Wood stoves

[bunyip]

Your pine likely grew upside down compared to NA white, yellow or Norway pine. It likely didn't burn hot enough to clear it's own "feathers".
Don't you have problems with draft? All the flues pointing down and all ;-)

It burns hotter because all the sap falls out of the tops of the trees before we cut them down, downside is sticky rain.

 

[Jstpssng]

There is definitely a difference in firewood BTU ratings.

FIREWOOD BTU OF EASTERN HARDWOOD SPECIES
Inconsistency between charts may exist due to different laboratory variables

Species Million BTU’s per Cord Pounds Per Cord Dry
Osage Orange 32.9 4728
Shagbark Hickory 27.7 4327
Eastern Hornbeam 27.1 4016
Black Birch 26.8 3890
Black Locust 26.8 3890
Blue Beech 26.8 3890
Ironwood 26.8 3890
Bitternut Hickory 26.5 3832
Honey Locust 26.5 4100
Apple 25.8 3712
Mulberry 25.7 4012
Beech 24.0 3757
Northern Red Oak 24.0 3757
Sugar Maple 24.0 3757
White Oak 24.0 3757
White Ash 23.6 3689
Yellow Birch 21.8 3150
Red Elm 21.6 3112
Hackberry 20.8 3247
Kentucky Coffeetree 20.8 3247
Gray Birch 20.3 3179
Paper Birch 20.3 3179
White Birch 20.2 3192
Black Walnut 20.0 3120
Cherry 20.0 3120
Green Ash 19.9 2880
Black Cherry 19.5 2880
American Elm 19.5 3052
White Elm 19.5 3052
Sycamore 19.1 2992
Black Ash 18.7 2924
Red Maple (Soft Maple) 18.1 2900
Boxelder 17.9 2797
Catalpa 15.9 2482
Aspen 14.7 2295
Butternut 14.5 2100
Willow 14.3 2236
Cottonwood 13.5 2108
American Basswood 13.5 2108
FIREWOOD BTU OF EASTERN SOFTWOOD SPECIES
Inconsistency between charts may exist due to different laboratory variables

Species Million BTU’s per Cord Pounds Per Cord Dry
Rocky Mountain Juniper 21.6 3112
Tamarack 20.8 3247
Jack Pine 17.1 2669
Norway Pine 17.1 2669
Pitch Pine 17.1 2669
Hemlock 15.9 2482
Black Spruce 15.9 2482
Eastern White Pine 14.3 2236
Balsam Fir 14.3 2236
Eastern White Cedar 12.2 1913
Eastern Red Cedar

You are talking about per cord, whereas we were referring to weight. A cord of dry oak weighs considerably more than a cord of cedar for instance.
My previous statement shouldn't have been so precise, it would have been better to say "All firewood has about the same BTU per pound"... a direct quote from this website.Firewood BTU Ratings Chart Best Firewood Heat Energy Content

 

[atsah]

I normally purchase 5 cord a year of a mix of ash, birch, rock maple and beach, last year I bought 5 cords of red oak and burnt 3 cords of wood and the winter was hard and long..

 

[CalG]

The use of a BTU per chord comparison is about as useful as teats on a boar. Heck, around here some folks buy and sell fire wood by the truck load. Sometimes it's a pickup, some times it's a one ton dump body.

I like to get mine off the logging truck. Those grapple operators are a pleasure to watch!

Just no popple sticks or bass!

The real issue is deciding which burns longer and hotter, Tamarack, Larch, or Hackmatack? I can get loads of all three, depending on who is driving.

I suppose it depends on which stove it gets burned in... ;-)

 

[bunyip]

Years ago we used to buy red gum from portable sawmills where they cut railway sleepers, was great as they were the right size (docked ends) for the fire but needed a year to season.
Cost $30 for a ute load and the first time we just threw it in took it home and dumped it, second trip we stacked it a bit more carefully in the tray and the drive home was interesting as we had no suspension, we were rated at a 1 ton load but I think we had close to about 2 1/2 on the back.
Corners presented a new challenge and we didn't exceed 30kph as I doubt we would have stopped quickly.
I miss those days as now they are all concrete and the old ones they pull out are already sold to garden supply retailers.

 

[cqaigy2]

Years ago we used to buy red gum from portable sawmills where they cut railway sleepers, was great as they were the right size (docked ends) for the fire but needed a year to season.
Cost $30 for a ute load and the first time we just threw it in took it home and dumped it, second trip we stacked it a bit more carefully in the tray and the drive home was interesting as we had no suspension, we were rated at a 1 ton load but I think we had close to about 2 1/2 on the back.
Corners presented a new challenge and we didn't exceed 30kph as I doubt we would have stopped quickly.
I miss those days as now they are all concrete and the old ones they pull out are already sold to garden supply retailers.

I expect that gum was some good burning wood.

 

[Jstpssng]

The use of a BTU per chord comparison is about as useful as teats on a boar. Heck, around here some folks buy and sell fire wood by the truck load. Sometimes it's a pickup, some times it's a one ton dump body.

I like to get mine off the logging truck. Those grapple operators are a pleasure to watch!

Just no popple sticks or bass!

The real issue is deciding which burns longer and hotter, Tamarack, Larch, or Hackmatack? I can get loads of all three, depending on who is driving.

I suppose it depends on which stove it gets burned in... ;-)

:thumbsup:
AKA, Juniper around here.

 

[oosik]

It was a LOPI when we had a wood stove. Had it for twenty years. Worked fine. After about four years I replaced the glass panels in the doors with steel plate. Got really tired of cleaning the glass. Always kept a kettle full of water on its flat surface. Replace the moisture lost from the wood heat.

Burned Ponderosa pine 100% of the time. Except two times - burned apple once. Nice to burn but produced a lot of ash. Burned black locust the second time. Great wood to burn but only one locust tree in all our area.

Used the LOPI from 1982 until about 2002. I think the newer versions are a lot more efficient.

 

[bunyip]

I expect that gum was some good burning wood.

Burns hot and long, box woods are better.
We use vinegar to clean the glass, gets all the black sticky stuff off easily.

 

[Jstpssng]

I open mine up for about 10 minutes in the AM to let the fire et going good, it cleans all of the soot off the glass. Right now though all that I have is a piece of steel; at the end of the winter I latched the door and somehow shattered the glass.
That's a $100 bill up the chimney.

 

[rangerfredbob]

I have an Osburn that has the air tubes across the top and a fan at the bottom that blows around the back of the stove pushing hot air out the top. Works pretty good, got it used so didn't come with the manual or the fresh air adjustment linkage... I must have adjusted it somewhere in the middle before I pushed it into place (insert), one of these days I'll get something connected to it but it works pretty good now. Only annoying thing is it won't stay burning all night but there's usually coals to start with a billows in the morning.

 

[murphy1244]

I put a down payment on the Hearthstone Mansfield I am some what worried about getting too much heat. What all you guy's say?

 

[CalG]

Build small compact fires!

 

[atsah]

I put a down payment on the Hearthstone Manchester. I am some what worried about getting too much heat. What all you guy's say?

Were is the stove located in the house? how many SF are you heating? Why did you decide on a cast stove?

 

[murphy1244]

Unit will be in the center of the house but there is a door on the bedroom wing. The house is 3200 sq ft. The unit model is heritage NOT Manchester sorry.

 

[atsah]

Unit will be in the center of the house but there is a door on the bedroom wing. The house is 3200 sq ft. The unit model is Mansfield NOT Manchester sorry.

Okay.. the Mansfield will suit you well.. I think you will find it fairly easy to control the temperature. From a cold start they take longer to get heat out of because the stone needs to absorb the heat but will hold heat longer than a cast of steel stove, the cast and steel will heat up quickly. The soapstone is a softer heat so to speak..

 

[turnkey4099]

My Hearthstone has a bottom cleanout with a grate but I don't use it.. I shovel the ash only on the left and right sides, I leave the rest because it's heat..

Every stove I have looked at has one small hole with a plug that has to be removed to scrape ashes through it. Not a fun job with a fire going.

 

[turnkey4099]

If a person only knows how pine burns, they don't know any different. We just adapt to what we have. I think pine is great to burn and it does the job well. You won't hear anyone out here complaining that they only have pine to burn, it's just how it is.

I see you guys having to cut down, buck up, and split these huge trees that can't even be lifted up on a splitter. Plus, we can have dry wood from a cut tree in about 6 months, due to the dryness out here.

So in the end, if I have to put one extra log on the fire in exchange for the less back breaking work and still get the same heat...I'm ok with it.

I heated my house with noting be Willow for around 30 years. ONe good sized chunk in my airtight at bedtime would hold all night. Why willow? Cheapest BTU available. Anything else required a 100 mile roundtrip to the mountains - not an economic proposition with a 1/2 ton truck.

 

[Jstpssng]

The efficiency of your house; quality windows and doors, amount of insulation, etc. have much to do with how well the stove works.
My place is small, so heats easily but I lose a lot of heat when the fire dies down.
Especially when I forget to close a window before going to bed, because it's 90 and I'm trying to dump some heat.

 

[Oaktree]

The real issue is deciding which burns longer and hotter, Tamarack, Larch, or Hackmatack? I can get loads of all three, depending on who is driving.

I suppose it depends on which stove it gets burned in... ;-)

I'm sure your post went over many peoples' heads...for those not familiar, they're all different names for the same tree. And an odd tree it is, has needles but is not an evergreen. I was a bit surprised by the heat chart to see that it has more BTUs per cord than elm.