Outdoor Wood Furnace Info
All-Purpose OWF Discussions => General Outdoor Furnace Discussion => Topic started by: BenGrove on August 13, 2014, 01:34:10 PM
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Do I want my wood to be thick, long pieces? Skinny, long pieces? Thick, short pieces? Skinny, short pieces?
I'm trying to figure out which type of wood burns the best. If anyone has any tips/tricks/hacks, please fill me in!
Ps. I'll be getting a Heatmaster 5000 soon!
Thanks, Ben
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Anything that is seasoned will burn. My boiler will take a 26" stick, i cut mine at 24" due to wood splitter restrictions, but make some thick, some thin.
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Do I want my wood to be thick, long pieces? Skinny, long pieces? Thick, short pieces? Skinny, short pieces?
I'm trying to figure out which type of wood burns the best. If anyone has any tips/tricks/hacks, please fill me in!
Ps. I'll be getting a Heatmaster 5000 soon!
Thanks, Ben
BenGrove - Welcome!
That's a valid question to ask. My fire wood is cut to 24" long X 4" to 8" in diameter. I give it a good 2 seasons to dry. But everyone has their preference as to what size works best in their OWB. I think you'll have to learn what works best for your application. It took me 2 season to figure out what works for me but it doesn't work for everyone. Good luck with OWB. Roger
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I prefer a mixture myself as well, what does HeatMaster recomend? that would be what I would shoot for,
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Congrats Mr. BenGrove on your Heatmaster purchase and welcome to the OWB family! I cut my wood as big as I can without straining. Also, so it stacks neatly because I'm that way. I shoot for 18" to 20" in length. I don't split if 10" in diameter or smaller. 10" to 16" I'll split once. 16" to 24" I'll split twice so on and so forth. That should give you an idea on how big the pieces are.
Heatmaster doesn't necessarily recommend a log size. Like Slim said, it'll all burn. It's just up to you and learning your stove and how it behaves to find what works best. I have a 10,000 which is very long. Another good reason for my lenght of choice, is I can essentially put two lenght-wise rows. I can't climb into my stove to place the wood in the back, so I have to toss it. The front row I can place and use bigger pieces.
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For those short pieces that are thrown in, a rock picker makes a great tool to reach into the back of the boiler for better placement of the wood, I'll try to find mine and post a picture!
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I tend to split everything over about 8" or too heavy to pick up with one hand green, becasue that way once dried either I or th ewife can load the boiler. :thumbup: :thumbup:
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Anything over 6" should be split once. Anything over that don't burn as good but will last longer in the firebox but will need more wood to keep it going. I have a 15 year old CB and it will take 36" wood with no problem, and as for dia. I split my logs down to 8-10". I once put in a 20" unsplit long that sat around for 2 years and it just laid there, I needed a lot of small wood to get it to burn. Just remember that if you split to small you might as well use popsicle sticks.
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As everyone does things do what works for you it will take a little time depending on the size of your spliter, size of your fire box leave room on both ends of your wood so you get a good burn. Research your boiler and see what people that have them say. Thank you for burning wood
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Well theres really no real answer to that question..Basically its on you on what you want to handle!!! I prefer split wood/whole mix wood..Far as the length of the wood..I do 24 inch wood..