I bought a book called "Norwegian Wood: Chopping, Stacking, and Drying Wood the Scandinavian Way" by Lars Mytting. He references scientific studies which validate that spit hardwood kept under cover is good for heating for at least 60 years...and for all practical purposes, possibly much longer. BTW the book would be of interest to many folks here. I have gone over it several times and have really enjoyed it, and have certainly learned some things from it.
I know people that have burnt chunks of barn timbers after the barn was torn down (actually have a few in my own stacks now that I think about it) and they said they burnt really well! Some of those barns are well over 100 yrs old!
My hygrometer shows my living room humidity where the wood stove is usually around 25%. Really no idea how accurate the thing is, but it doesn't seem overly dry in there. Usually I have a tea kettle steaming on the stove but I doubt it really does anything to raise humidity. What's the desired indoor humidity for this time of year? I thought it was in the low 30% range?
It all depends on the outside temps n dewpoint n humidity. Generally the colder it is...the less humidity you want inside. Hasnt been what we consider cold here much at all...we keep are humidifier set at 45%....as it gets colder (highs mid 20s to low 30s) we'll lower setting to 40%...thats as low as we'll set it. Hardwood floors do not like dryness.....
My dr. Told me that she likes seeing about 35% we do have a small humidifier running but we still run about 26% here where we have the stove
i'm back from work to see humidity at 34%, i guess it will go back to the normal 30% +/- 1 tomorrow or the next day, it was -21c (-6f) last night and I had water on every windows(bottom)
so I got another one that was burning very hot and this time i was able to get a quick video, normally the wood that I have doesnt burn with that intensity but I got some odd one like this one there is flame hitting the glass from the air intake in the back it finish with some nice blue flame
Spirch, where are you located in Canada? If I didn't know any better, based on the SBi probe and the trim work of the house, I'd say you were in my neighbourhood. I use that same SBi flue probe, I buy a new one every year. I'm also interested to know more about that digital thermometer. What's your review on it? Does it have an alarm if the temp gets too high? I found the web site of the manufacturer, might order one.
Your stove looks pretty normal to me. Is your intake air cut all the way off with that much flame? Our Drolet burns like that sometimes, never had a problem with it.
That doesn’t look good at all. Almost like it needs air, or someplace for the air to go. It looks like a backdraft in a ventilation limited house fire.
Problem has been solved, this was a few years back. The stove actually has its own dedicated 4" air intake. Clear line, no obstructions. The stove has a secondary burn chamber in the rear that needed cleaning out. No mention of it in the owner's manual so I didn't know it was there and required cleaning until one day my fridge went on the fritz and the repair guy fixed my fridge, then fixed my stove.
close to Ottawa, this SBi prob is defective, it show about +100-125f compared to the actual temperature, I need to throw it away sometime soon (and i do the mental -100-125f when i look at it, so no rush there) the Auber probe is very nice I got the wireless one (dual unit, with 16 foot cable(very long, just in case for a few more $)) so upstair I can monitor the temperature without having to look at the stove, also now I know when a new load is needed, I don't even have to guess and yes there is an alarm setting and it is loud, I put it at 700f because I personally don't want the flue to go higher than that. (funny thing, it seem to be on special sale right now haha)
I saw that video some time ago, this did happen to me once (or maybe more but i saw it once), my theory, the wood had high moisture and vapor got trap inside it and the pressure made it go poof
I have this model: Wireless Thermometer for Stove Pipe,Chimney,Outdoor Wood Boiler Wireless Thermometer for Stove Pipe, Chimney, or Outdoor Wood Boiler [AT210-COMBO] - $119.98 : auberins.com, Temperature control solutions for home and industry the page explain perfectly what it can do
I'm not sure where the idea of too dry came from. Any log you put in a hot stove is going to be bone dry in a fairly short period of time. If you start with green wood, you may not get the fire started and assuming you do, it is going to put a bunch of creosote in the chimney, but the water has to be boiled out before the wood burns. The only questions are how long is it going to take, how much creosote is it going to make, and how much wood are you willing to burn boiling off that water instead of heating your house with it.
I have a wood-fired pizza oven. When I can, I use the residual heat to dry the next round of wood. If I had constant access to wood that had been baked overnight at 350 and lit when it was still hot, I would't use anything else. Once you light a 3x3 oak split with one match, no kindling, it is hard to go back. It is so much better than even 4 year top covered oak that I have considered building a big solar oven for the front porch and pre-heating my firewood.
How do you get anything done watching the stove constantly? I guess it might not be bad if all your doing is watching Opra. Lots of heat going up your chimney.
