nofossil said:I've contemplated the idea of putting baseboard radiators under my boiler room woodpiles. With a little cleverness, I think I could get some additional drying effect as well as heating a pile of thermal mass in the basement. I have two piles, each with a weeks worth of wood. I don't know how hot I could get the wood, but it wouldn't be wasted energy.
Any thoughts?
Gooserider said:Initial reaction to the thought of a heater under the wood was not positive, but a baseboard doesn't get that hot, so I don't think ignition would be a problem. OTOH, I don't know how much good it would accomplish - hopefully your wood is pretty dry before you start, so I don't know how much additional drying you'd get. I also don't think it would make a great deal of difference in terms of ease of ignition, at least I don't notice any real difference between loading the stove w/ wood that I've just dragged in from outside and wood that's been inside for long enough to be up to room temp.
The only possible issue I could see is that if you do start getting significant drying is that most units are designed to optimally burn wood that's around 20% - if you get it down to a lot less you may start running into the overfire hazard people mention when burning pallets and construction wood. This might be possible with the wood on the bottom of the stacks, which would be seeing the most heat and sitting the longest...
Bottom line is that I don't think it would do a lot of good, and might possibly do harm from overdrying.
However this is just my gut reaction, I haven't tried it so I can't say for sure.
Gooserider
nofossil said:Gooserider said:Initial reaction to the thought of a heater under the wood was not positive, but a baseboard doesn't get that hot, so I don't think ignition would be a problem. OTOH, I don't know how much good it would accomplish - hopefully your wood is pretty dry before you start, so I don't know how much additional drying you'd get. I also don't think it would make a great deal of difference in terms of ease of ignition, at least I don't notice any real difference between loading the stove w/ wood that I've just dragged in from outside and wood that's been inside for long enough to be up to room temp.
The only possible issue I could see is that if you do start getting significant drying is that most units are designed to optimally burn wood that's around 20% - if you get it down to a lot less you may start running into the overfire hazard people mention when burning pallets and construction wood. This might be possible with the wood on the bottom of the stacks, which would be seeing the most heat and sitting the longest...
Bottom line is that I don't think it would do a lot of good, and might possibly do harm from overdrying.
However this is just my gut reaction, I haven't tried it so I can't say for sure.
Gooserider
I've not seen the overfiring phenomenon, but it's something to think about. My hope is that I would alternate woodpiles, so each pile gets to sit on top of 180 degree baseboard units for a week before being burned. Wouldn't dry would that was green, but so far I've always wanted the wood to be dryer than it has been.
Kiln drying is an interesting alternative, but I'd have to figure out how to minimize extra handling.
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