Wood has never been covered, got rained on for 2 days straight then no rain for 2 days and it is burning real nice.
The main point is, we have had a lot of rain here lately and a lot of damp days and the wood got rained on for 2 days straight then no rain for 2 days, the moisture on the outside will dry out pretty good in a couple of days but, if you bring wood in from outside when it's damp out even if it's covered it will not burn as well
True. I top cover my wood and sometimes it gets hammered on the sides with rain. A couple of days in the sun and wind is so much better than bringing it inside damp. I have some people around here tell me that their wood that they brought into their garage doesnt burn well. Once I explain to them the power of sun, wind and just plain old air movement its like a light bulb turning on over their head.
I should have mentioned the wind has been 15 to 20 miles an hour around here the last couple days also
I still can tell the difference on the wood I use from outside under the same conditions. Only on start-ups though. Just takes a little more TLC to get it ripping! Now if I was to split the splits, it would be better for starting.
I don't top cover for drying/seasoning. But I do put it under cover about a month before I actually start burning. I hate trying to burn wet wood, and it is wet here in the fall. Thanks for the "controlled experiment" Horkn . I knew in principle what others state, that "wood is nnot a sponge," but it is nice to see it actually work that way.
I live in the Ohio Valley and I never top cover. Two reasons: 1. Too much wood, 2. Too lazy! However, its usually very dry in mid September to mid October which is when I fill my covered front porch with about a cord and a half. It gets great air flow all season and its south facing so it gets lots of sun as well. Seems to work fine for me because last month, when i swept the pipe there was only about a cup of junk that came out. The only casualties have been some sap wood on some oak that sat in a less than ideal place on the hill behind the house. But that wasnt really too bad either because the punky sap wood dried and/or fell off before I burned it.
I only have a little wood shed, so over half the wood I burn, I pull from under tarps, one thing I do like about tarps is I never get snow blowing in on top of the wood, works out okay, as long as there's no holes in them
Perhaps as an aside, we must address the sponge qualities of modern convention. "Immediate" sponges are hydro suckers, this is true. But consider the humble interior door in the home- which may rub and hang up in the jamb as the seasons change...... A less "immediate" change? -yes- but an expansion from the swelling caused by the "re-acquisition" of H2O nonetheless.... It is a curiosity. Even when the suspect door is covered in paint. Not an argument, but certainly an observation many of us have witnessed over the span of our continuing lifespans.
According to my teenage daughter I have amazing hearing. Yes lets continue to portray that dad hears all! If only she knew that to many metal concerts have dulled that over the years... lets not tell her. forgot to include this
Like it or not, firewood is hygroscopic, just like all wood. and it is most certainly, scientifically, "like a sponge". All you've proven is you can burn "wet" wood. People have been doing this for centuries. In this day and age of overpopulation and a need to minimize our impact on the earth, its resources and air quality, it is prudent for every one of us to burn wood as cleanly as we possibly can and one way to do our parts to reaching the goal of keeping the air quality at healthy levels is to burn clean dry wood.
