# Burning OSB. or Plywood in Gasser???



## ozzie88 (Apr 4, 2012)

Anybody ever burn osb. or plywood in there gasser? Would there be any problems with doing this? I found an endless supply of this wood from a factory for free thought it may be good?  But wonder about the glue they use and what will happen in a burn?


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## pen (Apr 4, 2012)

Anytime I have burned OSB (outside) is was one hot fire. I'd be worried about it burning too hard and possibly causing damage.


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## peakbagger (Apr 4, 2012)

Its free from the factory as they have to pay to have it hauled to a landfill. When its burnt itc an give off some nasty fumes. I dont think it will damage the stove as much as it will pollute the countryside. Usually its a urea formaldehyde glue.


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## Tennman (Apr 4, 2012)

When I have some scraps left over from jobs around the property I'll add it sparingly just to get rid of it. I wouldn't burn it exclusively not only because of the chemicals, but it tends to stack flat and very dense so developing/maintaining the coal bed for a gasser becomes a headache. I've had success mixing maybe ~10% or less with my splits to get rid of the stuff, but burning only flat, very tight stuff I think would be a headache in a gasser. There you go.... worth every penny of what you paid for that advice.


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## woodsmaster (Apr 4, 2012)

I've burn't a little particle board. It off gassed to fast and made the boiler huff. A little mixed in would probably burn ok but like mentioned it's probably not to good for the air.


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## ozzie88 (Apr 5, 2012)

Thanks guys, i


woodsmaster said:


> I've burn't a little particle board. It off gassed to fast and made the boiler huff. A little mixed in would probably burn ok but like mentioned it's probably not to good for the air.


  thought that would be the answer but I never tried it, think I will pass on this.  Theres a place close by i get hardwood slab for good price will stick with that,


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## webbie (Apr 5, 2012)

It would probably put out less pollution than when burned "in the wild", but still vastly more than wood. The glues in there have to be pretty heavy stuff - but you can probably look them up, and the better scientists and engineers among us can figure out the temps that these bad compounds might burn away at.

My guess is that it is poisoning you and your neighbors to a degree. The exception might be at the very hottest part of a fire - maybe 2200 degrees up. But I'm not an engineer!

Some details on glues here:
http://columbiaforestproducts.com/FAQ

I guess it depends greatly on the particular resin!


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## ozzie88 (Apr 5, 2012)

ozzie88 said:


> Thanks guys, i
> 
> thought that would be the answer but I never tried it, think I will pass on this. Theres a place close by i get hardwood slab for good price will stick with that,


 
That Huffing your talking about i think I had an experence with that and this would be the same i think.  First started Gasser I used a little Diesal fuel like in a wood stove, it Huffed alright,poped the top off my chimney when it did, this scrap would do same i think,


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## maple1 (Apr 5, 2012)

webbie said:


> It would probably put out less pollution than when burned "in the wild", but still vastly more than wood. The glues in there have to be pretty heavy stuff - but you can probably look them up, and the better scientists and engineers among us can figure out the temps that these bad compounds might burn away at.
> 
> My guess is that it is poisoning you and your neighbors to a degree. The exception might be at the very hottest part of a fire - maybe 2200 degrees up. But I'm not an engineer!
> 
> ...


 
What would be the lesser of the two evils - tossing a piece into your gassifier, or having it end up in a landfill where the leachate ends up who knows where?


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## SmokeEater (Apr 8, 2012)

Exterior plywood glues are resins and not the same as for interior plywoods, particle board and OSB which use urea formaldehde glues.  Low temp burning of UF glues releases formaldehyde in the gaseous form which is a known carcinogen.  On the other hand burning UF glues at a high temp where pyrolysis occurs, like what would happen in a gassifier, the components of the combustion products are mostly CO2 and water.  One problem in burning UF in a gasser would be the formation of nitrogen oxides at high temps.  NOx s are implicated in formation of smogs and will form nitric acid as in acid rain.   EPA regulates how much NOx can be emitted by major powerplants and other large combustors.  If you could "burn off" the nitrogen in the UF at low temps and them high fire them in the gasser to gassification temps, then the burning of the UF glues would be fairly harmless and emit no nasty pollutants.


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## TCaldwell (Apr 8, 2012)

Aside from the glue/nox issue, the current p/s air settings used for cordwood will not be successful for manufactured wood. These ''woods'' basically flash and combust too quickly, requiring much more secondary air and or different control algorithims for a batch burn. pallett wood will act the same way, you might be able to integrate a small ammt in a load of cordwood. a little bit goes a long way.


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## SmokeEater (Apr 8, 2012)

TCaldwell said:


> Aside from the glue/nox issue, the current p/s air settings used for cordwood will not be successful for manufactured wood. These ''woods'' basically flash and combust too quickly, requiring much more secondary air and or different control algorithims for a batch burn. pallett wood will act the same way, you might be able to integrate a small ammt in a load of cordwood. a little bit goes a long way.


 
I don't have any of the combustion reactions handy to look at and don't know the weights of the UF glues in the mentioned manufactured woods, because each brand would have varying amounts and therefore don't know if the amount of oxygen to pyrolyze is more or less than wood. With all of the questions that I would have to answer the original query, one can't definitively say how much of each type could be burned in a load because of all the variables, including how much can the draft fan be throttled up or down to modify the reaction, including its rate. In summary, a good deal of research would need to be carried out to determine if one could burn manufactured woods in their specific gasser.  The best "translation" of this would be to not consider burning non natural woods or other combustibles in your wood furnace, stove, or gasser.


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