This will be my third winter since I got my first wood stove. I still love my stove and really want to love burning wood.
I am unable to CSS enough wood for myself, partly due to lack of space and partly because it's pretty tough to do anyway in a country that rains horizontally as much as Scotland! So I need to buy most of my wood. Kiln dried is very popular over here... probably partly because it's possible to get wood dry that way. It's expensive, (you guys would freak at the price!) but still way cheaper than heating oil. But what I have discovered, much to my disappointment, is that I have been unable to find a supplier of kiln dried logs whose product is a decently low MC.
I have tried well over 10 different suppliers in the last two years and the very best of them sell logs that average between 25 -27% on a freshly split face... Often much higher - I've measured some 'kiln dried' splits up to 45% at their core!
Our government body that monitors the quality of fire wood and pellets - HETAS - allow suppliers to indicate on their websites If their product has attained their standard and is accredited by them. So I decided to study their info on their website and also call them and ask exactly how they monitor firewood... and here!s what I discovered when I spoke to them - what they consider to be acceptable firewood is wood that has an 'average MC of 25%'.
By 'average' they mean, for instance, if the outside of a split is, say, 18%, it's quite fine for the inside of the same split to be 32%, because the 'average' MC would indeed be 25%. So I guess I have discovered why all the wood Suppliers I've complained to say I'm too fussy - because HETAS would back them up.
The only wood I have been able to buy that is 20% or less right through is kiln dried birch exported from the Baltic States. It was a joy to burn, and I was grateful to have the chance to see what my stove can do when it's given a decent chance, but I have never bought it again because a great part of my reason for burning wood is about reducing my carbon footprint.
So I am probably going to be saying goodbye to logs and moving over to Eco bricks, as they check all the boxes, including the environmental ones, as some great ones are made pretty locally.
I'm sad though, becuase there's just something about actual logs that Eco bricks don't do for me. But heck, they're waaaay cheaper than logs over here and they burn great.
So in sharing all of this here partly because I'd need some sympathy
- but mostly because I'd welcome some feedback about HETAS's official view of good fire wood!
I will probably never stop looking for decent firewood though... But it's starting to feel like searching for the Holy Grail or the Lost Chord...
Sorry this post is so long.. Just getting it off my chest.
I am unable to CSS enough wood for myself, partly due to lack of space and partly because it's pretty tough to do anyway in a country that rains horizontally as much as Scotland! So I need to buy most of my wood. Kiln dried is very popular over here... probably partly because it's possible to get wood dry that way. It's expensive, (you guys would freak at the price!) but still way cheaper than heating oil. But what I have discovered, much to my disappointment, is that I have been unable to find a supplier of kiln dried logs whose product is a decently low MC.
I have tried well over 10 different suppliers in the last two years and the very best of them sell logs that average between 25 -27% on a freshly split face... Often much higher - I've measured some 'kiln dried' splits up to 45% at their core!
Our government body that monitors the quality of fire wood and pellets - HETAS - allow suppliers to indicate on their websites If their product has attained their standard and is accredited by them. So I decided to study their info on their website and also call them and ask exactly how they monitor firewood... and here!s what I discovered when I spoke to them - what they consider to be acceptable firewood is wood that has an 'average MC of 25%'.
By 'average' they mean, for instance, if the outside of a split is, say, 18%, it's quite fine for the inside of the same split to be 32%, because the 'average' MC would indeed be 25%. So I guess I have discovered why all the wood Suppliers I've complained to say I'm too fussy - because HETAS would back them up.
The only wood I have been able to buy that is 20% or less right through is kiln dried birch exported from the Baltic States. It was a joy to burn, and I was grateful to have the chance to see what my stove can do when it's given a decent chance, but I have never bought it again because a great part of my reason for burning wood is about reducing my carbon footprint.
So I am probably going to be saying goodbye to logs and moving over to Eco bricks, as they check all the boxes, including the environmental ones, as some great ones are made pretty locally.
I'm sad though, becuase there's just something about actual logs that Eco bricks don't do for me. But heck, they're waaaay cheaper than logs over here and they burn great.
So in sharing all of this here partly because I'd need some sympathy
- but mostly because I'd welcome some feedback about HETAS's official view of good fire wood!I will probably never stop looking for decent firewood though... But it's starting to feel like searching for the Holy Grail or the Lost Chord...
Sorry this post is so long.. Just getting it off my chest.
Last edited:
