Needing some reassurance about burning pine

[joefrompa]

Hi all,

I picked up about a cord of free, split pine today and brought it home. As I was finishing up, my FIL heard about it....

He quickly got on the phone and said he had always heard that "Pine carries so much sap in it burns poorly, and that it coats the inside of your chimney very fast. It greatly increases the likelihood of having a chimney fire."

Now, to the best of my knowledge there are entire portions of this country that burn almost nothing but pine. That hearth.com members say it burns nicely - albeit very hot and very quickly. And that it'll season in about 3 months.

The pine I picked up is not notably sappy - as in, stuff is sticking to it but I don't feel sap on my gloves after loading and unloading a cord of it (nor on the canvas that was in my car for all 5 loads). It was supposedly cut ~6 months ago and stacked in a cone in an open, shaded area....there's alot of pieces with white mildew/mold like growth on it, which I haven't seen on ther wood. But overall, alot of pieces feel very lightweight and "knock", whereas some others feel pretty damn heavy for pine and thud....

Ok, anyway, my questions here are:

1. Is pine just like any other wood, in that you need to burn it seasoned, burn it hot, and all is well?

2. Is white mold-like growth on pine normal? Any concerns with bringing this into my house or burning it?

3. How long does pine take to season (i.e. 2-4 months, 3-6 months, etc.)?

4. Will mixing the pine in with ash and other hardwoods help prevent any problems, if pine is problematic.


Thanks all,

Joe

 

[Dune]

I love pine. It is all I will burn, untill it gets real cold. When I can't pack enough pine in the stove to last all night, then I will start burning oak, at night. I am burning 2 year seasoned pine. When I load it to bring it in, if a piece feels heavy, I just put it on next years stack. I would forget about the months thing, and season it for at least a year, after splitting and stacking. Burning green oak will coat the inside of your chimney and cause fires too.

 

[joefrompa]

Thanks Dune. I put a few lightweight, thin pieces into my fire 25 minutes ago to see what would happen alongside some ash and random kindling.

I've never had a fire start and roll so easily. I'm at 550 with the intake wide open right now and the firebox is still mostly full and the temp is rising.

 

[Dune]

Not much pampering needed to get pine started. If there are any embers in the stove, in the morning, I just throw a few splits on.

 

[EatenByLimestone]

If you want true safety you need to be shown how to burn it. Please bring 3 cubic feet and I'll show you how to load my... er a stove to burn it properly.


Don't worry, just burn it!

Matt

 

[Lumber-Jack]

Yeah, Pine burns good, really really good.

;-)
Just kidding

 

[North of 60]

I have been forced to burn a few pieces of pine now and then when my oak delivery did not make it up from the lower 48 states.

The damn stuff heated my home just fine. I cancelled all my southern wood orders now and have saved allot of money.
Cheers

 

[EatenByLimestone]

Yeah, Pine burns good, really really good.

;-)
Just kidding

It's really pretty how it reflects off the pool.


Matt

 

[joefrompa]

Thanks guys, but please keep it coming. Also, any comments about the mold?

I've got a 650 degree pine-fueled fire going right now. As a note, I haven't been able to get above 600 with ANY consistency with my existing wood. So obviously, the pine is already helping me alot. Aiming to run around 700 for a bit to clean out the flue from alot of unseasoned wood.

 

[Gary_602z]

Is it mold or dried sap?

Gary

 

[Lumber-Jack]

Thanks guys, but please keep it coming. Also, any comments about the mold?

I've got a 650 degree pine-fueled fire going right now. As a note, I haven't been able to get above 600 with ANY consistency with my existing wood. So obviously, the pine is already helping me alot. Aiming to run around 700 for a bit to clean out the flue from alot of unseasoned wood.

Actually I think this is where the belief that Pine "causes" chimney fires comes from.

 

[maplewood]

I burn lots of pine. Love it.
I get mold sometimes when the wood tries to dry in a damp environment: a stack in the rainy season, too close to the damp ground, etc. But it still dries and burns.
I've got about 1/2 a cord in my basement now, mixed with maple, white birch, balsam fir and poplar.
Burn it.

 

[joefrompa]

Thanks guys, but please keep it coming. Also, any comments about the mold?

I've got a 650 degree pine-fueled fire going right now. As a note, I haven't been able to get above 600 with ANY consistency with my existing wood. So obviously, the pine is already helping me alot. Aiming to run around 700 for a bit to clean out the flue from alot of unseasoned wood.

Actually I think this is where the belief that Pine "causes" chimney fires comes from.

My understanding, and I'm learning here, is that it's good to run really hot fires from time to time (especially after running alot of unseasoned wood) to help keep things clean. And my understanding is that 700 is about the highest "acceptable" temperature to aim for on that....much hotter and the fear is that your fire is running away/overfiring.

I read a thread not long ago where Lopi said 600-800 was considered acceptable.

So, again, trying to learn things here.

Joe

 

[Wood Duck]

Regardless of what we say or what your father in law says, just burn the stuff and check your chinmey often. Figure out for yourself how fast creosote is accumulating in the flue. We can tell you that seasoned pine is just as safe as any seasoned wood, and since it seasons faster, maybe safer, but you won't know for sure until you burn some and check. Even if pine does start chimney fires, it can't start a fire in a clean chimney. I think it is a good idea to know what the flue should look like and recognize any build-ups.

As for the mold, I have seen mold on several types of wood. I think it happens when a tree is cut at a time when a lot of sap runs out, sap of all trees is sugary, and sugar grows mold. The mold isn't the same type of mold that infects houses, and it will burn just fine.

I think you can expect pine to season in a year, but 3 months seems a little optimistic.

 

[bigtall]

When I was a kid, we burned more pine than anything else because it is so readily available. I remember my neighbor, who was a fireman, telling me that pine doesnt produce any more creasote than anything else, you just have to let it season. I have been burning for a while now and have not burned any pine because I have had access to hardwoods. But, last week I cut down a few pines and bucked them. I still have to bring them up to the barn, to my splitting-stacking area, and split them. I am going to use them next year as "supplemental" wood.

 

[Lumber-Jack]

Thanks guys, but please keep it coming. Also, any comments about the mold?

I've got a 650 degree pine-fueled fire going right now. As a note, I haven't been able to get above 600 with ANY consistency with my existing wood. So obviously, the pine is already helping me alot. Aiming to run around 700 for a bit to clean out the flue from alot of unseasoned wood.

Actually I think this is where the belief that Pine "causes" chimney fires comes from.

My understanding, and I'm learning here, is that it's good to run really hot fires from time to time (especially after running alot of unseasoned wood) to help keep things clean. And my understanding is that 700 is about the highest "acceptable" temperature to aim for on that....much hotter and the fear is that your fire is running away/overfiring.

I read a thread not long ago where Lopi said 600-800 was considered acceptable.

So, again, trying to learn things here.

Joe

Hey Joe, please read the 3rd post down in this old thread That should explain my little jab.

 

[Jeff S]

Excellent points about burning pine,I have a 81 yr old friend that burns a lot of pine .It amazes me that people believe it's unsafe to burn in their own stove but will drop it off at his house so he can burn it in his.Fortunately he is wise enough to know the importance of properly seasoned wood of any species.

 

[CTYank]

Yeah, Pine burns good, really really good.

;-)
Just kidding

You're seeing douglas-fir or hemlock burning there, mostlikely.

 

[billb3]

I get mold /fungus on the ends of almost all my splits, some of them get pretty big if the conditions are right.
It's much worse with the stacks in the woods.
I've seen some really big ones growing 10 feet up on the side of a live oak tree.


I'm leery about claims of drying in three months being a bit exagerated, but it can be a bit damp here and I don't try to use anything if it hasn't sat for a year split.

I generally like to see the bark falling off on its own and that tends to take at least a year with the white pine that grows here.

You can get creosote build up from burning any kind of wood rather green with the dampers set trying to make a load of wood last three days.

 

[thewoodlands]

Thanks guys, but please keep it coming. Also, any comments about the mold?

I've got a 650 degree pine-fueled fire going right now. As a note, I haven't been able to get above 600 with ANY consistency with my existing wood. So obviously, the pine is already helping me alot. Aiming to run around 700 for a bit to clean out the flue from alot of unseasoned wood.

Actually I think this is where the belief that Pine "causes" chimney fires comes from.

My understanding, and I'm learning here, is that it's good to run really hot fires from time to time (especially after running alot of unseasoned wood) to help keep things clean. And my understanding is that 700 is about the highest "acceptable" temperature to aim for on that....much hotter and the fear is that your fire is running away/overfiring.

I read a thread not long ago where Lopi said 600-800 was considered acceptable. That was for the Liberty, have you emailed Travis Industries to find out the stove top temps for yours? Zap
So, again, trying to learn things here.

Joe

 

[PapaDave]

Pine is fine
I burn mine
all the time
Rain or shine
Apologies to some other wordsmiths on here for that. :cheese:
Point is, that it's about the moisture in the wood.
I cut up a spruce around May, and started burning it the middle of September. Pretty danged dry.
It served me well in the "shoulder season", and now I'm almost done burning some cedar posts that I cut up (the 2 ft. in the ground FINALLY started rotting), and also some 1.5-2 year oak. Some of the oak still has a little sizzle fo shizzle, so I'm keeping an eye on the flue.
The old days/ways of cutting the wood, then throwing it in the old stove a few minutes later are still in full force in a lot of places, so the misconceptions about chimney fires persist as well. Gotta' teach the young uns, because I really think most people can't/won't change.
Change is sometimes difficult, and if it goes against the grain of popular belief, well, it ain't a gonna' happen. Don't want to be labeled a heretic, now, do ya'?
They'll come and burn a big P in your forehead. Everyone will know you burn pine, then.
I'll stop now. :coolsmile:

 

[firefighterjake]

Hi all,

I picked up about a cord of free, split pine today and brought it home. As I was finishing up, my FIL heard about it....

He quickly got on the phone and said he had always heard that "Pine carries so much sap in it burns poorly, and that it coats the inside of your chimney very fast. It greatly increases the likelihood of having a chimney fire."

Now, to the best of my knowledge there are entire portions of this country that burn almost nothing but pine. That hearth.com members say it burns nicely - albeit very hot and very quickly. And that it'll season in about 3 months.

The pine I picked up is not notably sappy - as in, stuff is sticking to it but I don't feel sap on my gloves after loading and unloading a cord of it (nor on the canvas that was in my car for all 5 loads). It was supposedly cut ~6 months ago and stacked in a cone in an open, shaded area....there's alot of pieces with white mildew/mold like growth on it, which I haven't seen on ther wood. But overall, alot of pieces feel very lightweight and "knock", whereas some others feel pretty damn heavy for pine and thud....

Ok, anyway, my questions here are:

1. Is pine just like any other wood, in that you need to burn it seasoned, burn it hot, and all is well? Pine (like many other softwoods) can burn hot -- I don't know as though I would load up my firebox with small splits of pine and touch it off . . . but tossing in half a load in the shoulder season makes a for a nice, quick and hot fire to take the chill out of the air. Pine also tends to have a lot of snaps and pops (good firework show for you as long as the door is shut when it is doing this), you may not end up with lots of coals and you most definitely will not have an especially long burn time . . . but there is a place for pine . . . and it will not burn your house down or cause creosote build up as long as you allow it to season . . . it will however cause you to become fat and you will slowly lose your hair . . . this is my only explanation as to why I look like I do these days.

2. Is white mold-like growth on pine normal? Any concerns with bringing this into my house or burning it? I wouldn't worry about it . . . it's just a bit of fungus. Once dry the fungus should harden up . . . but if you're really concerned you can always slab it off with a hatchet or ax. Usually I see this fungi on dead pine that has been sitting around for awhile.

3. How long does pine take to season (i.e. 2-4 months, 3-6 months, etc.)? I would give it at least 6 months . . . a year is better.

4. Will mixing the pine in with ash and other hardwoods help prevent any problems, if pine is problematic. Nice benefit is mixing in pine will help you catch the other wood on fire pretty quickly . . . and it will help you with marginal wood. Most of the pine I burn though is used for kindling and for the shoulder season -- this is where it works very well.

Thanks all,

Joe

 

[firefighterjake]

Thanks guys, but please keep it coming. Also, any comments about the mold?

I've got a 650 degree pine-fueled fire going right now. As a note, I haven't been able to get above 600 with ANY consistency with my existing wood. So obviously, the pine is already helping me alot. Aiming to run around 700 for a bit to clean out the flue from alot of unseasoned wood.

Actually I think this is where the belief that Pine "causes" chimney fires comes from.

My understanding, and I'm learning here, is that it's good to run really hot fires from time to time (especially after running alot of unseasoned wood) to help keep things clean. And my understanding is that 700 is about the highest "acceptable" temperature to aim for on that....much hotter and the fear is that your fire is running away/overfiring.

I read a thread not long ago where Lopi said 600-800 was considered acceptable.

So, again, trying to learn things here.

Joe

My own belief is rather than running a hot fire every day or every so often to "clean out the chimney" I would rather burn at the correct temps (not too hot, not too cold), burn seasoned wood and check and clean my chimney on a regular basis . . . just seems more prudent.

 

[joefrompa]

Hi Firefighter,

You are speaking to a guy who got a stove 3 weeks ago and started collecting wood 2 months ago.

I totally agree with you....my ideal setup would be to burn fully seasoned wood at 600 degrees without stopping. Unfortunately, this year especially, I'm going to have to deal with unseasoned wood of questionable providence.

Next year, I'll probably have 50% fully seasoned wood at least. And it'll improve there on out.

But I'm definitely in the phase where I'm learning things, collecting initial wood, etc.

Joe

P.s. My neighbor is felling 2 more ~40' tall, 16" thick pines and giving me the wood pre-cut to 18" thick rounds. All that will be set aside for next year. After a single evening of burning pine, I absolutely love it.

 

[joefrompa]

Zapny - I have e-mailed Travis. Will post a response when/if I get one.