Quick-drying white ash--how wet can I go?

Hello all! Really really cool forum. I can see myself settling in here for the long haul.

For now, I have a question about drying out wood. I have had some good success bringing in a face cord or so of white ash, putting in a small room in my basement, door closed, and putting on a dehumidifier with its outflow blasting on the wood. After some hours, the temperature in the room gets very warm, like 25C and moisture starts to just suck out of the wood. I can fill a 5 gallon bucket for instance.

The wood going in tests at about 20-24% and coming out after a few days of that it can be as low as 16-18%.

This has been working well for me for drying out "almost-dry" stuff. I just moved houses and don't have my stockpiles all up yet!

We have loads of dead and dying ash on the property. My moisture meter only tests up to 25% (it's one more for woodworking/carpentry) and I know I have some stuff that's wetter than 25% as it maxes out.

My question is if anyone has had success doing this with wetter wood, i.e. wetter than 25%?

Thanks for any and all input!

 

Are you splitting it and then testing the freshly exposed face?

 

Yes, room temp wood, splitting the split, testing middle/wettest point of the freshly exposed surface. I believe some recommend testing a couple of inches in from the ends as well as middle and averaging, but my MC% above are from the wettest points in the middle.

Thanks for prompting me to clarify

 

Welcome to the club, Nigel!
Glad you found us!


Sometimes you have to burn less than perfect wood. Just keep trying to get ahead even if its only a little at a time. As you already know, the drier the wood is, the better it burns and the more heat you get from it.

 

First welcome to the FHC, glad to have you. No one really has success burning wood that is over 25% of its weight in water IF only because no one has ever been able to burn water. I say that kind of sarcastically not to offend you but because in other places people will tell you it's possible to do this. With that being said 'you burn what you got' while you are getting ahead. So the real question is how do you get through this winter in the safest way possible.

You are doing the right thing, first burning ash, a quick drying wood. You have a moisture meter so you know how dry it is! Work on keeping it below 20% and you will have reasonable success. Make sure to check your chimney for build up at least once a month, for safety purposes.

Also, some say to get an accurate measurement with a meter the correct way is to take 3 measurements on a room temperature fresh split each end and the middle, then average the 3 numbers. In practice, that method is a bit cumbersome so most just check the wettest section the middle and if that is 20% or lower, the wood if fine to burn.

 

Deja Vu

 

Welcome to the club Nigel. I think you have a interesting process working for you in a temporary situation. Thanks for sharing.

 

Hey hey thanks very much for all the replies.

Yes good ole ash. Nice stuff for burning. I can definitely tell the difference in the stove between "properly dry" like 18% and under, and "almost dry" stuff that is maybe a titch over 20%. I'll be hoarding and stacking for next year for sure.

Any body else had any success "quick-drying" anything over 25%? I'll be sure to report my experience with the stuff I have. I'll be splitting it smaller for sure. Any other tips?

Thanks again to all for the warm welcome! Much felt and much appreciated.

 

Welcome, Nigel. Glad to have you here. We like pics, so please don't be shy. Stacks, stoves, dogs, saws, etc.

I have not personally tried to quick dry anything, but there is some excellent reading here on solar kiln drying that may serve you well for next season (or this one, if you're not snowed in.) Seems a solar kiln rig may be more cost effective in the long run than paying the electric bill for the dehumidifier.

 

Hello, welcome.

I’m just a first year burner in my house. Plenty of dry wood but I’ve resorted to doing several things. Aside from keeping my wood in my stacks covered i also have my wood bin outside, at least that’s just keeping it near my house!

While my stove is going, I have kept wood underneath the stove for a couple months.(interesting...) It was dry to begin with but It’s clear that when I put it in the stove, it’s really quick to become engulfed in flame. Something about keeping logs at an inside temp has an astonishing effect on how it burns, providing it is at the right MC. We gotta heat our homes, not everything can be perfect for the start of burning season. We just do what is possible.
Good luck, give it a shot, folks have done worse!

 

Good idea. I don't think that your wood is coming out at a true 16% after a few days. Are you re-splitting it and then taking a reading?
Nothing a wrong with burning relatively green ash if you are just starting out. I did it for many years before I retired and got ahead. Now my seasoned, 1 year, ash burns a lot better and creosote build up is almost none existent.
The old-timers would say, "cut in the morning and burn in the evening." I can't support that, but ash does burn good with little drying time.
The wood that I am presently burning is at least 90% ash that I got in log form. It was cut summer 2016 and split early this year. It was reading between 20% and 21% when split. The longer curing time woods are stacked separately. Can't wait to get into those stacks.
Keep on hoarding. Getting ahead will surely give back in BTUs.

 

Some dead ash is ready to burn off the stump, only good thing about the dam ash borer. I had a hickory tree get struck by lightning and it quick dried it. It was ready to burn the day I split it. You'll notice a big difference between wood below 20% and wood 20-25.

 

I bet you’re right, the wood coming out at 16% is likely going in only a couple of ticks higher. Yes, that’s re-splitting for measurement. I’m getting some stuff in that is pretty dry “off the stump” as you say. But other wood that is not. Hence my question about the wet stuff.

I’ll check out the solar kiln experiences for sure. Thanks again all. Oh yeah, the pics, will do when I get home

 

One year all I had was green maple for wood, we baked each load of wood on a hearth grate on top of the stove.
After 2 or more hours on the rack it was dry enough not to foam or sizzle in the stove.
The grate holds the wood 4 plus inches above the stock top, and checking with the infrared thermometer, the drying wood never broke 200 F.

 

Yes, the foaming and sizzling is a relevant part of this discussion.

I've now put a few "loads" through my mini-sauna/kiln room and subsequently through the stove (BK Sirocco).

I can say that before being quick-dried, the wood can kick and scream and foam and sizzle, just like the old days with wet maple in the smoke dragon. Wood from after going through the drying process lights off extremely well, minimal kindling needed from a cold start, none needed if there's any speck of glowing coals. Gotta love ash!

For the record, it takes about three days for me to extract 5 gallons of H2O from a 3/4 face cord of white ash. I'm sure someone could do some math... My testing shows average at around 22-25% going in. Coming out, certainly at the outside few inches it can be sub 20, I've seen 12%. Usually in the middle it's still around 20-22%. Yes this is at room temp, freshly splitting and measuring.

Conclusions: I'm thinking it's well worth it, a few days with the dehumidifier on the wood. I bet it's helping with startup, reloads and efficiencies. Goes from "somewhat mediumly wet" to "somewhat mediumly dry, at least at the ends and very burnable"

 

Welcome Nigel - You're gonna like it here, I guarantee it! Lots of nice and knowledgeable folks here.

Nice to meet ya!

 

What's that do to your electric bill ?
You do this just during off-peak hours ?

 

I run a dehumidifier in my basement 24/7 during the warmer months. Electric use I would guess is on par with a small space heater. They put off some heat too while sending cold down the drain so I would look at it as paying for a little electric heat while getting the benefit of unlocking the btu's of the wood at the same time, or the other way around.

 

Yes dingbat you got it. Our dehumidifier is about 800 watts (measured by kill-a-watt). Equates to under $2 (Canadian) per day ($1.50 US), less if I run it overnight only (7pm-7am). We 0nly run it about one week per month and when running it heats up the tiny drying room substantially, thus the house a wee bit, too.

~$8/mo for a little electric heat plus wood drying isn't bad. Before the wood stove it was ~$200+ . Thankfully that was before we moved in... and installed the wood stove!!