it go in the trash...

Although on second thought I think they got rid of CCA/arsenic for pressure treating years ago, but the new replacement might not be good either.


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## LLigetfa (Dec 6, 2011)

I doubt Cedar would have been pressure treated.


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## lukem (Dec 6, 2011)

LLigetfa said:
			
		

> I doubt Cedar would have been pressure treated.



+1


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## billb3 (Dec 6, 2011)

lukem said:
			
		

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+2


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## onetracker (Dec 6, 2011)

billb3 said:
			
		

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yep. no one would bother to treat cedar. 
your stove is fine.


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## DanCorcoran (Dec 6, 2011)

Why not ask the fence installer?


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## jdinspector (Dec 6, 2011)

DanCorcoran said:
			
		

> Why not ask the fence installer?


Good point. I would, but whenever I go past there, they're closed (must have banker's hours!) I'll call today to check. Thanks.


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## doogiegh (Dec 6, 2011)

If ya didn't die in the first 12 hours, you should be fine. LOL!


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## jeff_t (Dec 6, 2011)

LLigetfa said:
			
		

> I doubt Cedar would have been pressure treated.



Cedar is naturally very resistant to rot. Never have seen it pressure treated.


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## jdinspector (Dec 6, 2011)

Well, I've seen it pressure treated in board form, so wasn't sure if posts would also be treated. I'm going to do what DanCorcoran said- call the installer and ask.


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## babzog (Dec 6, 2011)

billb3 said:
			
		

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+3

Plus, the arsenic was removed from the pressure treating chemical a long time ago, so even if you did burn some, you shouldn't have any health concerns (maybe concerns about other chemicals used in the process).


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## Backwoods Savage (Dec 7, 2011)

I would expect some damage of the cat if it were pressure treated but not total as this was only kindling. However, I agree with others that it is very doubtful that it would have been pressure treated.


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## 2orb (Dec 7, 2011)

babzog said:
			
		

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+4 if it were cedar it would not have been treated but I want to point out that Chromated Copper Arsenate (CCA) still used to pressure treat wood.  It can be used specifically in industrial, marine and agricultural applications.  Agricultural means fence posts.  The biggest concern for humans in burning it is the dispersal of arsenate into the air.  As far as the stove goes, the copper component would probably be the biggest risk.


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## bogydave (Dec 7, 2011)

2orb said:
			
		

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+5


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## babzog (Dec 7, 2011)

2orb said:
			
		

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Hmmm... I didn't get that interpretation when I read this article.  If fences are excluded, then I'd presume the posts are too.  It states that only industrial use is still permitted... whatever "industrial use" means.


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## ruserious2008 (Dec 8, 2011)

I asked a fence company guy that I've gotten cedar posts and fence parts from and he said he's never heard of it being pressure treated either. Same from a contractor I spoke with that knows commercial woods. 
I'd say watch for two headed robins in the spring around your house and if none you're good


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## 2orb (Dec 8, 2011)

I may have been a little vague in my response regarding the use of CCA treatment for fence posts.  Residential fencing and posts are rarely treated with CCA; unless it is 10 plus years old or your lumber company is an unscrupulous one.  Residential fencing, like material you would purchase for building a deck on your house is not permitted to be treated with Chromated Copper Arsenate. 

Fence posts found on farms for live stock is commonly Southern Yellow Pine treated with CCA, at least in the eastern US.  The company I work for treats fence posts, piles, utility poles, guardrail posts and timbers with CCA.  You still find locust posts in fence lines, but I prefer to use that material in my insert.  

Back to topic. You will have no issues even if you happened to have burned a piece or two in your stove, although I dont have experience with a catalytic set up.


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## jdinspector (Dec 8, 2011)

Thanks for all of the replies. I was told by the fence company that it is not treated cedar. However, since I burned that stuff, I cleaned my catalytic combustor. When cleaning it, I noticed small metal shavings come off with the ash on the combustor. After that, I returned the combustor into it's frame. Now, I'm not getting high temp. burns. I have a probe catalytic thermometer that used to get up to 1200-1400 degrees, but now only gets 800-1000 degrees. I also noticed some smoke coming out of my chimney even when the combustor temp was at 800 degrees. I think I have a bad catalytic combustor. This one is only 3 months old, or so. I called Woodstock and they're sending out a new one. They want this one back. I'll be interested in finding out what happened to this combustor.


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## fire_man (Dec 9, 2011)

Please post back when you find out what happened to the catalytic converter. I imagine if its only 3 months old it is a SS cat. They are supposed to last quite a while.


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