| Archive for Downsizer For an ethical approach to consumption |
| bisgedyn |
Is my wood any good?Hi - in response to a suggestion on another thread - I'm looking to get some info on wood.This year we installed a woodburner and to start us off, order a load of wood. The order was for seasoned hardwood. However it's now obvious on closer inspection (doh!) that much of the wood is softwood and now I also have doubts as to whether it is seasoned. We have used the wood in the burner several times and it is fine although we get the odd crackle, some tarring of the window pretty much after every use (although we do have it down low often as well) and occasionally it takes a little while to get going. However it functions well in terms of chucking out a good amount of heat for a good amount of time. Someone recentl suggested you need to leave wood a year or two - but I am not keen to stop using the woodburner for this long especially with such a big load of wood. Am I OK to carry on burning it or does this risk damage to the stove/chimney/me?! Thanks, love the forum by the way. Have been looking for something like this for a while. |
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| 12Bore |
Welcome, someone will be along very soon who knows about these things. | ||||
| gil |
What kind of woodburner is it ? Some are more pernickety than others about what you burn in them. e.g. Vermont Castings stoves are fussy, especially if they have the catalytic convertor; Coalbrookdale not fussy, and will burn coal as well as hard and soft wood.
Softwood will tar and soot up your chimney faster. Is your chimney lined ? If not, you could have a chimney fire with hot tar. Not wanting to alarm you - having said that, my chimney isn;t lined, but I only ever burn seasoned hardwood in the stove. Can you send back what wood you have, because it is not what you asked for. Have you got space to order and store another load of seasoned hardwood - and this time make sure it is what you asked for. Then you can at least season the first load for a year if you can't return it. Oh, and welcome ! 
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| dpack |
warm=good
check the tech now and again each wood has qualities |
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| Hairyloon |
Re: Is my wood any good?
You ought to have a word with your supplier. I have heard that unseasoned wood can damage your flue liner. Don't know what truth there is in that, but I'm pretty sure it will clag up quicker. |
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| RichardW |
Do they feel dry?
Are they light? Do they have cracks in the end grain? If you split one does the fresh split look that same as the exposed surfaces? Knock two logs together, do they sound hollow? Weigh one log (accurately IE down to 1g) & then cook in the oven for a good few hours. Re measure & work out the dif as a %. That % is how much water you have lost. If you cook the log long enough you should get it down to 10% or less (kiln dries is about 5-15%) If poss cook it for long enough to get to 0%, add in the lost % & thats the % it was at to start with. You want about 20% for natural air dried / seasoned. Or get a moisture meter. |
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| earthyvirgo |
With a name like bisgedyn, you've got to be from somewhere in Wales, North W would be a first guess?
EV |
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| vegplot |
Contact the supplier and demand some compensation for the mis-selling of wood. If you asked for hard wood expect hardwood. See how they re-act. If you don't get a good response then don't use those suppliers again.
burning damp wood will produce more corrosive by products than burning dry. However, it will depend on the flue type as to whether it can cope with it. It's unlikely to damage the strove in the short term. ALWAYS use a CO meter or get some CO indicator strips or detector. Order next years wood now and store under cove in a well ventilated wood store. Wood burning is much more efficient when done at higher temperatures but wood burners are unable to cope at these levels (wood boilers with large heat stores run very very hot for a short period for this reason) and therefore you will never get maximum efficiency but hey who cares as long as you enjoy the stove. Don't be tempted to extend the burn at low air intake levels as this produces most CO and creosote and is not very efficient, try to strike a happy medium. |
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| vegplot |
I'll put money on Caerdydd. |
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| gz |
croeso 
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| Tavascarow |
Definately have a word with your supplier & tell them not only of your disapointment but that you will also be telling all your woodburning friends to avoid them if you don't get satisfaction.
Even mention trading standards in the conversation. I would be pushing for a refund on this load or another generous load of seasoned hardwood at a good discount. Tell them that softwood tars the chimney quicker & burns much faster so you haven't had your monies worth & it could have caused damage to your equipment. & welcome from down 'ere.
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| mochyn |
A croeso i fi hefyd! (EV beat me to it).
I'd be rather cross: it could damage your chimney as has been said. Go with what Vegplot says (he knows what he's talking about!) |
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| Hairyloon |
With a side order of Tavascarow. |
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| mochyn |
Of course! 
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| RichardW |
I would hold off making any complaints just yet.
Post a few pics of the woods that you think are hard woods & some of those you think are softwoods. It is easy to mix up some types. Plus we still dont know that the wood is not seasoned properly. A few crackles & the glass tarring up dont mean its wet wood. You could be tarring up cos you are not burning it hot enough (common if the stove is to big for the room) or dont have the air wash set right or poor flue draft. |
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| bodger |
Hi
Unseasoned wood tends to feel heavy in the hand. It should be left stacked nice and dry with a good through draft for at least 12 months before use. If you do this, then the wood will feel totally different than it did when you stacked it. I'm not sure of the percentage but it will have lost a great deal of its weight in the intervening months. This weight loss is down to moisture and the log drying out. The first thing that you need to be aware of, is which species of trees are categorised as hard wood and soft wood. This link that i've borrowed explains it far better than I could. http://www.diydoctor.org.uk/projects/Hardwoodsandsoftwoods.htm Burning wet unseasoned wood will lead to more soot and tar deposits building up in your chimney. If you burn your wood and you see moisture bubbling out of it, then the wood hasn't been seasoned correctly if at all. Dependant on how much you've forked out for it, I'd stack it in a wood store and season it or, I'd demand my money back. Either way, I'd try and source some properly seasoned wood for this year. |
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| wellington womble |
In Wales, will it ever dry out? 
I'm just jealous because it's so hard to get wood here at all. Let alone seasoned hardwood. You'd have more luck asking for gold to be delivered by the truckload! |
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| RichardW |
Yes we have plenty of wind too. We milled some Red Cedar (which is a very wet & heavy when green wood) early this year. The slab cuts & any unusable bits I cut & split. It was then stacked under cover but with vented / open sides. So its had about 4 months to season. We have bee burning it now for about a month & a half & its as dry as. The weight has fallen nearly 50%. The uncut bits are still wet. For that reason I like to cut, split & stack (stacked stacks dry quicker than dumped stacks, but I tend to stack the edges & dump the middle) when green so it dries quickly. I also do the same for the hardwoods. They are nearly as dry as the Cedar but not quite yet. I am saving them for the coldest months as they will give out more heat per volume (same per weight) than the cedar. To give you an idea of % uncut slabs of cedar in a pile not covered 36-45% my outside but covered stack of cut & split cedar 19-21% (second batch of this year) my inside stack of cut & split cedar 10-16% (been inside for two days next to stove but was also the first batch we did this year so has had an extra month) Outside stack of mixed hardwoods 22-24% (done after all the Cedar so is 2 months plus behind) |
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| bisgedyn |
Hi All, thanks for all your advice.
Anyway, having lugged the wood bit by bit into an awkward coal cellar I'm v reluctant to think about sending it back! I haven't got any room for any more so I'll have to stick with it I think. I won't be going with that supplier again in a hurry. I think part of the problem is my lack of expertise. It does feel dry, some logs feel light, some heavy. They don't sound especially hollow when knocked together but not especially un-hollow either! I believe the chimney is lined and I will take your advice and get a CO meter. Better go...the stove has gone out! |
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| Rob R |
I bought the FireAngel CO meter from B&Q with a digital display so it shows the ppm levels rather than just alarming when it gets to whatever the threshold is.
The only time I've seen it get above zero is when I waved it above the chimney and it got to 95. |