Ok all yuts guys....can ya's tell me if red elm and boxelder are worth a DanG for burnin' ?
Gotta fella wantin' ta git ridda some and was a wonderin'
Skeeter
We've never tried to burn boxelder, as ours doesn't get too big, but red elm is almost worthless. It's hard to start, even when dry, and burns with a cool blue flame. You never seem to get any heat out of it.
See for BTU values:
http://www.chimneysweeponline.com/howood.htm
Skeeter,
My way of thinkin is how does elm compare to other woods that are available in your area.
Here in SW Kansas, there is mostly elm, cottonwood, and old hedge fence posts as far as choices for firewood. The hedge puts out the heat but pops a lot. Cottonwood makes lots of ashes to clean out. Elm is my choice for wood to burn. It is a little hard to split unless it is dead and dry or is frozen. I use cedar slabs off the mill for kindlin.
Just my 2 cents worth.
Thanks for the web link Ron.
I have about a cord of Hickory stacked now. I had no idea it had the highest BTU value of the wood listed.
'Bout 30 years ago Dutch Elm Disease was killin' off elms left and right- being young and foolish I gladly took dozens of standing dead elms down for "free" firewood. Some of those suckers were close to four feet through and thrrew "shrapnel" for yards when they hit the ground. That wood definately warmed me at LEAST twice!! Boy, God does look out for the young and naive - don't think I knew what a "Widowmaker" was then. Wouldn't cut one of those now if I was paid too!
Around here It is oak and Hickrey most folks wouldn't give a second hand chew of tobacco for the others. :D
Red elm isn't too bad of firewood, a pain to split tho. Thanks for the link Ron. They had hackberry pretty high up the list, that stuff isn't very dense and I was surprised to see it there.
We've been using black locust and the oak slabs off the mill.
My preferred woods for heat are hickory, white oak and hard (sugar) maple. But when the temps drop down like they are now anything that will burn goes in the stove.
Ron, I could not find Poplar (yellow or tulip) on your chart. It puts out some decent heat but it burns fast. Alos just happens to be the wood that is on top of the stack at the moment ???
Box elder is bad to soot our flue. I hate it. We make pallet boards out of it but it stinks.
We burned lots of elm when the elm were dying. Red elm was best of the two and it'd last a lot longer on the stump or on the ground. I cut one up a couple years ago that had layed on the ground for a long time. It was covered with green moss but was still hard as a rock. I wouldn't have any problem with a woodshed full of it.
Elm is ok...but I noticed hedge wasnt on the list!!!...It wood top the chart....too hot to use more than a little
Elm is ok...but I noticed hedge wasnt on the list!!!...It wood top the chart....too hot to use more than a little
It was 0 this morning anything thats wood short of busting the furniture up goes on the fire ;) Myself I dont care if it's pine hemlock popular or whatever it goes in the stove. Elm is a hot burning wood and I have a couple people that want all the elm they can get to burn in there cord wood.
I'm getting darn tired of people calling me to tell me they are putting the last stick on the fire bring me more Today >:(
I just hope they call back next summer/ fall and order extra wood ;).
The woods are getting cleaned up pretty good as more loggers are taking out much of the unmerchantable hardwoods for firewood sales.
I like burning the slabs, don't have to split them and it's like payback for all the aggravation of getting them off the mill, stacking and cutting them. Open the door to the wood burner and say "take that". Sweet revenge.(https://forestryforum.com/smile/fireman.gif)
I hear ya Sawyer40 on the wait till no firewood calls . Its a pain but I usually get to it and get it taken care of . Most of my firewood customers are repeats from years before so the ones that forget alot get a friendly reminder call when the weather is still nice .
We have alot of red elm on our place and it gets burnt . My dad burns it as long as its wood he 'll burn it .
A buddy of mine is getting four or five calls a day for firewood now on account of folks running out. He said that he's doing the best he can, but he doesn't feel bad for them as he had plenty of extra wood last summer.
I dunno about red elm, but american elm is quite light and hard as the dickens to split with an axe. American elm breaks down quite fast, within a couple months there'll be mushrooms and toadstools emerging from the sapwood. It'll keep you warm but not high BTU's. Box elder or Manitoba maple is also low BTU and light, but fine for fall wood if you don't want to over heat the house. I tried applewood also, it burned well in the fire box but wasn't hot enough to keep the fan going. I was surprised at that. I used it as fall wood and sometimes boxelder, as their sprawling limbs are always getting ripped off by wind and ice. But, good 'ole sugar maple and beech can't be beet on cold winter nights. Sure hot enough in here right now :)
Skeeter
This site may be of interest to you also:
http://www.woodheat.org :)
regards
Discussion of different woods for wood heat, comes down to "pound for pound", all wood produces about the same BTU's of heat (about 8,000 BTU's - but can't verify the source of that information yet) given the same moisture content at a dry condition. So some heavier woods means less handling (fewer trips) versus more handling for lighter woods. Personal preference to the looks and feel of the fire different woods produce, gives support to what some people like to burn, as well as the availability of the wood.
As I burn mostly white oak, I was a bit surprised when I grabbed a piece of split basswood that was hiding in the pile, and it felt like there was nothing there. It probably didn't last long in the firebox. But a pound of it was as good as a pound of white oak, it just was packed in a bigger package.
beenthere
ummmm, what wood are you smokin at 8000 btu? BTW, white oak and the hickerys are slightly better than sugar maple and beech, but divide your figure by 2. And a cellar full of styrofoam won't quite last the winter up here hehehhe ;D
feelin a little cheeky tonight ;)
No smokum' and will qualify the 8,000 number until I can verify the source from which it came. Have read 7500 BTU per pound of wood (styrofoam isn't wood) too, but will look for a substantiated source. The point was just that for wood, pound for pound, they all give the same heat, for all practical purposes. That is, for btu's, a pound of hard maple = a pound of aspen. Volumes of course are different. IMO ;D
Okay, just back from the woodheat.org site (suggested by Swamp_Donkey), and a quote from there is as follows (now the BTU's are up to 8,600 per pound of wood)
""The difference between different species of wood is almost entirely a difference in density. That is, all species of wood have about 8600 BTUs per pound. Hardwoods are dense and softwoods are less dense, but pound for pound the energy content by weight is the same. So, if you carefully conditioned your samples to the same moisture content, then weighed them carefully before burning them, you would probably find no difference in heat output between them.
John ""
My 8,000 BTU figure is in between. Swamp-Donkey: Where does it say it is half that number?
My favorite, and what we burn at home, is standing dead red oak. Unbelivable no ash lotsa heat but of course fuzzies everywhere you move it. If you want to see some upscale firewood check this link.
http://www.firewoodguy.com/
@ beenthere
click on my link at the top post (page2) and then select firewood along the left margin to see btu's by species ;)
Your 8000 btu is the output of your propane fired propane stove. The one you cooked the brook trout on last summer ;)
cheers
@ beenthere
ok I missread your 8000 btu as 80,000 oops
I'll clean the egg off my face now ;D
Sugar maple for instance is 29,000 btu air dried wood, your white oak is 30,600 btu these figures are in 000's of cos :)
8000 btu per pound looks beleiveable from my sources.
regards
I accidentally burnt my garage down about 19 years ago..heh...itwas Pine and Cedar, dont know how much it weighed but man was it hot..... :D :D
ermm...You little arson you ;D
Hope the insurance cheque was big and fat Percy :D
cheers