Talked to a buddy at work and while he agreed that Ash seasons fairly quickly, he said something about Ash that I never heard....He said you want to make sure you burn Ash within 2yrs of it being seasoned because it could actually season too much. Meaning it will burn extremely fast and very hot....and you won't get your bang for your buck.... Anyone else ever hear this about Ash??? Thanks Guys..
Once wood is air dried properly and stored covered and kept dry it will not rot. We have barns around here that are 200 years old with a lot of the original wood. I wouldn't worry about Ash drying out too much.
Yep. Wood will equillibrate at around 12-15% MC and if it's kept dry and out of the sun, it will last forever.
a lot of people say wood can get to dry... then it burns too fast .... in a fireplace maybe.. in a modern epa stove there is no way... here is why it is really simple water does not burn. so extra water in wood does slow down the heat it makes (causing cresote) and takes longer to burn but you get less usable heat.. in modern stoves you limit the air to slow down a burn... what are you burning in?
Yes in fact it will dry out too much. If you have a lot that is too dry you should post your address so one of the members here can help haul that away and dispose of it for you.
Your buddy is right! This is where spontaneous combustion got it's start, from baseball bats made from ash. You see, unknown to the MLB officials, any bat made from ash that is more than a couple years old has to be destroyed before it self ignites. This is why the phrase that many baseball announcers are heard using, "He's on fire" originated. This image shows the burning of bats that had been found to be older than two years old. I think your buddy is not quite as knowledgeable as his thinks he is....
Seasoning involves getting it split, off of the ground, and keeping it mostly dry. If you leave it on the ground, and exposed to the elements too long, it can get punky.
No such thing as to dry. If burns hotter then it will produce more BTU's. So if gets to burning to hot then turn the intake vent down some and will burn slower. Remember dry wood means less creosote.
Ash grows dry,a cord of ash only loses 3 to 4 hundred pounds from green to 20 percent moisture content If there is a lot of ash and you don't have time to CSS cut to log length and stack off the ground,it will be good for ten years
I agree with you Mag Craft, but I wonder this.... If flue temps were to drop below the condensing temp, would creosote still come to rear its ugly, tarry head?
Well I look at like this. I burn 1 1/2 to 2 cords of pine every year. Now pine is suppose to burn hot and fast but I can turn the vent down and still keep the stove top temp to around 400 to 450 degrees. Very little creosote. I do not get the long burn times that people with good hard woods do but I am retired and so that affords me the time to look after the fire during winter. The house I am in is insulated enough that at night during winter I just let the fire go out. The down side is that every morning I have to start a new fire. That sometimes can get old.
I see things differently from others, but then again.....our collective choice of words is sometimes curious.....and tied together.
Being retired never gets old. I love it. Just think I can go out and run a saw anytime I feel like it.
