Aw, crap, I've been burning "not ready yet" wood since January. A pile of C/S/S cherry, sugar maple and white oak was the first to go, followed by a few dozen pallets, and now I'm cutting standing-dead ash. At least the ash, when it hits the ground, usually doesn't need much more cutting. I take my kids outside, drop the tree and tell 'em to go collect the pieces. It's like playing a giant game of pick-up-sticks (literally!) from forty feet up. I'm not even bothering to check moisture content. It's either burn dead branches or burn propane.
I've sinned as well.......everything I've put theough the maple syrup evaporator had been fresh-cut standing dead oak and cherry. .....some of it damp.... Forgive me brothers and sisters... The big thing thing is when using "lesser" seasoned wood is to keep a close eye on your flue.......creosote is guaranteed when burning higher MC wood......
I'm going with furnace. Plus I haven't turned on the oil even once this winter so I'm trying to make it the rest of the year.
Turning on the furnace. Unless the wood is really wet. I did it with standing dead Ash and Pine. Not bad at all.
Lots of people around here buy ash logs in the late summer, cut them up, split them and stack them for burning starting in November. There are also people who do the same thing with maple. I would have no problem doing that with ash (when I stored everything in the basement beside the stove) but wouldn't waste the maple like that. Last year I burnt standing dead elm to save digging thru 5' of snow to my wood pile. Lots of people keep their houses at 80 using natural, that's more of a waste than steaming off some water in wet wood.
Its not just about steam....it's also about poor burning efficiency and air pollution. I think its important to season those splits and burn them right so we don't have the EPA tightening regulations on us more.
Ash here is testing 26 or so as it hits the ground, split and in the sun a few weeks and it's low 20's. I'm burning in a big OWB and I split pretty small to speed up drying and most is put inside in the fall before the rains hit. Snow and ice on wood adds a lot more moisture up the stack than a few percentage points will. Tons of people burn fresh sawn hardwood slabs from the Amish mills too.
