Outdoor Wood Furnace Info
All-Purpose OWF Discussions => Fire Wood => Topic started by: vinrum on July 11, 2010, 04:33:53 AM
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I am new to the outdoor wood furnace world..This will be my first winter using one.. I need a little feedback on what woods are good to burn, and what wood are not.. If the wood should be split or thrown in whole..I am getting alot of mixed reaction from another site that doesnt really like OWB.. I am going to be burning some softwood, I have it in log lengths for about 3 years, they are about 18-24 inch diameter, should those be split? Or just cut to sizes big enough to lift....Looking forward to your feed back
Steve
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At the very least, halve the logs. They'll burn better that way. Quartered burns even better. If the wood is free, there is very little bad wood to burn. Some woods burn longer and cleaner than others, it all depends on how often you want to stuff wood in the furnace and how much smoke you and your neighbors can deal with. If you don't have to worry about the smoke, then by all means burn your soft wood. For better results, mix it with some hard wood too. In the spring and fall when the heat load is low, my parents have a mountain of pine they burn heat their water and keep warm at night. When it's cold, they switch to hard wood. YMMV
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Judd, thanks for the reply..I was told I would get longer burn times when the logs arent split..But if you say that they burn better, I will try that. First year with the new toy, I am kinda looking forward to doing the wood..I know, that wont last long...As for the smoke, Its really not a concern,(no neighbors). Just a thought..Would it be worth it for me to burn pine during the day, when there isnt much calling for heat? Or will it burn out to fast? What I am asking is, do you think that a load of pine will last 6-8 hrs with not much call for heat..The only reason I ask, I have a bunch of pine logs that been sitting it 10ft lengths for about 2-3 years, and I would like to get rid of them
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i burn 2x4 spruce at teh beginning of the season from the local truss company...you put more in but they last 12 hours in the not so cold weather. october in ontario
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Willie, thats what I was hoping to hear.. LOL...I have a feeling that you guys are going to hear alot from me this burning season,,My first year with a Heatmor
Thanks
Steve
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It'll be my first year with a Heatmor as well :) Which one did you get?
My parents have been running theirs for a while though. I've been a tree guy for 11 years now so I know a thing or two about wood and I'm a professional firefighter as my main job so I know a thing or two about fires. It's not rocket science, but some people over complicate a simple thing. If you don't want to mess with splitting the logs, toss them in and see how they do. If they burn out while idling, you'll know better for next time. The gassifiers are a bit more temperamental as to what you burn mostly because they are paired with lots of hot water storage that keeps them idling for longer periods of time.
By chance, would the site that doesn't like OWB be hearth? They have a lot of good information there, but as a whole they are a gassifier community that doesn't like not burning the products of combustion.
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Yes, I agree with you about alot of good information..also it is a big gassifier community. I picked up a 2 year old 400 series this spring..I got it for a very good price with all the pumps, plate exchangers, all the fittings..I just need to run my line underground and hook her up..That project will be done in Sept., to dam hot now..So now I am trying to gather as much wood as I can, because I know the first year I will burn more than I should..I am hearing different wood usage from other people, so I am going to try to stay on the high side and if I have some left over, it will be my start to next year..What are the chances of that happening??LOL..How much do you figure you burn this winter?
Steve
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I cut all my wood at 22" long so that I can get 5 rows into the wood shed.And split anything over 12" so that if the Mrs.ever has to load the stove she would not have any trouble.
Ron
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I was offered a large amount of telephone poles (broken) today for 150.00 a load..Probably 75-80 of them all about 15 ft long..Anyone ever burn them? Not to sure if its legal? I told the guys I would have to get back to them
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I never burned power line poles because of the way they are treated.And I don't think that I would even if they were free for the taking.
Ron
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I wouldn't burn them. They would smoke some bad stuff and really gum up the inside of your furnace. Besides, a cord of mixed and split hardwood delivered is about the same price...
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Anyone burn birch or hemlock..I have a chance to grab a bunch, but not sure how it burns..white birch and black birch
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hemlock is a soft wood and will burn quick, birch is a harder wood and i would grab as much as you can, as far as amount used, the first year i found myself packing it full. dont, 3 or 4 logs will burn for 12 hrs in most cases, at least for me it always has, i used 6 to 7 cord last year but that is misleading because if i split everthing it would be alot more. my rule is, if i can lift it and it fits in the stove, let it alone, having said that , after `12" inch round, i usually split it. you can burn rotten wood that has been laying a long time, just do it early in the year. as for telephone poles, the old ones were cresoted and that would smoke so bad a ten mile area around you would hate you forever.
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what do you guys think ill need for wood for 1600 sf double wide house just heat no hot water...
michigan weather...100 gallon water capacity home made boiler out of propane tank with lots of insulation sitting in cinder block shed not steel siding 10 feet from the house?
what will be the diffrent in cords between hardwood and pine?
i got abot 4 cords ready mix of hardwood and pine and just trying to figure out what total will i need for my first year.
thanks.
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mober..i will make a gues of 6 to 8 (to make you feel good) and 7 to ten (to make sure you have enough)
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sorry imissed your question on the heat values of the pine and others
dry wood ...pine 10 million btu per cord
oak 18 million
and hickory 20 million
hickory being the best and pine is about three or four from the worst
basswood is worst at about 9.4
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thanks willie for all that info.
i was kind of hoping it wont be more than 10 cords :thumbup:
so ill need about twice the wood if it will be pine compare to oak.
thats a lot of floor space :)
i dont know if any of you guys pay attention to it but maybe a rough estimate on the diffrent in use between keeping the house on 68 degree to 74 degree?
im sure it wont be as bad as if it was propane.
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there peopel here who use as low as 4 or 5 cords but i think the aerage is much higher. I live in ontario canada (what is called the southwest) near the mouth of the st. claire river where the lake huron empties..we get quite cold winds and low temps and i live in a century old farm house (although i have done my best to rebuild and insulate it) and i figure i use 10 to 12 cords and burn wood from late october until early june most years. i burn nothing but dead elm and some spruce 2x4's from the local truss builder ( iuse this for a quick hot fire in the mornings of early fall and late spring) my elm wood is high on btu's but im not sure that when they are as dead as i cut them that some of the btu's have been used up in the start of decomposition.
when i burnt a lot of white oak i got by on about 8 or 9 cords but now i try and cut only dead trees, and the elms here die from disease faster than i can use them up.
your 100 gals may cause much more cycles than most..you might consider adding a holding tank into the system that would increase that. This would quite likley lower your cycle times (and that is where a lot of folks including me think we waste a lot of btu's)
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hi willie
you might be right with the water capacity but i kind of like thinking about shorter cycle because it wouldnt take as long to heat my 120 gallon comapare to a 300 gallon less smoldering wood.
i think if i had 1000 gallon for example it will have a bigger surface area wich will loose more btu than a smaller surface area,just like a heat exchanger.
and with as much insulation you will put in it they all loose btu.
i think there is no real exact science about water capacity its just important to keep happy medium.
one day we will all be doctors of those wood boilers and maybe start a school for that special trade :thumbup:
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i agree, we all think differently about how and why. that is where building your own comes in..we all incorporate our own ideas and really..even when it is "finished" and in operation..we the builder can make changes as we see fit or wish to try fro one reason or another. we are always in the "research and developent" stage
i am thinking (rethinking) that i may in fact dig up and replace my underground pipe as when i put it in it may have been the best available then but now i think it is quite inferior. and if i do this, after heating for ten years with the same stove i will have a real good average of wood usage to compare with the nest 10 years and will be able to see if there is much of a wood savings
my son has also judt bought himself a place in the country and i will be starting a stove for him next year...more changes coming..lol
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bruey, thank you for the post..It was very helpful..You read my mind, the amount of wood to put into the stove was my next question..Is it good to mix hard and soft wood together or does it matter?
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Are you out west? Some of the best wood to burn in the northeast is white ash and red oak, red oak needs two seasons to dry correctly, white ash has the lowest moisture content of good burning woods when green and will be ready after one season, the most readily avaiable wood here in Maine is red maple and that works pretty well. If your OWB is a gasification type(like mine) then you must burn dry wood, 6" round logs are perfect. If it is the old style single burn type, people do burn larger wood with more moisture in them, you will get much more smoke.But it is silly to burn green wood because you will burn a lot more of it because the heat is first used to boil off water from the wood then you get the extra heat.
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Maine owb, I am curious what type of gasifacation furnace you are running that will burn only dry wood. The new G series that HeatMaster is putting out run better when the wood isn't completely dry.