Burning Live Oak

[rgood]

Hi - I'm fairly new down South - Burning Live Oak for the first time - I've had the fire going very well - Several times and this Live Oak just does not keep going - Draft is good - Other wood burns good - Any thoughts?

 

[blueriver]

My thought is the live oak is too wet, not dried fire wood ,.....

 

[rgood]

Thanks for the reply - The wood was cut for firewood, by someone before I moved here - A lot of the wood in the pile is over-dried/decomposing - So, I think it's been there a while.

 

[ultrarunner]

I used to burn Live Oak before the wood burning ban...

I think the problem is your moisture is too high. Seasoned Dry Oak makes a great fire and burns down to nothing in a conventional fireplace.

 

[rgood]

Thanks for the feedback - Wood burning ban ? By who? Please expand.

 

[Tdog]

Wood burning ban ?

Left coast!

 

[ihookem]

It has to be real dry. I split white oak to very small pieces and mix it too. It makes good night wood, in the morning it is still full of coals.

 

[ultrarunner]

Until recently, I supplied friends and neighbors with Oak firewood from a never ending supply of storm toppled Oak trees at my California property. Lots of firewood in a big oak and it's one type of wood that will burn through the night with embers left in the morning.

Due to global warming concerns and as of today, particulate airborne emissions, wood burning is slowly becoming illegal in much of California.

New Fireplaces have already been outlawed for years and now wood stoves are targeted for conversion to gas with a bounty paid for each stove tuned in.

It's not unusual for the air district to enact 24 hour no burn nights to limit particulate exposure during the winter months. The Bay Area Air Quality Management District has 70 field inspectors and a special hot line where anyone can report a neighbor using a wood burning fireplace during a declared alert.

An inspector has to verify the smoke for a citation to be issued and the fine can be several thousand dollars for repeat offenders.

It's to the point where I can't even give away seasoned and split oak these days and the tree guys are sending all their stuff to the landfill if it's to big to be chipped.

Ag used to do burn piles to clear out the vineyards... now, it's just about all chipped. Although, soon the chippers will have to have new conforming tier 4 diesel motors to be legally operated

 

[czechsonofagun]

You are so close to socialism, it is not even funny!

 

[Egon]

If it is wood that has been cut and sitting for a few years it may have started rotting and be wet. This type of wood does not burn well.

 

[scott_vt]

I used to burn Live Oak before the wood burning ban...

I think the problem is your moisture is too high. Seasoned Dry Oak makes a great fire and burns down to nothing in a conventional fireplace.

Good Mornin RGood,
Ultrarunner has it right, oak needs to be split and seasoned properly ! It hold an incredible amount of moisture, but once its dried properly it also throws a huge amount of heat !

 

[Ridgewalker]

I only burn oak. White oak, black oak and red oak are very common here and used by tons of folks in this area to heat. Everyone has one of those outdoor stainless wood furnace's about 100' from their house.

I have so much wood that I cut it and give it away on occasion. It's all downed stuff from hurricane Ike. He took out some really nice white oaks,
he also knocked down some black oaks that are worth $1,000 or more if I could just get to them, my back ridge is very steep.

The trick to oak is to cut it the year before you need it so it can season.
It should be stored in a dry place if possible. I always tarp mine.

 

[LBrown59]

Wood burning ban ?

===== Left coast! ======

Way out in ------LEFT field. ............

 

[rgood]

Ya, that Global Cooling - I mean Warming - I think that's just a money making machine - I wonder if Al Gore uses that hair spray they told people not to use in the late 70's

 

[Chuck52]

Air pollution may not be a problem where most of us live, but it certainly is in parts of California. Is the response they are taking reasonable? I don't know. Do you? If you were in an enclosed room with no ventilation, would it be socialistic to request that you don't light up a big stogie? How about we revert to the good old days when most of the homes in many cities were heated with coal? Makes for great "atmosphere", like the London smog of the past.

You don't believe in global warming? That's fine, too. The world needs all kinds to balance out.

Merry Christmas.

Chuck

 

[SLOBuds]

If you were in an enclosed room with no ventilation, would it be socialistic to request that you don't light up a big stogie?

Yea, I'll take the anti-California licks. It sure does have it's 'interesting' attributes. I'll have to admit that, but it's home. What can I say.

I've always worked in an office. 20 years ago there were no smoking laws and my boss at the time was a chain smoker. She would drag a group of people into meetings and smoke like no tomorrow. I would leave the office those days with sever headaches and cigarette-drenched suits. It turned me bitter against those times and to this day only think positive things about the extremely restrictive smoking laws in California. (Jeez - you can't even smoke in BARS here!)

Last time I knew anything about the wood burning laws here, it was only that fireplaces were not permitted in new construction - and the wood burning stoves needed to have an EPA approval. The wood stoves I bought at that time, only 5 years ago, were EPA approved and very good to this day.

I'm sorry to hear about San Francisco having bans on wood burning. Is gas burning a better solution???? Maybe for air quality, but maybe not for consumption of fossil fuels. The county where I have property is San Luis Obispo, which seems to glom on to all these latest environmental things. So maybe the same rules are heading my way. Too bad. I like a nice woodburning stove in the winter. And have much more firewood than I can ever consume.

Oak is preferred firewood out my way. Just needs to be seasoned for a year or 2 before burning.

Merry Christmas

 

[ultrarunner]

Last time I knew anything about the wood burning laws here, it was only that fireplaces were not permitted in new construction - and the wood burning stoves needed to have an EPA approval. The wood stoves I bought at that time, only 5 years ago, were EPA approved and very good to this day.

Exactly... and many of my neigbors dutifully put in new EPA CAT stoves, many with permits, to replace non EPA approved units and brick fireplaces.

The new Bay Area Air Quality regs make no distinction between EPA approved units and non-EPA units. Owners of EPA approved units fought it and lost... the reasoning given is it would pose a regulatory nightmare if inspectors first had to determine if a stove was not EPA approved prior to issuing a citation.

As it stands, all that is required is for the inspector to witness and document chimney smoke during a no burn ban.

 

[rcowan]

Maybe you and the other folks in California can start shipping wood to us here in Arizona. Oak is hard to come by mostly. A pickup load of good wood is about $300.00

Keep the politics and socialism though.

Roland

Until recently, I supplied friends and neighbors with Oak firewood from a never ending supply of storm toppled Oak trees at my California property. Lots of firewood in a big oak and it's one type of wood that will burn through the night with embers left in the morning.

Due to global warming concerns and as of today, particulate airborne emissions, wood burning is slowly becoming illegal in much of California.

New Fireplaces have already been outlawed for years and now wood stoves are targeted for conversion to gas with a bounty paid for each stove tuned in.

It's not unusual for the air district to enact 24 hour no burn nights to limit particulate exposure during the winter months. The Bay Area Air Quality Management District has 70 field inspectors and a special hot line where anyone can report a neighbor using a wood burning fireplace during a declared alert.

An inspector has to verify the smoke for a citation to be issued and the fine can be several thousand dollars for repeat offenders.

It's to the point where I can't even give away seasoned and split oak these days and the tree guys are sending all their stuff to the landfill if it's to big to be chipped.

Ag used to do burn piles to clear out the vineyards... now, it's just about all chipped. Although, soon the chippers will have to have new conforming tier 4 diesel motors to be legally operated

 

[rcowan]

If you cut the tree down its too green (wet) to burn good. Keep it for a year.
Oak burns great. I mix it with mesquite, pine and cedar for a great fireplace and stove-in-the-mancave fire!

 

[ultrarunner]

Maybe you and the other folks in California can start shipping wood to us here in Arizona. Oak is hard to come by mostly. A pickup load of good wood is about $300.00

Keep the politics and socialism though.

Roland

Probably no restrictions on exporting wood... I know we can't import it without an AG inspection....