6+ years to get there is crazy! I've never experienced that. I had some that read 21ish% and I brought it in, hoping it'll "kiln" dry some in my basement space where the wood burner is. I have a thermometer down there and most of the time it's over 80 degrees. I can usually get another percent or two in the amount of time it takes to get through 1.5-2 cords that I have stacked. 20% is my target.
Sounds fine to me. How long has the wood been SS and what species? As long as mine gets to 20% its good to go.
Not to change the topic but the original poster mentioned a cheap General moisture meter, is there one better or more recommended? Thanks
The reason I started this thread was because I had a small drip of creosote (from a totally clean and creosote free stove...(bricks looked like new)...come out from behind my stove from the thermostat flap. It was so thin, but dark, it looked more like thin dark water. I wiped it up, placed a pop cam back there just in case and never thought another thing about it. Turned out burning any wood in this giant stove was going to blow us out of here, so I filled up with coal and let her idle all night long. This morning I went to unhook by grate connecting bar so I could burn off of one grate only and afterwards wanted to tend the fuel bed. When I opened the door it became apparent that a small bit of creosote had actually ran down the sidewalks of the stove down into the ash pan area of the stove and under the ash pan. That is why I questioned the mc of this wood as well as the possibility that the meter is off. I did notice some slight hissing from the wood, but nothing alarming. If the meter is correct, then 18% for this oak doesn’t seem anywhere near dry enough even at 18%. Of course, that may be why we always seasoned wood much longer than 3 years also...for a wood dragon stove.
Surely burning wood below 20% can still produce creosote… air controls improperly set can cause smoke to get up the chimney that then condenses on the cooler flue surfaces. I should think this could happen in the firebox as well. After all, your house has some humidity inside too, especially if a person adds humidity by way of a humidifier. If the stove’s intake air comes from the house and not an OAK, that humidity is going thru there too.
Yeah that just sounds like pipe temps too low honestly...which I could see being easy to do if the stove is a lil too big for the space...especially if "short loading" the stove (small fire in a big stove)
If I fill the cavernous box and shut it down quickly headed out the door to work I have experienced the same issues. 20% +/- wood. Sounds like your trying to choke the burn down too much too fast. My 2 pennies.
Wow. I left out a lot of info. My bad. Yep...you guys are right. Yeah...air settings for sure. Didn’t mean to make it sound like it wasn’t. More in a moment...
Actually had too small a fire to get pipe over 280. That said, still way too much heat with wood for the house. As long as I was letting it burn free with ash pan door open no smoke out the chimney. Top down start proved little start-up smoke as well. All good. Great actually. Just enough wood to start a coal fire and just enough to tell if adding more would be too much...and it would have been. I had left stat settings at last years coal cruise setting of 3. Had to go all the way to 8 with ash pan door closed including both door spinners full open as well. Still not enough. Had more stat to go, and I could reset the chain, but seen no need to since being blasted out of the house. In leaving out some info I didn’t mean to sound like it was the woods fault. I just didn’t expect it all to happen so quickly. Blackened widows sure, but not to running creosote from 18% mc wood in about an hour, maybe less. No OAC and wouldn’t mattered anyway since it was raining out. I ended up turning the stat back to my running stat temp of three...because I knew it would run stove at proper temp we like for room temp. That lasted about a half hour. It all turned black in the windows and then I seen the leak. That’s the point I decided to heck with it and loaded the coal. Was really enjoying the clean glass and hot small fire and...oh...that good smell of burning oak wood. Clearly, in order to maintain clear glass I need to just unhook the stat chain, fully open door spinners and burn short hot fires fo day time. Chit out of luck with wood at night time though. Why I questioned the size of the WS IS in the “other” thread. I have to more conscious and accepting of allowing for more heat cycling also with wood if I get a new wood stove. I’m fairly certain now that even my waiting Lopi Liberty will not burn low enough. Maybe it would surprise me though. Maybe even the Lopi Endeavor would also still be too big for my 1350 sqft.
Crazy how little air anthracite needs and how much wood needs. Manometer readings for anthracite at -.005 to -.01 and for wood with a good hot small fire with clean glass was -.05 to -.06wc. I was really hoping my instincts all along were wrong, but they were right. I was hoping to use the stat with wood at least some. Now I think that notion is in the waste can. A smaller stove for wood seems the best choice. At least at this point my assumptions are confirmed. Of course, I could always play around in the shop with this stove and try adding my own CAT to it. That should get a few laughs. Regardless of air settings...still no way to know for sure if meter reading was correct. I’d need another meter for that. My multi-meter broke or I could use that to double check the new meter. Yes...fully aware that even much drier wood being choked down will cause creosote if not fully in the coaling stage.
Curious to know manometer readings from those burning wood with insulated pipe and what size pipe? Obviously, with more wood in the stove my numbers would be some higher. I wonder how this small wood load would compare to “your” numbers. I already know my chimney needs work, but actual draft numbers may be good considering an inside the home masonry chimney. Of course, that has no bearing on closing a stove down too fast and creating creosote.
For 8-9 years I used a Baker wood/coal stove. I bought some coal to try out, for schlitds and giggles. I found it needed much more air than wood. If I closed down my air intakes, it would stall pretty quick. Since it isn't free, I stayed w/ wood.
Are you saying the coal needed more air than wood in that Baker wood/coal stove? Which model specifically? Did it have shaker grates in the stove?
Yup, typical wood/coal stove setup...for burning coal the majority of the air needs to come in from the bottom, then the top air is almost closed...just open enough to allow any remaining gasses to burn off...the burn rate is controlled by the bottom knobs...you can burn wood with bottom air too...but you will go through a TON of it! Wood does better with only top air (unless maybe you want to burn off some coals)
Your admission about burning enough to learn it with anthracite is correct and is often the case. That’s ok. Lots of well intending people have done the same and not knew enough to admit that. Good on you. At any rate if the anthracite called for more air than what a wood fire did in that stove then that points to not having the coal deep enough in the fire box...all the way to the top of the fire bricks and heaping above in the center...and not being afraid to do so. It can be a very daunting experience to do for the first few times. As an example... When I tried to burn wood yesterday... After the wood had caught very well and was mostly black and raging with no smoke... I closed up the ash pan door and tried running the stove on my cruise settings with coal. A setting of 3 on the bi-metallic thermostat. The fire darkened immediately and sooted up the glass so I began working my way through the numbers to give it more air...one number each every 5 minutes or so...all the way to number 8 and even had both door spinners fully opened at the time trying to give it more air...with just a small load mind you. In the long run it would have taken a chain adjustment to keep the stat fully opened longer and fully open door spinners to supply the wood enough air to burn clean(er) with wood. Way more air than my currently full heaping load of anthracite idling at 225F, pipe at thimble 89F. Before now (and I just realized this) I wasn’t sure if I could run the stove without the thermostat with wood. Now I realize that it too must remain hooked up...or air intake flap at least propped open...while at the same time utilizing open door spinners to even run it with wood. I am now certain the door spinner intakes alone is NOT enough air for wood as I previously thought. In other words, pretending it is a BK will not cut the mustard with wood fuel. There is a slight chance I need to give wood a better try in this stove, like you with coal. However, I think we all agree it is still a wood hog...and it is a better coal stove than a wood stove. My main reason for not trying more wood after seeing the creosote quickly form yesterday is that my chimney needs work. I have cracked clay liners. Burning wood means high heat and high draft. The “other” fuel I am using provides for low stove temperature and much lower exhaust temperatures...89F place your hand in it and leave it there type lows....and -.01”WC to -.02”WC...low draft compared to wood. Even with those benefits and way cheaper costs than wood (Even cheaper than my own wood, I own my own wood lot like many of you), I still enjoy wood and really wood (pun intended...LOL) rather burn wood. To me, nothing like relaxing and watching a wood fire and listening to it, smelling it. EDIT: Sorry about the coal comments guys. I wasn’t going to talk about it. I know it ruffles some peoples feathers and that is not my intent at all. Not meaning to step on toes. Just felt an explanation was necessary. No more, no less.
