Learned From Past Season and Am Now Storing Over a Years Supply

It has been a little while since I posted on here.

Last fall/winter I was getting a lot of wood from sellers that was wet. I was basically trying to take the wood they delivered to me and burn in right away. Unfortunately (as others post) a lot of firewood sellers split and then deliver firewood immediately with little drying time. Maybe the tree had been down for a while but still that doesn't mean the wood is dry.

Unfortunately a lot of the wood we got hissed when you burned it and took more to use.

After my experience last year I "got religion" as they say and built more firewood storage and stocked up on firewood to at least let it be at my place drying/seasoning for a year before using it. My goal is to get up to a two year supply. A lot of "getting religion" was reading the advice on here.

At least this year the wood is pretty dry (not hissing) and we are using less.

I imagine if I bought wood from the suppliers that charge higher prices per cord and indicate it was seasoned then maybe I wouldn't have had the wet wood problems but you never know.

 

You REALLY learn the value of dry wood once you have struggled with hissing snakes in the firebox.

 

You certainly do. Live and learn as they say.

I purchase and store the wood for at least a year before I use it to burn.

 

The other thing I should add is that whenever I have room for a cord of wood or sometimes even a 1/2 a cord I start looking and refilling the rack vs. burning what I have for a season and then trying to replenish all at once.

What is interesting is one person I purchase wood from seems to think I am almost crazy stocking so much wood. It is like I am a hoarder. ;-)

 

HOARD ON!!

 

After I bought my first epa stove, I thought that 2 year "dryed" wood burned a lot better. Felt kind of smug....

Then, three year wood came along and the difference was once more incredible.

Since those times, wood over 4-5 years is something to behold once it is burned!

I'm looking forward to the day when you post about burning firewood that is seasoned over three years!

 

Yep, I am getting on the 3 or 4 year plan. I think I may actually have 3 years stacked now, and probably 1-1/2 cords cut and split laying all over the farm, that I need to get hauled in and stacked, but this year I started with only a 1/2 cord of wood left over from last year. And the rest is newer wood cut this year, although most of it had been already cut into logs or sort of standing or laying dead. And some of it's a little punky also. So, I am picking wood depending on the fire I need and trying to make my most seasoned wood last until later in the winter when I may need better fires. Next Year, I will be in a lot better shape for seasoned wood.

 

My VC Aspen C3 LOVES three year old super dry wood.
All you can see is a wall of yellow plasma-like flames dancing against the glass of the front door.

One and two year old wood (>10% MC according to the electronic meter) had to be split super small and stacked just right in order to burn and even then I never saw the plasma flames till this year. Its hypnotic and addictive.

 

Interesting that you are seeing a difference with 3 year wood. One would think that after especially two years there would be minimal gains in drying or at least diminishing returns. It would be something like this:

• 1st year 70% of the drying
• 2nd year another 10% (total of 80%)
• 3rd year another 5% (total of 85%)

Note my above figures are just estimates for illustration.
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It is maybe your EPA stove is more sensitive to wet wood than a traditional wood stove? Just one would think there would significantly diminishing returns with each year and thus marginal returns on waiting more than 2 years.

 

I think the newer EPA stoves burn wood differently than the older smoke dragons.

The EPA stoves seem to want to smother the wood till it creates dense smoke, and then using the tuned vents, it combusts the smoke creating the flame as secondary combustion and the main heat source.

Smoke dragon stoves act more like a campfire in a box where the wood burns directly.

Sort of like comparing a diesel and gasoline engine.

 

I should have given you a bit more history. And yes, you are absolutely correct in assuming that an epa stove is more "sensitive" to the MC than a traditional wood stove. It's kinda like the snowflake of wood stoves as everything has to be just right before they come out and play! But once those conditions are met.......nice!

I replaced a non-epa stove with an epa stove. The wood I was burning in the non-ea stove (fisher knock off) was no problem at all. It lit up fine and burned well....no smoldering or failure to stay lit.

Then, I replaced it with an epa stove. The same wood would not burn unless the door was left cracked open. It must be the stove starving for air, right? ........ No! It's the MC of the wood.

Now you have me wondering if the stove you have is an epa stove with a secondary burn or not? Maybe it a traditional stove?

 

Even after a solid year of drying, the oak I'm burning right now has too much moisture in it for my taste. I'm working toward a 3 year plan, but am not there by a long shot yet.

 

One person I buy wood from complains about how long Oak takes to properly dry. He even said "too long." Oak may put out a lot of heat but does take a long time to dry. I am sure the charts show this on here.

 

Thanks for the clarification.

Can one still buy regular stoves or is your only choice now an EPA stove?

If you can still buy both what are the advantages of buying an EPA stove? Is is more efficient? Maybe the stack temperature gets cooler like the condensing natural gas furnaces that one can buy?

 

[QUOTE

Since those times, wood over 4-5 years is something to behold once it is burned! /QUOTE]

I did not need to here this...

 

Instead of purchasing wood, why don't you come over to the dark side and start making it yourself. The difference is stunning and you will never buy wood again. You don't really need a whole lot of equipment....just some basic tools like a splitting maul, a hookaroon, some steel toed boots, and then you can add as you see the need. That's how I started out and now I've got a lot of firewood for years to come.

 

It usually takes 2 years under ideal conditions. I checked the oak I split in Oct-2019 and it's still 25% MC. Next winter it will be ready.

 

One resource I have for sure is oak. I am at 2.5 years cut and split on logs that were already down for a year. MC still unsatisfactory...

 

YD just took us to church!
Yes, one year is better than none, 2 starting to get good (some wood is fine at 2 years) but some, like Oak, needs 3 years to be really right...

EPA stoves do not smolder the wood (if its dry) that's why you can no longer close the primary air off completely, they don't want smoldering...EPA fireboxes are insulated to get the internal temps up, and generally inject heated "secondary" air into the hottest part of the firebox, allowing the wood gas and smoke to burn...which is generally just wasted potential BTU's on an old school stove, unless you are running it hard...then it might burn some (most?) of it.
The newer stoves rely on the stove top to act as the main heat exchanger then since the firebox is mostly (some completely) insulated...which is also why turning the primary air down makes the efficiency rise, more contact time between the hot gasses and the stove top.