Bone dry, but still Sizzle?

[Easy Livin’ 3000]

Nothing is "dry", in such close proximity to Shangy's.

Shangy's is a beer distributor in Emmaus, PA for anyone who is scratching their head. You have a two track mind, Ashful. Beer and wood heat. I guess I can relate...

 

[Ashful]

Shangy's is a beer distributor in Emmaus, PA...

Simply calling Shangy's a beer distributor, and leaving it at that, is like saying Los Angeles has a little traffic during rush hour.

 

[SaltyWoodsman]

Phew! This was also a concern of mine. I'm a bit of a noob with my stove (it was in the house when we moved in), but did some reading. I bought 2 cords of "seasoned" firewood from a referral from a guy that my cousin sent me to. Fresh split did register < 20% MC (usually 16 - 18% range), but was sizzling. I thought I was taken for a ride, but there's no smoke/steam from the chimney, and the stove is maintaining 500°. I'll let 'em sizzle.

 

[FaithfulWoodsman]

I checked under the bark on a few and a couple of them had much higher moisture content, some up to 26%. A fresh split on the same peice read 18%. I was never a proponent of removing bark as I felt it was losing some BTUs needlessly, albeit prob negligible. However bark will now go whenever I can get it off in processing.

 

[Easy Livin’ 3000]

I checked under the bark on a few and a couple of them had much higher moisture content, some up to 26%. A fresh split on the same peice read 18%. I was never a proponent of removing bark as I felt it was losing some BTUs needlessly, albeit prob negligible. However bark will now go whenever I can get it off in processing.

That bark sure hold the moisture in. Even 5 year old split wood, if stored outside in the rain, will stay wet for a long time under the bark. Often the bark will fall off given enough time, but not always. It's not vascular moisture, but is still water that requires boiling off when burned. A shed can help, but outside, rain will soak into the cambium layer like a sponge and remain there for a long time. It's part of what nature designed it for!

 

[PA. Woodsman]

Shangy's is a beer distributor in Emmaus, PA for anyone who is scratching their head. You have a two track mind, Ashful. Beer and wood heat. I guess I can relate...

About 2 miles away from me, but I quit drinking many years ago so "it don't send me" HA !

 

[Sodbuster]

Same thing with Cherry; Ash I can let the stove get almost cold if necessary and and it will fire right up and be blazing shortly thereafter. Cherry, I need a screaming hot bed of coals or it takes forever to get going.

 

[fire_man]

That bark sure hold the moisture in. Even 5 year old split wood, if stored outside in the rain, will stay wet for a long time under the bark. Often the bark will fall off given enough time, but not always. It's not vascular moisture, but is still water that requires boiling off when burned. A shed can help, but outside, rain will soak into the cambium layer like a sponge and remain there for a long time. It's part of what nature designed it for!

Finally someone else seeing the same thing I see. I've read too many posts that say external moisture is "no big deal". It depends on your climate.

Wood can season for three years but if there is moisture under the bark it burns terrible.

 

[Marshy]

Yep always check a fresh split. Split in August, but cut dead 6 months prior. I mean some of the stuff didn't even register freshly felled. seems like a cherry thing and also a punky water holding issue. But burns great.......so

Simple answer to all of this is you are not burning seasoned wood. Cut in 6 months ago and split in Aug is half seasoned. To some its less than half seasoned. Don't put all your faith in a moisture meter. I like to remove the bark when its getting the final stacking at the house in Aug. Give it a chance to get the remaining moisture out of it. I also like to get it inside to warm up and dry out for a week before it burn it, it makes a noticeable difference.

 

[FaithfulWoodsman]

Simple answer to all of this is you are not burning seasoned wood. Cut in 6 months ago and split in Aug is half seasoned.

If it was green then it would be a year and a half too soon, but like I stated. It was dead for a good while and was light and super dry when I cut it. Literally some splits didn't even register MC the day I cut it down. Cherry can be like that, dead standing and <15%. It was the rain soaked punk that never really dried out even under the shade for a while that caused some sizzle and even at that it was very little. Just surprised non registering splits could do that, but as others said, it's a cherry thing.

 

[Marshy]

If it was green then it would be a year and a half too soon, but like I stated. It was dead for a good while and was light and super dry when I cut it. Literally some splits didn't even register MC the day I cut it down. Cherry can be like that, dead standing and <15%. It was the rain soaked punk that never really dried out even under the shade for a while that caused some sizzle and even at that it was very little. Just surprised non registering splits could do that, but as others said, it's a cherry thing.

Oak can get that pink out later too. Need to remove it or keep the rain off it. Do you bring the wood inside and let it dry for any period of time before you burn it?

 

[FaithfulWoodsman]

I let it sit uncovered for a month or two, knowing I should cover it, but didn't have time. It then went in the shed for several months, but at the back with little air flow. We bring a week's worth into the basement so it gets a little dry time. Obviously that punk can sure hold the water. There really wasn't much sizzle, I was just surprised there was any at all being so dead and previously dry. Regardless it burned great. Now the stuff I'm currently using is a little different. But I gotta another post about that: "something's gonna have to change".

 

[SaltyWoodsman]

I also like to get it inside to warm up and dry out for a week before it burn it, it makes a noticeable difference.

I stand some splits up around the stove (not too close) and let them bask in the heat to dry a little more before I burn them.

 

[Ashful]

I stand some splits up around the stove (not too close) and let them bask in the heat to dry a little more before I burn them.

I try to keep all wood outdoors, until I'm ready to put it in the stove. The times I have left wood in a bin by the stove have occasionally resulted in moths or bugs in the house.

 

[fire_man]

Firing up the stove is so much easier when there is a load waiting inside 24 hrs before reloading.
Never had any bug problems, but that's probably because the stacks are covered for 5 years outside and are dry as a bone.

 

[WoodyIsGoody]

I stand some splits up around the stove (not too close) and let them bask in the heat to dry a little more before I burn them.

I've done that too but only when the wood wasn't properly seasoned. It helps a little but it takes time for moisture to migrate from the interior and there is simply not enough room around any stove to do a significant amount. Dry, seasoned wood burns fine straight from the chilly outdoors.

 

[fire_man]

Dry, seasoned wood burns fine straight from the chilly outdoors.

I'm not sure how cold it gets in the PNW but I find that filling a stove with 40 pounds of wood at 0F slows down the time it takes to get the stove up to temp so the cat can be re-engaged.

 

[Marshy]

Some of the large uglies that I bring in that couldn't be split sit on the concrete floor with the cut end down. After a week you can move the chunk and see the concrete has wicked the moisture from the piece. I'll keep doing that until no more moisture come out of it, might take 2-3 weeks for some depending on the size. As you can see from my pile, I bring in about a face cord at a time. Only bugs that come in are the occasional moth and a few mosquitoes that were dorment.

 

[WoodyIsGoody]

I'm not sure how cold it gets in the PNW but I find that filling a stove with 40 pounds of wood at 0F slows down the time it takes to get the stove up to temp so the cat can be re-engaged.

Cold wood does need to absorb a certain amount of energy to bring it up to combustion temperature but the difference is small if the wood is already of low moisture content, even if it's very cold.

But, yes, if your wood is not ready to burn, and you're lighting a cold firebox, anything you can do to reduce the amount of heat it absorbs helps increase the firebox temperature and reduces the amount of time needed for secondary burn to occur. Dry wood can be put in cold although, in practice, most people keep a small amount indoors for convenience and so it's already warmed. That's not of much benefit if you have good wood.

The difference between fully seasoned wood and almost seasoned wood is so huge I have made sure I never need to burn partially seasoned wood again.

 

[fire_man]

My wood is seasoned 5 years top covered - so its definitely ready to burn. There is significant mass (including moisture mass) that must come up to temp in a hot stove. My experience says throwing a load of bone dry wood at 0F is not nearly as quick to get hot as 70F wood. Simple physics.

Part of the fun in burning is having a routine which I can count on to get the fire established in a relatively consistent manner. I guess we can agree to disagree on this one.

 

[WoodyIsGoody]

Part of the fun in burning is having a routine which I can count on to get the fire established in a relatively consistent manner. I guess we can agree to disagree on this one.

We're not really disagreeing. The difference is there but it's small if your wood is low molsture content.

I'd rather have 18% moisture content at 0 degrees than 23% moisture content at 70 degrees. But, yes, if they're both 18% moisture, the 70 degree wood will light a little easier.

 

[Hasufel]

There is significant mass (including moisture mass) that must come up to temp in a hot stove. My experience says throwing a load of bone dry wood at 0F is not nearly as quick to get hot as 70F wood. Simple physics.

I did a quick calculation and, for one pound of oak, the difference between starting at 0F and starting at 70F is equal to about 6 percent of the heat you get from burning it. So it actually makes more of a difference than I expected. I can see how that would affect stove performance.

Of course, if you bring the wood in and let it warm up before loading the stove, you might get the stove to heat up faster but you're still cooling off your house and making the stove generate more heat to compensate. So if you're looking at overall energy efficiency, I guess the trick is to bring your firewood inside on a warm day!

 

[fire_man]

I figured there was an equation in there somewhere that would help. All I know is especially with my Palladian it seems to take a really long time to fire up unless the wood is at room temp - the Progress less so.

If my wife had to go outside to get the wood the stove would NEVER reach temp!

 

[Babaganoosh]

I did a quick calculation and, for one pound of oak, the difference between starting at 0F and starting at 70F is equal to about 6 percent of the heat you get from burning it. So it actually makes more of a difference than I expected. I can see how that would affect stove performance.

Of course, if you bring the wood in and let it warm up before loading the stove, you might get the stove to heat up faster but you're still cooling off your house and making the stove generate more heat to compensate. So if you're looking at overall energy efficiency, I guess the trick is to bring your firewood inside on a warm day!

The stove won't generate more heat. Less heat will be transferred to the house is all.

Stoves generate a lot of btus. The btus needed to warm the wood up from say 32 to 70 is negligible compared to what's needed to heat a house.

I don't see much difference in throwing cold wood into the stove as long as there's a good hot coal bed. When there isn't a nice coal bed it's slightly harder to get it going but it's nothing big enough to write home about. I'd go on a limb here and say that 32 degree maple will go up before 70 degree locust 7 days a week and twice on Sunday.

 

[Ashful]

I did a quick calculation and, for one pound of oak, the difference between starting at 0F and starting at 70F is equal to about 6 percent of the heat you get from burning it. So it actually makes more of a difference than I expected. I can see how that would affect stove performance.

Of course, if you bring the wood in and let it warm up before loading the stove, you might get the stove to heat up faster but you're still cooling off your house and making the stove generate more heat to compensate. So if you're looking at overall energy efficiency, I guess the trick is to bring your firewood inside on a warm day!

This. You can't argue with physics!