Will wood that is not cured hurt EPA stoves. What I am working on is wood that was cut & chunked in 2015. It was brought in on a dump truck last fall and dumped. I have been working on splitting for next year. I've been throwing the uglies aside and bringing them up to the house to burn instead of dealing with them. Will this wood clog the tubes?
I assume you mean the secondary burn tubes? No it won't clog them but it might clog your chimney with creosote. Got any dry wood you can mix in?...pallet wood...Eco bricks, would help get the temp up quicker than burning a full load of wetish wood
No doubt it will fill your chimney with creosote , I did it wrong for several years burning not totally seasoned wood , lucky I only had one chimney fire . Some good advice from Dave right here
Maybe will give more creosote. But if it does not have a catalyst, and you need to burn it this winter, then do it. Mix with dry stuff (as suggested), and check the chimney once a month until you are sure the buildup is not too great. But it will not hurt the stove in any way.
It will take out a catalyst if you have one but won't hurt a non cat stove one bit. just will make more creosote and not take full advantage of the stove or wood.
A 1/4" of creosote can start a chimney fire. A compromised chimney, and/or clearances not being met could spread a fire within your structure. Not properly seasoned wood will create creosote. As others said, new wood burners usually don't have seasoned wood, so it's imperative to physically check for buildup in your chimney. Use a mirror and flashlight, pull the stove pipe apart, and/ or use binoculars to see what the cap looks like as well. Smoke detectors should be in good working order. It will take a while for your stove to come up to temperature, as it will take more energy to evaporate all that moisture in the wood. Secondary combustion stoves like seasoned wood. Once the moisture burns out, the stove should run normal.
Thanks to all these guys' advice I have always had less than half a coffee can of creosote after an entire season. Even from my first year with a smoke dragon. Good wood, good draft, good times. Do what you need to do to heat this year and keep an eye on the buildup. Get some wood, get it drying, and be happier next year, and even happier the next. I never understood the extreme benefits of dry (very dry) wood until this year. I've had a pile of oak stacked for 3 years for the first time this year. It's amazing, unbelievable actually, how badass the truly seasoned wood is.
Seasoned wood can take woodburning from misery to pure glee.......we've all been there. Different woods have different seasoning rates. The most important thing to remember is wood doesn't REALLY start seasoning until it's split and stacked off the ground. Ash, soft maple, poplar and some conifers can season quite rapidly (1yr), while others like hard maple and oak can take up to 3 years for optimal seasoning.
Ain't that the truth I finally got it right the last few years I had the wood burner , flipped over to pellets making it much easier on me with a crazy life style and will never look back . Bottom line is seasoned wood is the key that's 3 years +
These guys said it all, it won't hurt a tube stove, check your chimney frequently and like said, Eco bricks are super dry and burn good n hot to help you out. Do you have a moisture meter? With a moisture meter you can determine if what you have is ready to burn at 20% or under, 25% will burn but not that great
Yes its freakin amazing how these stoves love really dry wood. They burn longer with really dry wood, most people cant figure on that statement. But really dry wood lets you burn more in the smke burning mode that the wood burning mode. Its great to see with really dry wood the big load on the bottom just sitting there smoldering while the smoke burns hot and intense up in the top of the stove.
Yes you could do that. But someone who is asking will wet wood hurt tear EPA stove may think that they "have" to close the bypass for "proper" operation of their stove. Putting green wood into a hot stove and closing the bypass before excess moisture is steamed out will cracking the catalysts as the moisture hits the hot ceramic. But yes you can leave that bypass opened and most models I think it would be fine. won't be near as effecient but will still work. Catalysts are still a lot more forgiving than we give credit for. think of all the people that burn with them and are not near as picky as us on these forums are. Even the catalyst and stover company that made mine said one year cut split and seas one for oak would fun fine in the stove.
The biggest problem you will have with an EPA stove is getting the stove to burn hot enough. The wet wood cools down the stove too much to get the exhaust gases to burn properly forming creosote in the stove and chimney. The other issue with an EPA stove is that usually you can't get enough air to keep the fire going with wet wood, so it counter acts the secondary gases anyway because the stove never gets hot enough inside. It appears that you DO NOT have a catalyst, so you could burn wet, but you will be extremely frustrated if you don't have some dry in there also to keep it going.
Yea there is a funny YouTube video where a guy has his "dry wood " all around and on top of the stove. and is complaining about the government and EPA making laws to make stones where they don't put out heat anymore and the double wall keeps all the heat in the stove and won't heat the room let alone house. And how not to buy one. He closes the door and fore dies down and looses heat, he then opens door and says feel that heat it's hot in there etc but there he stove holds the heat in. The guy is a moron and looks like an idiot in it. it's been posted here and another burning forum many times. I bet most his views are people laughin at him.
Marshel54 it is a bit sad for me to print this but I think many folks are missing a lot here. First of all, the wood you are talking about was cut sometime over a year ago. However, I do not see anything to give a clue as to what this wood is. That can make a huge difference in the answer to your question. Not only what type of wood but was it cut to length? You've been working on splitting for next year but what about this year? When did you start splitting? How have you been stacking. What stove and what is your setup? Will you be burning full time or just lighting off nights and/or weekends? All in all, there are far too many unanswered questions to give pat advice. However, one bit of advice I can and will give is for you to do some reading right here on this forum and feel free to begin here: Primer on Woodburning by Backwoods Savage | Firewood Hoarders Club Also, you ask if the wood will hurt EPA stoves. What do you mean by hurt? That could mean different things to different people. I think a better question might be, can I burn this wood (and tell us what it is) and if so, what is the best way to burn it. Again, what stove do you plan on burning this wood in?
