Can firewood be too old and too dry?

[sharp edge]

I think all fuels have about the same btu/pound--natural gas, oil,wood,or coal
Ben
do you think there is any loss of carbon in wood when getting the water out? I heard that it could be as high as a trade off. Some water in wood might help. My brother inject water in a big gas fired furnace, what the water does I dodn't know, but helps combustion.

I like to make and use 1/2 dried wood, you are right the full green wood is heavy. :(  Think a lot more talk on this sub. before winter is over.    Burning wood can be dangerous.

SE

[Tom]

If your wood is burning efficiently and it's too hot, couldn't you just build a smaller fire?

[york]

Hi guys,

what do ya think,if we just mix this old dry wood in with our good wood??

that way we can just get rid of it-every morning,we need to have dry stuff to build her back up-wonder if that would work??

[tyb525]

Thats what we do at night, mix some wetter (not green though) with some dry. Also put bigger peices in there at night and close the vents. It is almost always still going in the morning. All that's needed in the morning is to throw some dry stuff in.

[ely]

my MIL had me to install what i call a parlor stove in the addition that i built for her. i built her a 20x 20 den roughly. i told her it was probably too much stove for the room and she really could never get the stove to operate properly. after listening to her for several sunday dinners i started to investigate. after several days of jacking with it i ask her for all the paperwork on it. directions if you will. i know iknow, its against mancode. but still.
it seems with this particular stove you have to build a fire with a certain process and follow their little timeline while doing it. once you do this and get it up to operating temp. the stove preforms great.  after it is running you can operate the stove and regulate it just like any i have ever messed with. it is just particular while it is cold. never will draw right if you don't follow the rules.

anyway it seems i was right after all, the stove puts out alot of heat for that small room. i showed her how to heat the whole house from that stove with a  box fan placed in the other room of the house. now i will never get that stove. i wanted to just get her a smaller one and take that one for myself.

[cheyenne]

With a catalyst stove the trick is keeping the catalyst clean. If the little holes plug up your done. I clean mine out with a 5/32 round file. But be careful they are super fragile & $200.00 plus the gasket. Regulate your heat with your primary & secondary air shutters & make sure you crack a window or it'll start puffin. MIld days i burn softwood, no coals. Cold days hardwood, good coals. The better the wood the better the heat & the less maintainence.....Cheyenne

[woodsteach]

. i showed her how to heat the whole house from that stove with a  box fan placed in the other room of the house. [/quote

Speaking of that Ely, what is the best way to get the warm air circulating?  Has anyone used the fans that sit ontop of the stove and use no elec. to move air?

I have low door ways 6'4" max,  (I'm 6'5" so am always ducking.)  The last couple of evenings we have been using the furnace fan (not the furnace, just the fan)and it has helped but there has to be a better way.

Oh! the 2 bedrooms are upstairs, so some heat will naturally go up the stairway but am more heat away from the stove.

After engaging the Cat.Combustor the it sure warms up the room and fast.  And NO I mean none, zip, zero smoke once the combustor is going. 

woods

[Warbird]

Our Blaze King has an optional fan kit.  It bolts to the back of the stove and also acts as a rear heat shield.  The fans have a dial that turns them on and controls the variable speed.  There is a heat detector as part of the units so the fans shut off automagically if the stove cools off too much.  They do use electricity but they move the air out most efficiently because the air is forced directly across the top plate of the stove.  And they move a lot of air.

I looked at those fans that sit on top of the stove and use no electricity.  They didn't move enough air for me.  The stove sits in a 725 sq ft room and the bedrooms hang off each end of that space.  The stove sits in one corner of that space.  I must be able to get that heat projected out into the room.  This is accomplished with the fan kit on the stove and a large ceiling fan on the opposite side of the room from the stove.  Works great.

[beenthere]

woodsteach
Low doorways, but what is the ceiling height?

Open the space above the door header and put in a fan, that will move the warm air at the ceiling level to the other room. If more assist is needed, then a squirrel cage blower/fan above that door will help even more.

Hard to get the warm air to move down, without having too much heat higher up. But over the years, I've used box/window fans to move air around. Sometimes it works, and sometimes it backfires (moving air will cool the skin and feel colder than without).

But running the furnace fan isn't a bad option either...it has the filter to clean as you go, and should give the most even temp. in the house.

[Warbird]

Hard to get the warm air to move down, without having too much heat higher up. But over the years, I've used box/window fans to move air around. Sometimes it works, and sometimes it backfires (moving air will cool the skin and feel colder than without).

I've had great luck with our large ceiling fan.  It has a switch on it for the winter time that reverses direction.  It blows the air up at the ceiling which then makes the heat move down the walls.  Even when the fan is on high speed, you can feel very little breeze.

[WDH]

It is warmer climate here, but the heat from my stoves just seems to seep everywhere in the house without the need for a supplemental fan.

[woodsteach]

woodsteach
Low doorways, but what is the ceiling height?

Open the space above the door header and put in a fan, that will move the warm air at the ceiling level to the other room. If more assist is needed, then a squirrel cage blower/fan above that door will help even more.

The ceiling is 9'6" so opening the walls above the doorway is an option to one room the others are load bearing walls and I don't want to reframe them.

The furnace fan is good but does anyone know about how much it cost to run the fan vrs. a couple of box fans?

woods

[Tom]

Opening the window and putting a fan in it will get rid of the heat in the house prett good.

[beenthere]

You Florida guys are a real hoot...good dry, but warm, humor.  ;D ;D ;D

[rebocardo]

> do not understand the detractor's point of view

If it is your only heat source, it has to be super reliable. If it clogs and you can no longer burn and it is below 32 degrees, you might have a big problem on hand. Which is why I went with a simple and cheaper design. No to mention cost, I pay for the stove once, I expect no problems for the next 20 years.

If I had two wood heat sources, then one with a catalyst would be okay, even for a main heat source.

Same with my off road truck. EFI and catalytic converters are great, but, if you have ever had a CC clog or an EFI system fail in the middle of no where at 0 degrees, you come to appreciate a simple carburetor and simple exhaust system.

I have had a CC on a vehicle clog in the middle of a blizzard, luckily it happened where my life was only mildly in danger.

[beenthere]

> do not understand the detractor's point of view 

If it is your only heat source, it has to be super reliable. If it clogs and you can no longer burn and it is below 32 degrees, you might have a big problem on hand. Which is why I went with a simple and cheaper design. No to mention cost, I pay for the stove once, I expect no problems for the next 20 years.

If I had two wood heat sources, then one with a catalyst would be okay, even for a main heat source.

..............

The stove I have, and suspect others are the same that use catalytic converters, will burn with or without the converter engaged.
Usually, when the stove is first fired up, one doesn't engage the converter until the stove is heated up a certain amount.
So if the converter goes out, then you don't lose the use of the stove, just that it will not be as efficient (but as good as a stove without a CC).

A good point to bring up, as others may have been misled a bit by the discussion.

[cheyenne]

paddle fans on the ceiling are the only way to go since they are reversable. They suck the heat off the ceiling and push it through the house. IMHO fans incorperated in the stove are useless and cost more than a good paddle fan. But to be fair you have to have a path for the heat to flow through the house it can't go through walls. If this is the case put heat registers in the tops of the walls......Cheyenne

[tyb525]

We run a paddle fan on the ceiling, and we have a register through the ceiling to the upstairs. Before we put that in the 2nd floor almost never got warm.