As a card carrying member of the "safety police" (our neighbor's house just burned, a total loss, kitchen area): "code" requires no flammable material within four feet of a wood burning appliance because opening the door can emit embers. I like dry wood but... all my indoor wood, kindling, and paper is four feet away.
Iowahiker has it nailed (from iowa myself), you use the same clearance distances as your stove information states, the wood will dry quickly and you are being smart about it.
The stove is a 30-NC, not that that matters from what I can see. Can't like the jab at "safety police," I simply related a true story, and never suggested what anyone else can or should do. Do what you want, but my friend would have liked to have known the risks before he smoked his house. Not talking code, talking knowledge, I don't give a rip about codes unless they make sense.
I'm of the opinion that one can dry wood near the wood stove, but only when it is closely monitored. Check the wood with a temperature gun and don't leave it close when outside, sleeping or away from home. I have some small stuff drying near the Buck-81 in paper shopping bags. The hottest temp I can find right now is 130 degrees F. That is with the stove blower on. I know that if the blower unexpectedly goes off, the temperature rise from radiant heat will happen rapidly and I will need to react quickly. IMHO if you are using your stove to dry wood and not actively monitoring it, you're literally playing with fire.
Best advice yet! By all means, dry your wood next to the stove but observe the manufacturers stated clearances.
I like your stool; I think I will make something similar. You might want to relocate the propane torch.
I stack wood on either side of the stove but the stove has side heat shields. The shields don't come all the way to the front of the stove so I am careful about stacking where there are no shields. The hottest part is in front of the stove where the glass door is located. Infrared energy is transmitted through the glass so that is the hottest area we need to be concern about.
So a while ago I mounded up, about 4-5 feet from my stove, a stack of chunks and uglies that were laying on the ground @ my processing area. Some of these were from a huge oak I scrounged. Knowing how slow (red) oak seasons, I saved them for burning last. After they acclimated, I split one and measured it’s moisture. Just the other day, I split it again for a reading. It appears this chunk lost about 4% in a month. I’ve been pointing a fan at the pile, blowing hot air around it as much as I can.
With the stove going balls out, that barely even gets warm where I keep it. I don't think it gets close to 100 degrees at the most. Keeping one in a hot truck, which can reach 130 degrees on a good day is more dangerous....
Reminds me of an old joke. If you weren't so thin skinned (easily offended) …………. But then, this is a public forum and pretty much anything goes!
Doesn't everyone do this? I have filled an oven to sterilize Ash kindling to kill EAB. So I could legally transport it to camp. 145F for 60 minutes or more. I did stay in the kitchen the whole time though. We keep half a rick close to the wood stove in the house. It sits 18 to 24 inches away from the furnace. The furnace has a metal skin all around it reflect heat back to the firebox and mainly just heat the air in that surrounded cavity. That's close enough to warm the wood and dry surface moisture.
This is how my setup is always. I think it definitely depends on the stove. Mine is one of the new fancy energy EPA stoves. I keep some kindling in front of it and when I bring in my small bunches I stack it next to the stove on the right. Never a whole lot there. But the heat level on the wood is no where near anything alarming. My cat even sleeps under the stove sometimes when it's lit. All the heat comes straight through the glass and up off the top. Just enough heat to get the kindling nice and dry from the bit of moisture that may be on it from humidity on the porch. I'm very fire conscious and would never do anything that seemed dangerous. The level of heat on the wood here is neglegible to none. Happy stoving!
I've been guilty of this as well, but not when I'm gone. But I frequently feel the side of the wood that's closest to the stove, and it's never felt too hot to keep my hand on. I think it somewhat depends on the stove.
Lol! Sorry I couldn’t resist being a smart guy. I never heard of a quantity of firewood called a rick before I hung around here .
No problems. I figured it was in good humor. I grew up at my grandfather's salebarn and auctions. I learned early in life that a rick and a pickup load of wood depends on the person and the truck. Only a cord is a legally defined unit of measure for firewood.
