Finally got the junk cleaned out of this old little building back in early fall before hunting season started. Packed it full of a mix of chestnut and red oak with a little maple. Figure I got about 3 cord in there, should dry good as it gets blazing hot inside in the summer. Shouldn't need to touch this stuff for 5 years.
Do tell, has that wood been outside stacked for any length of time? Reason I ask is this- I got a hold of some oak, hickory, hard maple, and poplar constructed pallets. Cut the runners(3x3's) and slats to 16" or so long, stacked them in our little steel shed building which does like yours, getting super hot inside in the summer. Some of the pieces went into the fire pit right after the initial loading into the shed....hiss and pizz. Fast forward to this past summer (a year in the shed), tried a few more in the fire pit.....Result? Hiss and pizz.... no moving air in that hot house, chunks didn't give up the moisture like I wished.... so, soon I'll move it to the out of doors and let it sit for another season... Yours may not do this, but just sharing my results
Hate to sound like a downer, but I agree with Eric. No airflow seems to lead to very little drying. In 5 years you might be good, but I think I'd install/cut some air vents in the shed. Sure is nice to have dry wood inside though.
Driver, Great idea. I too agree with the guys on no air circulation. You can solve that. On the front side, in between the rafter cut some holes in the siding and cover it with screen (so the critters do make a new home) then on the opposite side at the bottom do the same thing. This will sorta make a air vent passage. Maybe even on non raining days leave the door open or put a vent in the door towards the top. Its hard to tell from the photos how tight the shed is built. Its going to make for some really nice dry wood. Again great idea.
My first 2 years I let my wood dry in an enclosed shed. I had 3 double stacked rows with 3ft between each row, but other than that there was no external airflow. Of course my first year the wood was slightly wet, but by year 2 the sycamore, silver maple and cherry was all under 20%. The oak I had in there was in the low 20% range, I ended up not burning that until the following year but by then I needed the space in the shed and had moved all my stacks outside. I think it’ll be fine after 5 years leaving it as is.
This is only the 2nd season for it last year was mostly a learning experience. But l do like it. Mine is an insert and it throws a lot of heat plus cuts way back on the chimney cleaning which is nice. We used an Appalachian insert which came with the house when we bought it in 1999.It had a CAT but I didn't know anything about it back then and fried it.Sure could have used a forum like this back then. New wood burners take note a lot of good useful info on here.
Actually it has some ventilation. On the back side about 4 inches below the eaves is open and the groundhogs opened up the bottom so it does get some air circulation. I'll thank them in the spring for their hard work with the 243.
Mine is the exact same, insert that is. With well seasoned wood I just waste a trip on the roof to look at the chimney, but I still do it.
