My new neighbour is smokily burning green wood
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I hear ya. I have a neighboor to the right that has an old smoke dragon and he burns unseasoned wood in his basement. He has this thing puffing from Nov through March. The other day it was in the low 50's and he had his clay lined chimney smoking heavily then it got real lazy where it was almost going backwards just laying on his roof and spreading horizontally.
Then I have another neighboor across the street with a fireplace. Starts off with white steam and then turns to a blue smoke.
Then there's me, 24x7 from late Nov to early Mar with a little white smoke upon reload, then nothing. Most people would guess that I don't burn wood, but its obvious from the weekly wood supply on the front porch.
Lets see, dry wood and an EPA stove should do it!
Then I have another neighboor across the street with a fireplace. Starts off with white steam and then turns to a blue smoke.
Then there's me, 24x7 from late Nov to early Mar with a little white smoke upon reload, then nothing. Most people would guess that I don't burn wood, but its obvious from the weekly wood supply on the front porch.
Lets see, dry wood and an EPA stove should do it!
Even with my non-epa Englander 12, I would only get very minimal smoke when cruising at lower temps and essentially no visible smoke when it was really cranking. Dry wood can make a huge difference. I expect this new stove to do even better.stejus said:
One of my neighbors will have his wood for this year ready soon. Tree service cut down some big oaks in his yard a few days ago and now that it has stopped raining he is splitting it.
Guess I shouldnt get too stressed about only being 1/2 done with my 2014/15 wood... gotta be done by spring though!
If anyone asks why I have so much firewood in the back yard I tell them that burning dry wood is a whole lot nicer than burning wet, unseasoned wood, and they should try it. I also mention that I get an extra 30% more heat because I am not evaporating a lot of extra water. I doubt I have changed anyone's mind, but maybe a few are thinking it.
What really disturbs me is all the OWB's that are being sold and installed. One of the first things the sales people tell folks is that you can burn green wood in them. Of course you can and this is about as far as it goes. If folks would realize how much better the wood will burn and how much less would be required if they burned dry wood this area would have a lot cleaner air. However, lazy usually takes over and we see many who just cut as needed and throw it into the stove. They seem to be very proud of it too.
My next door neighbor loves his firewood guy because he gives him " good fresh oak" every year. Thankfully he only burns about a cord a year. But he has actually offered me some of his to burn because my firewood looks "old and grey"BrotherBart said:
Have some fun with it BB. Tell him that it shouldn't be split or even bucked - just drag a log into the living room, pour some gas on it, and light it up.BrotherBart said:
There is a weird old guy about 1/2 mile from me that burns 24/7 fall winter. he gets logs from one of the local tree guys. He got some beautiful Black Locust two weeks ago. It is now all split and stacked outside his front door. The house and barn chimney are smoking away! Sometimes driving by his place is like driving through fog. I won't talk to him. A local old timer advised against trying to be friendly with the guy. When one kinda crusty local old timer tells the new, young guy that I should stay away, I do as he says.
oldspark said:
OS, I have thought about this. Because 5-10 years ago when I was burning my fireplace to supplement the heat (old style heatalator, it did heat, when it was running), I never thought about dry/wet wood. I'd just order a cord or two, save the dead fall over the year, and fire away. I bought alot of ire starters, fat wood, etc. Never gave it a thought.
Even when I started with the PE, I figured..naah, those guys are lying, I'll be OK with wood split in April (if I was lucky). Clogged my chimney by January the first year.(OK, ok, I worked on getting more seasoned wood, it didn't take long !)
The wake up call was when we had an oak tree cut down 3 years ago, and were left with a 10 foot upright trunk left. 8 months later, we cut it down, and the water poured out of it for a good 1/2 hour. Major "whooaaa" moment. I had had no idea.
Most peeps don't realize how wet the wood is when a tree is cut down.
Says she who is as of this weekend or shortly after sitting on 10 + cords, and with 6 + cords ready to go for this winter
Entertaining thread. I bought my house less than 2 months ago. Everyone around here has a wood stove but I don't know about their burning habits yet. I'm sure most people have had at least a couple of fires going since I've been here and I haven't noticed any smoke, so that's a good sign.
There used to be a guy around the corner from my parents' house who would cover the neighborhood in smoke every day during winter. The wood he used must have been wet, but my dad said the guy stuffed his stove and then shut the throttle down so it would just smolder all day.
I always peek at my chimney to get a feel for how I'm doing. Burning dirty contributes to burn bans, gives burners a bad name, and smoking the neighborhood is simply rude.
There used to be a guy around the corner from my parents' house who would cover the neighborhood in smoke every day during winter. The wood he used must have been wet, but my dad said the guy stuffed his stove and then shut the throttle down so it would just smolder all day.
I always peek at my chimney to get a feel for how I'm doing. Burning dirty contributes to burn bans, gives burners a bad name, and smoking the neighborhood is simply rude.
JamiePNW78 said:
You can get a good idea of their burning habits by looking at their wood piles. If the wood is still in log lengths, and if there aren't a bunch of stacks of grey firewood around, it is a good bet they aren't going to burn seasoned wood. Around here I am impressed by the number of people who seem to have be a year ahead or so on their wood piles. A few are many years ahead.
I've only seen the wood supply of two neighbors. One has it all in a large wood shed that prevents much of a view. The other neighbor has wood stacked in every place that's under cover. It's an impressive supply so I doubt he has to burn wet stuff. As for other people around here, with the trees and distance, I can't see what they've got for wood.
We were out to dinner Friday night with a few friends, one of which is a wood burner who also happens to have 30+ acres of land with a good percentage wooded. This guy has been burning wood for over 30 years. I know from prior conversations that his plan for wood is to find standing dead, cut and split it there, load onto his tractor and drive it up to the porch and pull the wood off it to put in the stove. He knows I think he is crazy but he thinks I'm more crazy with all the wood stacks and being ahead. I got a laugh when he said normally burns 5-6 cords a year but got into trouble last year when he had issues getting to the wood (standing dead) because we had so much snow on the ground.
Side note - we got into a discussion about how effective his stove is at heating the house. He said the rooms farther away were always really cold. I suggested the idea of blowing cold air at the stove to improve circulation and get the heat to those rooms. I think I convinced him to atleast try it.
Side note - we got into a discussion about how effective his stove is at heating the house. He said the rooms farther away were always really cold. I suggested the idea of blowing cold air at the stove to improve circulation and get the heat to those rooms. I think I convinced him to atleast try it.
About 34 years ago when I first started burning I tried some grean elm and boxelder and decided it was too much of a pain, not sure why or how some people never learn how much easier it is too burn dry wood (never mind the extra heat).NATE379 said:
NATE379 said:
I've been thinking the same thing. Last year was my first and the end of my wood supply was cut and stacked in oct. It is ash, so I was hoping I could burn it in march. I could not light it. Used up all of my kindling but could not get the fire to light. When/if if did light, the stove was only at 300 degree. I had to clean the glass constantly. After a coulpe of days of fighting with the wood, I turned on the oil heat. Killed me to do it, but the wood was not usable.
I now have all of that ash from last oct, plus the rest that I split in march of this year. I hope to not run out of dry wood again.
I have a buddy who has an OWB and swears by the green wood theory.Backwoods Savage said:
There is no talking to him about dry wood and not burning off moisture, I just gave up!!
mainemaul said:
A co-worker has an OWB on his farm. I was always amazed at how late in the year he would start cutting wood for the upcoming heating season. He couldn't believe it when I told him I let my wood dry at least two years and mentioned all the benefits of dry wood. His experience when burning dry wood in the OWB was it burned up way too fast and didn't put out anymore heat then the green stuff. Also less loading with green.
3fordasho said:
One guy I cut wood with has the same experience. The OWB is so damn inefficient that it can't make use of the dry wood by burning it in a controlled fashion.
Putting dry wood in an OWB is about like putting 110 ocatane VP racing fuel in my f-150. It won't make 1 hp more because it's not designed to take advantage of the good fuel.
pen
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