Outdoor Wood Furnace Info
All-Purpose OWF Discussions => Fire Wood => Topic started by: intensedrive on December 15, 2014, 10:26:33 PM
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Hi,
It has been a rough summer due to finances and time. I have about another month of good wood, yet all I can find for my price range is green wood which is being delivered weekly to get my wood pile stocked. So far I'm using my maul to split the larges pieces smaller. From what I understand most of the moisture is in the center of the wood. Been busy splitting most of the wood into smaller pieces exposing the center. Not proud to be in this situation, just trying to make the most of my situation and not waste all my Btu's boiling off all the moisture.
Thanks
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Sounds like your doing everything you possibly can. The green wood obviously will burn it's just not ideal. Your exactly rite your burning a lot of the good energy just getting the moisture out. Hang in there and make sure you keep a good coal bed.And start working on your pile for next fall.
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Try to find some ash. It's all dead and most is good enough to burn.
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Solar kiln. Start with a pallet or two. Lay down clear plastic sheeting 10x25' roll and cut slits in the bottom to allow drainage. Stack your wood on it, then cover with remaining sheeting. Be sure it is and area that will get the most possible sun. Radiant heating will draw out moisture and it will drain down the sides of the plastic and drain out the bottom slits. Don't expect a miracle but if you can leave it a month or 2 it will pull off a lot of moisture.
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Solar kiln. Start with a pallet or two. Lay down clear plastic sheeting 10x25' roll and cut slits in the bottom to allow drainage. Stack your wood on it, then cover with remaining sheeting. Be sure it is and area that will get the most possible sun. Radiant heating will draw out moisture and it will drain down the sides of the plastic and drain out the bottom slits. Don't expect a miracle but if you can leave it a month or 2 it will pull off a lot of moisture.
Does this work in the winter as well?
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Where I live there is no way you would heat my pile above freezing with just plastic but further south of MN I could not comment on that.
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Split it all except of the smallest stuff, keep you coal bed up, certain woods burn better green than others. Mulberry, sassafras, wild cherry and ash all burn well when less than perfectly seasoned.
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When I first was going to buy my T-wolf (similar to a Ridgewood), a guy who had one said it is essential to burn green wood (!) Said he went through too much wood burning seasoned, so he tried burning wood that was fresh cut in the fall and found he used less wood. His stove spends a lot of time idling, and he figured it is drying when it's idling...
I' m not recommending, just informing. However, I do find myself reaching for the moist stuff when I know my stove is going to be idling a lot.
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When I first was going to buy my T-wolf (similar to a Ridgewood), a guy who had one said it is essential to burn green wood (!) Said he went through too much wood burning seasoned, so he tried burning wood that was fresh cut in the fall and found he used less wood. His stove spends a lot of time idling, and he figured it is drying when it's idling...
I' m not recommending, just informing. However, I do find myself reaching for the moist stuff when I know my stove is going to be idling a lot.
You must not be worried about creasote, that's a perfect recipe for it.
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I'm the opposite of Andy. I burn the greener stuff when I have more of a demand for heat than usual. If I burn green wood in the shoulder months my fire will go out due to the longer idle times.
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Try to find the "free pallet" pile somewhere. Get as many as possible and mix them in with your green wood to heat things up a little.
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intensedrive, where are you located?
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I do have a five gallon chum bucket :o
in front of my boiler. I'm not crazy about the creosote but I thought a certain amount of it comes with the territory?
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Western Michigan
intensedrive, where are you located?
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I'm the opposite of Andy. I burn the greener stuff when I have more of a demand for heat than usual. If I burn green wood in the shoulder months my fire will go out due to the longer idle times.
Agreed. If I burn green or low coaling wood like boxelder it has a hard time holding coals compared to dry elm.
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I'm the opposite of Andy. I burn the greener stuff when I have more of a demand for heat than usual. If I burn green wood in the shoulder months my fire will go out due to the longer idle times.
Agreed. If I burn green or low coaling wood like boxelder it has a hard time holding coals compared to dry elm.
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What I have noticed so far with green wood is longer burn time overnight, nice bed of coals. Green wood isn't that bad to burn IF you have a large bed of hot coals and a raging fire in the burn box. This means more checking and more filling throughout the day which is hard thing to manage. The big issue is when you wake up or have unexpected demand on the wood overnight or you can't make it home and you have smaller coals. Throwing green wood on these smaller coals will pretty much just drop your boiler temp extremely low and in many cases snuff out fire and be left in a situation where you have to nurse the boiler for hours trying to get temps back up. Burning green wood can be done but is going to cause you headaches and much more time monitoring the furnace, plus burning more wood in the long run.
I will add, if you have a nice fire and bed of coals and throw some large green wood on top.. I'm assured a longer burn time, but wasting BTU to boil off the water on the added green wood. My lesson so far been to stock up on well seasoned wood, but also having a stash of green wood might not be all bad for long overnight burns in the coldest months.
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Split it small, keep it full and enjoy the chimney fires I usually have a few during the season if I am burning green wood
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Hi Hoardac,
Yes I have been splitting the larger pieces smaller which helps a bunch. I have had 2 chimney fires already, looks a rocket engine... Waiting for my boiler to take off to the moon ha. Every two weeks I pack a good bunch of cardboard into the fire... really burns off the creosote. The sparks could get a bit scary with dry land. Luckily here we have snow or wet weather during the burning months.
Split it small, keep it full and enjoy the chimney fires I usually have a few during the season if I am burning green wood
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We have been cutting quite a bit of silver maple. Moisture content is only around 25% according to the tester. Seems to be burniing really well. Been mixing it with ash. Haven't really had to split anything but the big rounds at the trunk.
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agree with hoard.split it small and open her up.
will get goin faster and have a hotter fire then big slow,cold burners
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When your out looking for wood dont forget the standing dead. Dead dry pipe burns hot and fast. mix it in.
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I often burn half and half. Green in back dry in front. Seasoned wood drys up the greener stuff
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I often burn half and half. Green in back dry in front. Seasoned wood drys up the greener stuff
In back? Do you stack it in sideways? Or do you just put it way back and a second stack in front?
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I cut most everything 16 to 18 inches long (stove is 36 deep) because most of the stuff I scrounge is so large it needs to be split. I then it's two stacks in the stove one in the back and one in the front. I just bought a semi of firewood and it's mostly 6 to 8 inch stuff so I think I will cut most of it to 36 long and just have one stack.
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my dealer told me no more than 24" and Ive done that for 2 winters. works why better.I like what your doing.when the front stack burns do you just pull the other forward?Ill never burn 36 " again.Plus i think throughing big wood in can damage stuff.
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my dealer told me no more than 24" and Ive done that for 2 winters. works why better.I like what your doing.when the front stack burns do you just pull the other forward?Ill never burn 36 " again.Plus i think throughing big wood in can damage stuff.
Yes in the morning I pull all coals and charred logs to the front. I often put a large greener log in the back to dry all day. If I only burned one stack of 24" logs I would never make it through the night when the temps go below 20. I need to fill it up.
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Good idea about green in back, I'm gonna try this too
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I am burning a Heatmaster MF 10,000 and it doesn't matter much if it's green or dry. Don't let it burn out, and you probably won't have a problem.
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I have noticed since I do not have a blower but natural draft, as long as there is active fire or roaring flame it will dry that green wood in a hurry. Now If I add a bunch of green wood in the morning on a good bed of coals, it will get going but takes awhile and really hurts your coal bed trying to dry the wood.
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Green wood will be "seasoned" in three cycles in my stove. I've actually pulled pieces out and checked them. Keep in mind this is in a dual forced air system. Natural draft I believe may take quite a bit more time to accomplish this.
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I split 24" pieces that need to be split but for rounds up to 12" I cut at 30" mix split with logs if they are green I lay them on top of the dryer wood by the time they get to the bottom they burn perfect also laying some green stuff right on a nice beds of coals is no problem for me either..