4+yr red oak burning - disapointment

bert the turtle · Feb 1, 2019

When the temperature suddenly rises after a cold spell, the air can warm up a lot faster than the shaded solid surfaces can. Just like the outside of a cold glass on a warm day, I get condensation outside. damm near killed myself on my epoxy porch floor.

My bet is that your wood gets nice and cold, then the comes the thaw and fairly high moisture content air hits the wood. The moisture condenses on the surface and immediately soaks in so you probably don’t even see it. Just like you said, the wood sucks in the moisture.

It might be interesting to put a load of wood in a plastic garbage bag before the thaw and compare it with a control load stored in the normal way. The load in the plastic bag won’t make contact with the humid air. If my condensation theory is correct, the load in the plastic bag will burn like your usual wood does and the load left out during the warm spell will burn wet.

mirnldi · Feb 1, 2019

I have a 1/2-3/4 cord stacked in the garage. I’ll bring in a few days worth and put it in the stove room to bake before I burn it. This has been working well for me.

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Horkn · Feb 2, 2019

bert the turtle said: ↑

When the temperature suddenly rises after a cold spell, the air can warm up a lot faster than the shaded solid surfaces can. Just like the outside of a cold glass on a warm day, I get condensation outside. damm near killed myself on my epoxy porch floor.

My bet is that your wood gets nice and cold, then the comes the thaw and fairly high moisture content air hits the wood. The moisture condenses on the surface and immediately soaks in so you probably don’t even see it. Just like you said, the wood sucks in the moisture.

It might be interesting to put a load of wood in a plastic garbage bag before the thaw and compare it with a control load stored in the normal way. The load in the plastic bag won’t make contact with the humid air. If my condensation theory is correct, the load in the plastic bag will burn like your usual wood does and the load left out during the warm spell will burn wet.
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I like your idea about bagging a few splits and comparing to non bagged ones .

Bag it and tag it.

saewoody · Feb 2, 2019

I’m running into a similar issue. I’ve got 3-4 year old red oak too. It lights right up no problem, but I’m not really getting the heat output on a consistent basis that I would excepted. Also in CT where we had a lot of rain the past few seasons.

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Paul bunion · Feb 2, 2019

bert the turtle said: ↑

When the temperature suddenly rises after a cold spell, the air can warm up a lot faster than the shaded solid surfaces can. Just like the outside of a cold glass on a warm day, I get condensation outside. damm near killed myself on my epoxy porch floor.

My bet is that your wood gets nice and cold, then the comes the thaw and fairly high moisture content air hits the wood. The moisture condenses on the surface and immediately soaks in so you probably don’t even see it. Just like you said, the wood sucks in the moisture.

It might be interesting to put a load of wood in a plastic garbage bag before the thaw and compare it with a control load stored in the normal way. The load in the plastic bag won’t make contact with the humid air. If my condensation theory is correct, the load in the plastic bag will burn like your usual wood does and the load left out during the warm spell will burn wet.
Click to expand...

I think a scale and a sharpie make a much easier way to figure out how much gets soaked in. I just weighed 4 pieces of 'red', that being 3 oak and one maple. Been stacked top covered since 2015.

Its 25 now, going for a high of 33 today and then 43,48, and 56 over the next three days, all partly sunny. Mid afternoon RH of 42%, 61%, 61%,58%. 60 degree air can hold 4x the amount of water as 20 degree air so there will be a lot more moisture available for re-absorption as it warms up

Paul bunion · Feb 3, 2019

Paul bunion said: ↑

I think a scale and a sharpie make a much easier way to figure out how much gets soaked in. I just weighed 4 pieces of 'red', that being 3 oak and one maple. Been stacked top covered since 2015.

Its 25 now, going for a high of 33 today and then 43,48, and 56 over the next three days, all partly sunny. Mid afternoon RH of 42%, 61%, 61%,58%. 60 degree air can hold 4x the amount of water as 20 degree air so there will be a lot more moisture available for re-absorption as it warms up

View attachment 196911 View attachment 196912
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Results day one.

Temps got to 51 today.

The pieces of wood weigh in + or - one gram from yesterday. On 3000-4000 grams per piece that is insignificant.

(A gram is 1/28th of an ounce. )

Woodsnwoods · Feb 3, 2019

I didn’t weigh anything, but there was a lot of condensation in the pile.