Okay, I know some of you guys heat or suppliment your home heating with wood.

Heres the deal, I just moved into my new (to me) house last week. It has a nice little woodstove.
Here you go:


Now then, I have a decent source of free mixed hardwoods as my wifes brother is and has been clearing a few acres for more pasture. There is a lot of wood already down and wacked up into about 15" logs, so I helped my self to his splitter and split up about 30 pieces over the weekend to see what kind of damage I can do with the forementioned stove.

Well, I need some schooling, (this is where you come in!)
First of all, I gather that it is not cool to spilt up wood then instantly chuck it in your stove/fireplace?
The glass got so black that after three days of somehwhat steady burning you couldn' even see through it at all.....

On other thing, I got a magnetic stove pipe thermometer. Well, now I'm stressing because for the life of me I can't get this thing to burn into the "comfort" zone, which is denoted as 300-550* at about 18" above the stove on the pipe.

Whats the deal? Is the wood causing all of my issues? Should I give up and buy a truck load of "Seasoned" firewood? Should I give up on burning the rest of the year and just cut and stack wood for next years use?.............


Help, I want to master this thing, but have no good source of info on it.

 

Green wood can be burned, but it's tough. It would be better to use seasoned wood to get a nice coal bed and then add small amounts of green. Green wood sweats when burned and creates a lot of smoke.

If it was me, I would start splitting for next year.

EDIT: With regards to your temp issue. I can't tell from the picture, but most stoves have an adjustable vent. Once I get a good fire going, with vents wide open. I will fill the stove and turn the vent almost closed, maybe leave about 1/16 to 1/8 crack. Wood will burn slower an maintain a comfortable temp. If you leave it wide open it will drive you out of the house or force you to open a window, plus the stove will burn through wood like crazy.

 

Thanks for the Repy Mike, I though that was the case. I read a minute ago that my black glass (so quickly) was probably caused by the wood too.

At some points if I didn't keep the door cracked AND vent slid full open I was smoltering.

 

Your problem is most likey green wood. If you want a fire this year buy dry wood. Also check pipe for build up(creosote), they have to be clean to draw and prevent chimminy fires. It looks like a airtight so learn to control the air intakes.
Clark

 

Good looking stove.

I burn wood for my primary heat (currently our options for heat are wood furnace or heat pump) so I have a little experience. I never burn wood that has not seasoned for at least 9 months. I really like 18 months so I am typically cutting at least a year in advance. My advice would be to start preparing for next year.

I typically don't like to burn anything smaller in diameter than about 3 inches (limbs, etc.) due to the difficulty in getting the wood dry. Others may disagree with that but that's a guide I use to attempt to reduce the amount of creosote (sp?) generated.

Stack your wood so it is off the ground and a good distance from the house.

Plan on cleaning or having the stove pipe cleaned once a year. I suspect that the previous owner did that prior to selling it but please check. A flue fire is a terrifying experience and one I don't recommend experienceing for your self. We had one when I was a child and it left a lifelong impression.

A web site I used for more research when we started burning wood is http://www.woodheat.org/index.htm

Sorry for the long post.

DC

 

DANG! I gotta learn to type faster.

 

Wow, thanks DC, (I have a stong feeling I should believe someone with the term "redneck" in their username )

I had the stove pipe off before I fired it up, it was loaded with chips of a shinny tar like substance. I took it outside and tapped all over it and pretty well cleared it out. I thought I better burn one of those Creasote sweeping logs (yes, I'm "that" guy), I don't know if it did anything, but thought better safe than sorry. As far as the terra cotta flue up the chimney, the home inspector said it appeared to be clean. One of the neighbors stopped by and asked if I was using the stove (guess he saw my smoke singals?) I said "yes" he said he didn't even think the preivious owner had ever used it. I told him of the condition of the black stove pipe, he said "Oh, well I bet it wasn't used very often though".

The guy that built the house was a 50 something homosexual neat freak. The place is 12 years old and the dishwasher still had the trial packets of detergent and jet dty in it. Not sure what was going on there.....?

Anyway the stove is nice, I like the idea of having the family room and kitchen nice and cozy during the cold months.


Keep the tips comming, it sounds like I should abandon my burning of the free wood until next year.


Thanks again for the help!

 

Something to keep in mind about home inspectors, they aren't really an "expert" at anything. They have more of a passing knowledge about alot of stuff. I'd have it checked out just be on the safe side, be bummer to get your new house damaged over something like that.

 

Roger that.

Not to mention he had a full page disclaimer at the end of the report.


I think I'm going to call it quits for this year. We are heading into good weather soon anyhow. I will be all stocked up and ready to save on my oil bill next year!

 

I completely agree with the others about the green wood being the problem. Every wood stove's BTU rating is based on dry "seasoned" wood. You will not get near the same btu's out of the wood because so much more of the heat is being carried out in the form of steam and such. 9 months is great, but I have good experience drying for 6 months as well. Remember this too, wood splits alot easier right after it is cut......I guess if you have a splitter it doesn't matter, but it also dries much quicker when split. Other things are stove specific......like which way your stove likes the fire to be started, and what stacking arrangements will allow the longest burn time. This is stuff you will just have to experiment with until you discover what works best. In my buck stove, I normally start the fire with smaller split pieces and keep the door barely cracked open and damper full open until that initial load is a hot bed of coals..........then load it up good with larger pieces of wood stacked front to back, close the door, and close the damper most of the way. I also like to keep alot of logs whole in the 6" to 8" range to put in before bedtime as they tend to burn longer than split pieces. Anyway, good luck.

Waylan

 

Good idea is to throw your potatoe (quale spellig ) peelings on your fire , it will help burn out your chimney creosote. You can also buy a product to throw on the fire to do it but if you look on the label it is made of sodium (salt) and cost's about 5.00 for a small container. (hint: a handfull of salt works great.)

 

What kind of wood are you burning? If you have access to oak and hickory, they burn very well and put out a lot of heat. I primarily heat my house with a wood stove similiar to yours. I've found that splitting the wood about 6 months in advance works well. I also keep some green on hand to mix for the night, that way I can throw a few pieces on before going to work and still have coals in the afternoon when I get home.

 

The only thing no-one has touched on is the type of wood you are burning. The type of wood will have an effect on the heat pruduced, smoke produced, creosote produced, ash and coals produced.......

Avoid LARGE logs of pine or cedar, they tend to burn very fast, and produce an excessive amount of creosote, even when dried( compared to other woods) on the other hand they are good kindling and good woods for heating a cold stove/starting your fire.....
Yew and Hedge burn extremely hot, you can over-fire a stove real easy with them if you dont watch what you are doing.
Most soft woods such as Elm and Maple burn OK, but make a lot more ash than hard woods like oak and walnut.......

 

While I agree most of your problem is the green wood, sometimes it's the design of the stove also. Mine has fresh air blowing over the glass, but it will blacken if I burn too cool.

 

A lot of good responses. I think burning green is your main problem too. The green wood is prone to higher creosote plus you're not keeping the flue temp up where it needs to be to burn the creosote off and have a good draft. If your limited on your seasoned wood, like me right now, try mixing it up. Sometimes when my stove gets real hot (it's old, so not quite air tight at the moment), I'll throw a green or damp piece in to cool things down a bit. My antique stove doesn't have a blower either, but I put a small oscillateing fan behind it and it really throws the heat nicely. ALso, if the green log is burning low, I can crack open the vent in the back and it shoots some air to it.