Burning pine- lots of soot

[vbu]

Hey guys,

Been burning full time for a while, never had any trouble or concerns until now. Have always burned hardwoods up until now.
About 2 winters ago, I ran into some easily accessible pine that I cut and split then. This pine has since been in my covered woodshed for 2 summers here in the south.
It takes off super easy and burns very well. Maybe a little too well. Sometimes it burns like a raging inferno, where my door glass gets all black from soot. Sometimes this happens when there's some fatwood mixed in, but I can't always tell. However, when there is fatwood in it, it rains soot outside. It's almost like you just lit an acetylene torch before you turn on the oxygen and all the soot falls out the air.

The stuff is super fluffy, but it does concern me. I'm not worried about creosote buildup, since this burns like a raging inferno most of the time. I can't do much about that either, I have a single burn rate insert.

Do I need to be worried about this or just carry on burning?

Note, there is never any smoldering going on and this stuff is bone dry.

Thanks!

 

[begreen]

Often soot on the glass like this is because the wood is too close to it.

What is the wispy stuff showing at the upper left side of the firebox on the other side of the glass?

 

[vbu]

Often soot on the glass like this is because the wood is too close to it.

What is the wispy stuff showing at the upper left side of the firebox on the other side of the glass?

It seems to happen no matter what. I’d say the closest wood to the glass was at least 7” away. The soot all burns off further in the burn and the glass is clean.

The wispy stuff is ‘soot’ as well, it’s like the stuff flying out the chimney when burning fat wood. Best I can describe it is a big acetylene flame without oxygen where the soot falls down as well

 

[kennyp2339]

Sounds like your burning supercharged (very dry w/ pitch) firewood, you may want to test your door gasket in-between fires to make sure it is in working order, also cut your air supply down before it really gets ripping.

 

[EbS-P]

Hey guys,

Been burning full time for a while, never had any trouble or concerns until now. Have always burned hardwoods up until now.
About 2 winters ago, I ran into some easily accessible pine that I cut and split then. This pine has since been in my covered woodshed for 2 summers here in the south.
It takes off super easy and burns very well. Maybe a little too well. Sometimes it burns like a raging inferno, where my door glass gets all black from soot. Sometimes this happens when there's some fatwood mixed in, but I can't always tell. However, when there is fatwood in it, it rains soot outside. It's almost like you just lit an acetylene torch before you turn on the oxygen and all the soot falls out the air.

The stuff is super fluffy, but it does concern me. I'm not worried about creosote buildup, since this burns like a raging inferno most of the time. I can't do much about that either, I have a single burn rate insert.

Do I need to be worried about this or just carry on burning?

Note, there is never any smoldering going on and this stuff is bone dry.

Thanks!

My glass never get that dark from any of the pine I burn. I have burnt a lot of pine and it has never rained soot. I get some extra fluffy stuff in my liner. And occasionally get a coating on my chimney cap (it’s a big flat multi flue cap).

Something seems a bit off. Even a big load chunk of fatwood and the glass should stay clean.

 

[stoveliker]

I have seen more build up on my glass when burning pitch pine at 13% at full bore. Not solid, not goopy.

Dry pine can burn poorly in the primary flame, sooty flame. Depending on the air flow in the firebox (which depends on draft strength) it can deposit on the window. Even if the primary air is of the air wash type as in my case.

Secondary burning or a cat should clean the gases up before it enters the flue but too much draft could (at least for a cat) hinder that from reaching complete combustion.

 

[begreen]

This is a fixed burn rate stove. It's possible that the pine is exceeding its ability to burn the wood gases completely. The only user control is to vary the wood spec or load less wood.

 

[Slimdusty]

I’ve had similar results with pine although not quite so severe. My solution was to mix the pine with other types of wood, say 50%pine and 50% hardwood. Burned great imo.

 

[Dieselhead]

I had a bunch of pine I used for camp fire wood. It burned great because it was very dry but the smoke was black and smelled like an oil furnace that needed a tune up.

 

[stoveliker]

I have pitch pine (with tons of solidified pitch on the outside from bug injuries that killed them) and it smells great when burning. Even with the cat smell overlay...

 

[Pinesmoke]

I burn alot of pine, southern yellow and white, I can't ignore it because I have so much and it's easy. The cats seem to deal with it well after the first years run. Running it in a non-cat stove doesn't seem a good idea but it works in mine.

I agree with stoveliker, the house smells good after a day's run.

 

[stoveliker]

I don't smell things inside though; my remark was about what I smell outside. (Which sometimes can be a bit nasty, even with no smoke coming out, presumably cat- induced.)

 

[Pinesmoke]

Get get a light smell inside from the door being open to load. Pine I'm usually loading 3 splits at a time so there is some door time by evening.

The cats steal almost all the outside, pine Smoke goodness.

 

[BillBurns]

I burn 99% pine. Its kiln dried to 10%, from a wood shop. No smell at all, but it burns really fast. I have a free supply of it year round, so I use it. I clean my flue every month, needs it or not. It only takes 20 mins or so, so I just do it every month. I get soot, but its really light weight flaky soot. Ive had no problems in 4 years.

 

[Slimdusty]

I enjoy having pine in my stacks, good hot fast heat to get things going quickly or a short quick fire to bump up the temps inside but not too much. Pine kindling also. I need to scrounge some more for next year!

 

[EbS-P]

The point was made earlier that this is a fixed burn rate stove is really important. Any experience with user controllable stoves is not helpful to the OP. Yes we know pine burns fast and dry pine burns clean for most of us. This is on the case for the OP.

 

[Highbeam]

I have found a huge range in pitch levels with pine. Some with bubbles of pitch or white crusted pitch in the bark and some has rough dry bark. Some fatwood that sizzles out what looks like water but it’s just pitch. I suspect the OP is burning pitchy fatwood and no combustion system is optimized for that.

 

[stoveliker]

Arguably my system is has a fixed burn rate too (after the thermostat is set), rather than a fixed air inlet opening (where air flow still depends on draft).

Hence my remark that when I burn pitch pine "high" (and constant) I do get sooty glass to despite the inferno in the firebox seems relevant.

I do not have sooty stuff raining down outside though.