drying firewood

[Warren Lake]

My neighbour has lost three huge trees then others on another home and all the ash and and. A very large maple came down maybe in august approx and I cut sections. Got a tic stuck on me in the process and brought the chunks home. Easy when its 70 feet away. Ride on mower and trailer.

Month of so ago I started chopping and flung it in through a window so most stuff is inside a few weeks before going into the stove. With no moisture meter at the moment I cant do my usual check. Wood is wet yet the couple of weeks inside changes lots and broken up smaller I get temps in mid heat range and have even hit into the high heat range. Im guessing this wood is silver maple and as I read they speak well of it but it feels very light. Say half of sugar or hard maple. It was here and close and its been good to have. Some of it got stacked and ive started into it as well as the stuff on the floor but mostly floor stuff for now to see how this other stuiff dries in this mcgiver set up.

Is there any other way to speed up firewood drying. I was wondering if anyone uses a kiln? I get about giving it a season but it showed up late with not enough time and I only found time to start splitting a month or so ago. All considered its working very well, no smoking clean and good heat ranges.

P2190310A.jpg

[Bill Dufour]

Check the safe distances. I think that wood is too close if the stove runs more then a few hours per day. I believe 36" is the minimum to the stove body. Run a fan on the wood to help circulate air and leave it on 24/7.
Is your climate dry or wet in winter?
Bill D

[Jim Koepke]

Something else to consider if you are burning wood that isn't fully dried is to sweep your chimney more often.

At least check for creosote build up.

jtk

[Kevin Jenness]

There's an outfit here that sells kiln dried firewood at a hefty premium. Looks like you have the next best thing if you put a box fan on the stacks. Burn it hot and watch for creosote buildup. How's the relative humidity? Are you getting a lot of condensation on the windows? Burning wet wood is less than optimal but if that's all you got... I have a couple of 3 cord sheds so I can stay a season ahead. I have found if I get new wood stacked before mid-July it's useable by November but that's pushing it, and it's easier to do the work in cooler weather anyway. Ash is a better prospect for burning green as it has an intrinsically low mc on the stump.

[Steve Demuth]

I'm pretty sure a half dozen fire marshals had heart attacks and died due to the disruption in their karmic force when that picture was published.

[Warren Lake]

stove burns cleaner than ever has a new glass and gasket. Chimney is fine had used the brush and extension poles. Wood does not heat up tons I used my heat gauge to check it. My work bench faces the stove so my back is to it the bench is 5 - 6 feet from the stove so my back is about four feet or so from the stove. Its nice on the back. Two smoke detectors that are close very sensitive and Co detector four feet away. the hotest the wood got behind the stove in the was 95 degrees on the end grain and every inch you go in it drops 10 degrees 2 inches in is 75F

Yeah on the ash, past its measured 26 - 29 percent fresh cut, once 19 percent but that tree was dying as it stood up. Maple at least the type I had at the time compared fresh cut like the ash would be 45 percent. So no meter right now cant tell. The wet is this is sitting outside we had rain or snow on it or even weeks before if its out in the freezing cold and frozen you bring it in and it goes wet from that temp change then dries. I wish it was hard maple.
One thing i discovered was past I used the cold air return above the stove to capture the heat then fan on to move the air. It always seemed fine. I tried it with no fan on and just let the stove radiate and it worked better so I dont run the furnace fan now to move the heat around I let it radiate up and warm all. Im always there when its running and its fine. Understand about the fire chiefs have at least a few friends in that field.