Tractors and wood! Show your pics

[Industrial Toys]

I have a pretty large fireplace upstairs with glass doors and a heatalator (sp?). I put logs in there I can barely lift before retiring at night. I call these "night clunkers" and like that the fire is still hot on the morning.

As far as wrestling with big wood in general, I find it very labour intensive. Especially trying to split very knurly Elm. But as for BTUs for time and effort, it would be interesting to know.

 

[Sawyer Rob]

Worst thing I don't like about big wood is, it takes FOREVER to dry it to the center (if ever) and that means less heat from that wood compared to split. More moisture also is another reason it takes longer to burn up.

You loose a LOT of BTU's when burning wood that isn't fully dried to under 20% RH...

SR

 

[vtsnowedin]

I like to split anything over three inches thick at least once. Every split increases the surface area and decreases the distance the sap has to migrate through the wood grain to the outside. An unsplit round forces the sap to migrate all the way to the ends of the stick but a split lets it follow the growth ring around and out the split face. The same thing applies while it is burning. As the wood on the surface gets hot enough to break down to wood gas which mixes with the air and burns outside the log. The finer the wood the more surface area there is up at burning temperature at any one time and the faster it will burn if not throttled by lack of oxygen.
It is like turning on all four burners on a gas range instead of just one.
I do like putting big half logs on late at night to hold the fire through to morning. It is nice having a half bushel of hot coals to fire up with and keep Her Majesty's toes warm.

 

[aeblank]

Depends a lot on your burner, too.
Mine is a Tarm, and designed to run at full throttle. All extra heat goes into a storage tank.
Most outdoor boilers (or as we call them, wood burners.. =) don't do that, they get throttled back. I've always felt that moisture meant less to them, than it does to me.

 

[vtsnowedin]

They are still losing the heat it takes to boil the moisture in the wood into steam that goes up the flue. After the first part of the cycle when the moisture has all been roasted away then they make good heat but about thirty percent of your wood has already been used drying the remainder out. That steam in the smoke is what gives it that charming smell the neighbors so enjoy.:thumbdown:

 

[aeblank]

They are still losing the heat it takes to boil the moisture in the wood into steam that goes up the flue.

Sure, but if it's throttled back (no call for heat), 100% of the heat made is waste anyway.
Don't get me wrong, dry is better, no matter what. I need to get mine dryer for next year for sure.

 

[Guesseral]

Yes dry is always better but for one of these outside burners even the steam heats the water just as the heated smoke does when the damper is closed. Heck a lot of the time the damper is closed and the smoldering smoke (and steam) helps to keep the water up to temperature. They are pretty efficient all that is left is powder and not really much of it.

 

[vtsnowedin]

Don't get me wrong, dry is better, no matter what. I need to get mine dryer for next year for sure.

Same here.

 

[Creamer]

You guys are missing the question though - at least what I was asking and I think what industrial toys was asking. What takes more work for the same BTUs - cutting smaller diameters that do not need to be split or cutting larger diameters and splitting it. The smaller would you cut and stack and are done but the larger ones you can cut more volume quicker but then you have to split it.

 

[Billrog]

Creamer I think the BTU's would be determined only by the size of the stove (Volume it will hold ), how dry the wood is & type of wood .