Wood that doesn't want to burn.

[EddieWalker]

The wood only burns with lots of air sometimes I even crack the door open on the wood stove. I do have some wood I cut this year and it burns like it should. At least like you would expect.

Did the wood burn fine when you lived in Utah? Is this just something that started to happen with the new house in Idaho?

My neighbor spray foamed his entire house and he said that it's so air tight that he cannot keep a decent fire going in his fireplace. If he opens a window to the house, the fireplace works great, but that's not practical in the winter.

Do you have a clear air vent to the stove to allow enough air in?

I doubt the problem is the wood.

 

[JasperFrank]

I know that very dusty wood will not burn correctly. The dust acts like insulation.

 

[Snobdds]

Wood does change chemically. Cellulose fibers have water (H2O) in it's physical make up. Once those hydrogen and oxygen molecules leave, so does the BTU's that are derived from those hydrogen and oxygen molecules. I have the same thing going on with the wood from my mountain property. I call it devil wood, because no matter what you do, it will not burn right and just smolder. If the wood is light in physical weight, it's past it's prime.

I either throw the wood in my chipper or put it back in a dead wood pile. The best time to burn wood is directly after it gets to around 20% moisture content. This means the cellulose wood fibers still have some water in it and will burn at peak efficiency.

 

[Oaktree]

Some woods do burn much better than others. This side of the pond we have poplar, that is a bad burner. Years ago it was used to make the brake pads for the old steam traction engines. I understand the Dutch traditionally used it to make clogs. Your side of the pond you have cottonwoods aspens and balsam poplar that are all part of the same family. What they burn like I have no idea as they are not common here.

Doesn't burn worth squat. Probably 40% of the wood on my property is poplar, would be nice if it burned well but it doesn't. Takes forever to season, and even then you really need a hot fire for it to burn...even then it just kind of smolders.

 

[AchingBack]

Moisture meter is one of my most valuable tools.

 

[clemsonfor]

Did the wood burn fine when you lived in Utah? Is this just something that started to happen with the new house in Idaho?

My neighbor spray foamed his entire house and he said that it's so air tight that he cannot keep a decent fire going in his fireplace. If he opens a window to the house, the fireplace works great, but that's not practical in the winter.

Do you have a clear air vent to the stove to allow enough air in?

I doubt the problem is the wood.

I didn't think about that. May need an OAK or an outdoor air kit. New homes can be so air tight there is no where to pull air from.

 

[clemsonfor]

Moisture meter is one of my most valuable tools.

If you let you wood dry long enough and handle and stack it properly you don't need a moisture meter (mm) cause it will already be dried. I try to dry mine in the shed for three years but two is what my minimum is. Oak is still really to wet after a year .

 

[clemsonfor]

I worked in old houses as an electrician many years ago and at times you could take a ten inch screwdriver and poke it right through a floor joist, being just a planed down tree. So what caused that?

That's dry rot. Caused by the opposite of what you think. Moisture causes dry rot.

 

[cat fever]

Did the wood burn fine when you lived in Utah? Is this just something that started to happen with the new house in Idaho?

My neighbor spray foamed his entire house and he said that it's so air tight that he cannot keep a decent fire going in his fireplace. If he opens a window to the house, the fireplace works great, but that's not practical in the winter.

Do you have a clear air vent to the stove to allow enough air in?

I doubt the problem is the wood.

Good question Eddie,

It did not burn good in Utah either. The wood stove in our new house draws it's combustion air from the outside (attic) so that would not be the case. In Utah I did have to have a house door cracked open because the house was so airtight.

I think snobdds hit the mark on why it doesn't burn good. I'm going to do my best to get all the old wood burned up. I'm hoping to build a new barn in the summer or the next summer and I'd like to get it stocked with new wood. New barn will be 69X96X14:thumbsup:

When I said the wood was to long I meant;

I have to put it in the stove sideways and you guessed it, it always wants to roll or fall out when I open the door. All new wood I cut will go straight in endways. If that makes any sense.:confused3:

This is the wood we're talking about.

 

[JasperFrank]

My house is so tight that there is little airflow to the stove. It has a bottom vent on the base but that can be overwhelmed by any sort of exhaust fan... bath fan, dryer, down draft kitchen stove and even the upstairs heat exchanger. So I usually have to open a window to get things going. Its a mess if the fire doesn't go the right way. I have to figure out how to re-light it and turn off all the smoke detectors.