My basement stays about 85-90* when the wood furnace is going. Say I put a few face cord of oak that was felled, bucked, and split in May, down there to dry. How long do you all think it would take to dry enough to burn? Also I'd have a oscillating fan on it.
You will want to wait for a good long time before you burn that Oak. Check it in late spring with a MM and see where you are at.
I think that'd get it going faster than outside, but I wouldn't try to use it soon. Maybe if you split it smaller it would be okay late this season, but more time is always better if you can
I agree but I know battenkiller could dry wood in his basement way quicker then most expected but it was not Oak.
It's not that it won't burn if you throw it into a hot fire with a good hot ash bed in it. But you should wait until you can say the moisture content is under 20%. Some would say lower. And it will take a while for Oak to get there. My brother does use a de-humidifier in his basement after he gets all of his wood down there in the fall. He says it helps. For the electricity it uses it is probably worth it.
I didn't ask if it was ready to burn. I asked how long it would take to dry. I don't plan to burn it this year. I was just curious as to how much quicker it would dry.
Yup. I have another brother who uses some kind of humidistat that turns two ceiling/exhaust fans on in his basement when the humidity is higher than what he sets it to. This keeps his basement dryer and helps dry his wood out.
No need for a dehumidifier in my basement. Like it said its 85-90* down there. Very dry heat. Zero water in my basement come spring time too.
I dried a half cord of White Ash in the house a few seasons back. Started at 25, got to 20 in a couple weeks, small splits though, 3-4". I have a cheap plastic temp/humidity gauge on the table, and the humidity in the 720 sq.ft. room went from 40 up to over 50. I'd think that would be the determining factor; It could be 100 degrees but if it's 90% humidity it won't dry fer chit. Is the wood from a dead-standing tree? What was the DBH? One year to get to the low 20s I'm gonna guess, based on.....pretty much nuthin.
I'm assuming the dehumidifier is for all the moisture being released by the wood right? No way to guess how long it'd take for fresh splits to get down to 20 ish % . Try it and report back
