I am real confused about seasoned wood. I have many very large firewood sized, length wise, that are very large in diameter and cut 4 years ago. If I were to split theses pieces up, would that qualify as seasoned for this years burning? I also have a pile that was cut in the spring of 2015. I split most of them up in the spring of this year. Would the spring splitting of this stack qualify as seasoned? I have one row of left over wood from last season that is outside and another row from 3 seasons ago stacked in the barn. Am I correct to save this wood for dead of winter to get a maximum heat burn? Just trying to get a handle on this.
Wood that is cut, split and stacked off the ground until it reaches 20% or less moisture content, measured with a moisture meter. Depending on the type of wood, local humidity , exposure to wind (air flow), sunlight and the size of the splits, that could take from 1 to 4 years. Wood left in rounds on the ground won't season very well, if at all. They lack sufficient serface area to evaporate the trapped moisture.
Time is a good gauge, usually two years after splitting is seasoned but that all depends on species. Tulip poor can be good to go in 6 months and white oak can take 3 or more years. You really need a moisture meter. Measure along the grain on a freshly split face. I consider seasoned anything under 20% moisture, but I try not to burn anything over 17%. Fresh green wood is usually around 50%, but most meters won't be accurate above 35% and will simply read 35% if it's really high. Hope this helps.
The stuff still in rounds will not be ready this year unless it was standing dead for years. Even then it's probably not ready. The split wood might be ready if it was stacked and not piled. Yes the old dry stuff will make more heat and should be saved for the ultra cold. What kind of wood is this? Some dries faster than others. And welcome.....grab a beer....your about to get some good info
Seasoned wood really has everything to do with moisture content. If it's 20% or under, it's seasoned. If left in the round, there's less chance it will be seasoned than if it were split. Splitting wood into firewood sized pieces will allow the wood to dry better than if left in split. Now, sometimes rounds, unsplit will season, but sometimes they can rot too. I've seen both happen, and it depends on a lot of factors.
I believe for most, seasoned wood is any wood that has a moisture content of 20% or less(may differ a bit per individual depending the type of wood stove) especially those with a newer EPA wood stove, insert etc. Also, welcome to the club. LOTS of information on here and knowledgeable folks very willing to answer any question you might have so, don't hesitate to ask if you don't find it by searching.
I agree with the above: it's cut split & stacked & has dried to 20% or less moisture content But Some sellers figure it's seasoned a day or 2 after cutting & splitting.
The term seasoned has many different meanings when you're buying wood from a seller. If you're buying firewood, buy it one to two years ahead. Then you'll know it's good. The wood you have stored in the barn, it's safe to say it is good. Like the others mentioned, 15-20% moisture content is ideal. Our catalytic stove likes less than 20%. You have found the best forum on the internet, Marshel54. If you have any questions or concerns just ask. You can also use the search bar at the top of the page. Welcome to the forum.
So, what does a good moisture meter cost that is accurate? I had a cheapie and lost it. I just let my wood bake in the sun for three years. I wouldn't mind getting a better meter though sometime.
Unless you spend more than $150 they're all pretty much the same for our purposes. A ballpark is all we really need.
In the end, I don't think there is an official definition of "seasoned" firewood for the purposes of commerce. So, I think it is up to the vendor to decide what "seasoned" means. That said, I agree with the above posters that for PRACTICAL purposes, seasoned wood should be ~20% MC or below, but I highly doubt that much if any "seasoned" firewood meets this definition. Please correct me if I am wrong. I would love to learn.
Less than 25% on a meter and you'll do just fine. It's average moisture content of the split, take three measurements and average them out. People here are firewood fanatics, we like our wood below 20% but honestly you'll do just fine at 25% on a meter, much above that and you'll have as sluggish fire. EPA test loads are done with wood measured using wet-basis in the 16-20% range, a meter reads dry-basis. 25% on a meter works out to around 20% wet-basis. If every stove had to run at 20% moisture content on a meter to perform decent stove manufactures would be screwed since most people(we are the minority) have zero interest in having 3 years plus of firewood on hand. Most woods not named oak will be pretty good after a full year of being split and stacked.
If you've got a smartphone, get the ryobi phoneworx moisture meter. Home depot sells them. They have by far the most features of any meter out there. They are about $25. They even have a beech setting. From last weekend's haul.
Since the sellers are not the ones burning the wood, they don't care if it will burn well. At least the big retail sellers seen to feel this way. I had to buy a few cords over the years, and even though they were all sold as seasoned, only the wood I bought from individuals was ever really seasoned and ready to burn. Some of the worst burning wood I've had was sold as seasoned, ready to burn, from retail sellers. That was in an open FP too. I'd think that at some point those large outfits selling unseasoned wood that is not seasoned could be liable for a chimney fire.
Never gonna happen, more than bad wood plays a role in chimney fires. Impossible to prove where every stick burned came from.
Not sure what stove you are burning in, is it an EPA stove?, catalytic?, EPA exempt or smoke dragon(pre-1990)? I have an EPA I non-catalytic insert. I burn wood that is less that 25% moisture with good results. Where I stack, direct sun and good airflow, it takes two full summers for oak to get below 25%, and about a year for most other woods I scrounge. Some softer woods take even less time but they burn too fast for me. That said it sounds like you have some really dry wood stacked under cover. When I don't have enough fully seasoned wood I mix some very dry wood with some less seasoned. The stove burns it well and it stretches out my supply. Does your stove have a viewing window? You can get a good visual idea of how the stove is burning by how dirty the window gets. If it quickly gets covered by a dark brown film your stove is probably not burning efficiently. While there are a lot of causes for a dirty viewing window (draft, air supply, etc) wet wood is usually one of the major ones. Remember that if the viewing window gets dirty the flue probably is also. If you are burning damp wood then check the flue often. KaptJaq
Again, as I posted in another thread, I've seen people cut wood in the spring, and leave it as rounds through the summer. Then come Sept. & Oct. they get out and split it, stack it up and burn in a couple months later. I actually know a guy who positioned a window fan in front of his stack after splitting in the above manner to "dry it out". He ran the fan for 8 hours, yeah that'll do it, he'll be fine.
