A friend of mine, a new wood burner, apparently thought that drying wood around the stove was a good plan. I had never seen him do it, otherwise I would have pointed out the danger to him. So last week he goes to work with the stove burning, and a split about 3 inches away from the stove (30-NC). Ten hours later, he comes home to a house full of smoke. No flames, no loss or damage other than a heavy smoke smell throughout the house, and charred firewood. Could have been worse.
I work with our local fire captain...he said the amount of times they find wood right next to a stove would surprise you...
Wow I thought a firewood Split had to be around 500° just to combust without flame.. Hard to keep my stove top temp that high for 10 hours
At first, yes. The exact temp varies (with wood species among other things) but I think it is something like 450*F ish...but time and heat (pyrolysis) makes it drop...I've read reports of wood igniting from a heat source that was under 200*F with no open flame...granted, it was in an old building and the wood had experienced decades of pyrolysis.
Sad, but we see pictures of guys doing it then posting on the Internet. So some dummy who can't think for himself see it and sure enough, has to try it...
Last year my son was drying his leather gloves on the stove and forgot about it. That smell was difficult to get rid of.
My understanding is the smoke or ignition temperature of wood decreases with drying and extreme drying can get ignition/smoke point below 300 deg F. Installation specifications for pipes and ducts consider the lower ignition temperature caused by extreme drying. Extreme drying actually changes the wood properties to approach paper characteristics.
I've been guilty of doing that myself my first year wood burning. However, only when I was home, and around the stove.
I’ve done it. A little common sense goes a long way. Infrared thermometer helps too. Closest splits usually hit about 150 with the stove at highest temps. Some nice dry heat goes a long way.
I am guilty of this...so far 3 seasons with no problems. I am thinking it depends on the stove type. My quadrafire has a outer plate on the side with a 2 inch air gap. At normal burning temps that outer plate only gets to 175 to 200 the highest. I have measured the temp of the wood many times with the stove running at it's hottest, and highest I got was 125. Maybe that guy had an old stove with direct metal contact. Even the plastic tote in the pic doesn't get any hotter than if it were in direct sunlight, and in the front is where most of the stoves heat radiates to. I am not saying it is the safest thing to do, but neither is running a gas or electric cooktop all day, or even a Crock-Pot plugged in all day. I am thinking about getting a piece of cement board to create a barrier between stove and wood if it makes the safety police happy.
