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19981108

Everything you ever wanted to know about wood heating ... except ...

How does one "quick-dry" green ( fresh-cut ) wood for impromptu use?

My only thought is to start with dry "deadwood" and pile the green wood close to the heat for expediency.

I've been concerned -- living in Michigan -- about heating. I stumbled ( using Norther Light < http://www.northernlight.com/ > across this excellent source of authorative information.

FWIW:

< http://hearth.com/what/specific.html >

Regards, Bob Mangus

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-- Robert Mangus (rmangus@mail.netquest.com), November 08, 1998

Answers

Start your fire with "deadwood" or seasoned, then continue burning with "green" wood and really pay attention to adequate ventilation. It works for us using elm, oak, cedar or mesquite in our fireplace or the cast iron stove. A CO detector is recommended for inexpensive life insurance.

-- Charles R. (chuck_roast@trans.net), November 08, 1998.

One winter in Oregon I tried heating with fresh-cut Douglas fir. I put as much of it near the stove as I could to help dry it out, but... It didn't burn very well and apparently loaded up the chimney with cresote, because later when I got some good dry wood and loaded the stove with that, it started a flue fire that nearly set the house on fire-- the stovepipe was glowing red where it entered the chimney! (the chimney had been professionally cleaned that fall) I learned quite a bit about wood heat that winter, #1 being burn dry wood.

-- Max Dixon (Ogden, Utah USA) (Max.Dixon@gte.net), November 08, 1998.

Years ago the firm where I worked threw out a number of old wooden patterns for cast iron and cast steel castings. These ranged in size from a 12"x6"x 4" to 20'x6'x18". One of the engineers took a number of these patterns home to burn in his wood stove. The eventual fire damaged his house severely. He hadn't realized that the waxes and finishes applied to the wood by the foundry during repeated uses over many years would drown his chimney in carbon.

-- Tom Carey (tomcarey@mindspring.com), November 09, 1998.