Lots of sunlight and a nice breeze is the best you can get when it comes to drying wood in my opinion. I'd say top covering is most important if you live in a rainy area, the stacks are in the shade, or if leaves can fall on the stacks. Ideally I'd leave my wood out until a month before it was time to burn. Then after a few dry days I'd put it into a wood shed. Boom done. However I don't have a wood shed yet so I top cover in the spring fall and winter. Summertime I leave it totally open.
Thanks Marshel54 and welcome to the club. When I wrote that Primer I was thinking mostly of people like yourself and it has helped many. Hopefully will help you as much. Actually it sounds like you almost have a handle on things so just a little tweaking here and there and you'll do just fine. You may have some adjusting to do getting accustomed to the new stove but that should be a short learning curve. Good luck. btw, many of the guys do like the moisture meters and they can have their place but are not totally necessary. Personally, I've been burning wood most of my lifetime and am in my 70's and have never used a MM although I've seen them used. One of the problems is there are so many opinions on not only how to use them but how to use the information they give. It is said to matter how the meter is placed, cross grain or with the grain, measure on the ends, middle, average of several readings, one reading, etc, etc. Again I'll say as we have said for many years not, if you get on the 3 year plan, that is the best MM you'll ever use or need. No, the wood may not need 3 years to be ready to burn; that is not the point of the 3 year plan although some wood (most oak) usually needs 3 years in most climates. For example, one of the points of the 3 year plan is to be well prepared. Many even on this forum have found themselves troubled from sickness or injury and unable to put up a year's supply of wood. However, if they are on the 3 year plan, it is no disaster to not be able to put up wood for a year as you are well prepared. When able, then get back to the 3 year supply and you will be a happy camper for sure and your stove and chimney will love you as will your family for keeping them nice and warm. In addition, you will need less wood to heat your home which means less work for you. Sound like a winner? It is! Again, welcome and good luck to you.
I wouldn't be so sure of that. If a customer bought a cord of wood, and had infrequent fires in their FP, it'd be pretty easy to say where the wood came from. Even a crappy lawyer could prove that. There's been a lot more porous cases than that having won huge lawsuits.
Here's the options for tree species. There's a couple more, like concrete and such, not applicable for firewood purposes.
While time will typically get MC into acceptable levels, time alone is not the best moisture meter. Proper drying techniques are still required. Time also can't really replace a MM. With no MM readings, you are still taking a guess, educated as it may be, to the actual MC. I've seen split and stacked oak well over 30% MC, even after 3 years. In that case the stacks was not placed in a good spot to allow proper drying. If it was left where it was, it may not have been ready after another summer.
Not wanting to get in an argument but there is no way the "customer" could prove the only wood they used was from the dealer in question. As I said it ain't never gonna happen and if it does people who have to buy firewood will no longer be able to afford it or find a dealer willing to sell it. Only a fool would take on the responsibility/liability of selling wood if they could be sued by some uninformed customer who had a chimney fire.
That case is very interesting and largely misunderstood, the media did a good job of painting that old lady as a bumbling Mr Magoo and protecting McDonalds image. I don't want to debate but I too HAD thought she was a moron the way the media painted it.
There's too many imperatives in that statement. I learned years ago to no use "never" or "always". The one time you do what you say you "never" do, or don't do something you say you "always" do, all credibility goes out the window. See this for a reason that any lawsuit can win... Yes, that case is a little deeper than it looks at face value. However, she did buy hot coffee. It was hot alright.
So true. I use this on a regular basis. I think we all use those words so its tough as its human nature. I find myself ready to use this with my wife or kids and hold my tongue reminding myself that no body always and nobody nevers. If I tell my wife that shes always doing something.... well thats a pretty strong statement to make and can I really back up my claim? not likely.
Hey, don't knock it. The first year after I got "dry-wood religion," I found some down White Ash out there. I split it, and it was 25%. I stacked a half cord (split pretty small) in the house, put a fan on it, and it was down to 20% in a couple weeks. Humidity level in the house was up, so I knew it was working. Yeah, my wife lets me get away with murder...sometimes. Marshel54, if you have access to a wood lot, go out and find small, dead-standing trees with the bark already fallen off, or even small down trees with no bark. A lot of this stuff will already be around 20%, and good to go in the stove.
Welcome Marshel. I would suggest that you prepare for next year by C/S/S in a sunny open location. You want good air flow and you want the heat from the sunlight. Keep your stacks off the ground or the bottom few rows will rot instead of drying. Storing wet wood in the barn is not a very good idea because it won't get the air flow or the sun exposure to drive it towards being dry. The bit of moisture that wood gets in a rain storm is nothing compared to how much it loses in a sunny/windy location the rest of the year.
