Anyone tried burning green wood in the E-Classic and if so what has your experience been?
Thanks.
Pete
I have not tried "green wood" but I mix in junk wood with no problems. The junk I am burning is formerly standing dead aspen of old uncovered firewood that is starting to rot. The aspen seems to yeild some heat. Pretty good in that generally even the flames are cold with aspen. Old fire wood I am not sure of buy I think I get a little. If I get any I am ahead of the game.
I have been burning some one month old white pine and it seems to smoke a little more but not bad. Come to think of it most of wood would not be considered seasoned and I am having no problems and I am not burning much wood.
green just doesn't give as much heat, so if your stove is larger than you really need no problem, But if like me your house is a heat monster then green alone is not the answer.
I filled the firebox today with hemlock that I cut two weeks ago. It burned clean - no visible smoke or steam. Amazing 8). Not sure if I will get the same results with other species, but it is encouraging as I don't have enough time to season all the wood I need for the stove. Pete.
I burn green wood in my OWB all the time, it seems to put out the same amount of heat as dry wood. Now I know that it takes heat to drive all that moisture out, so you would think that you would get less heat from green wood. My theory is this- these units are so inefficient as far as the amount of heat that goes up the chimney, that you are using some of that heat to get rid of the extra moisture. Kind of like a built in firewood dry kiln. One wood that seems to be an exception is red pine, that stuff has so much water in it when green, some really cold mornings (-20) I loaded 'er up with red pine and there was a cloud of steam coming out of that thing, looked like an old steam engine. Plus, the stove had a hard time maintaining it's temperature. Aspen, on the other hand, is way better green, it lasts longer than when dry. A lot of people burn green aspen exclusively around here in their OWB.
At the mill, I've had the yard guys in charge of the OWB so desperate for wood that they will almost tail the slabs for me. :D It all burns, but you are using up energy to turn the water to steam, there is no doubt about that. It just means more time is spent on boiler tending.
Quote from: barbender on December 06, 2008, 08:59:15 PM
I burn green wood in my OWB all the time, it seems to put out the same amount of heat as dry wood. Now I know that it takes heat to drive all that moisture out, so you would think that you would get less heat from green wood. My theory is this- these units are so inefficient as far as the amount of heat that goes up the chimney, that you are using some of that heat to get rid of the extra moisture. Kind of like a built in firewood dry kiln. One wood that seems to be an exception is red pine, that stuff has so much water in it when green, some really cold mornings (-20) I loaded 'er up with red pine and there was a cloud of steam coming out of that thing, looked like an old steam engine. Plus, the stove had a hard time maintaining it's temperature. Aspen, on the other hand, is way better green, it lasts longer than when dry. A lot of people burn green aspen exclusively around here in their OWB.
What type of OWB are you running? Any other species aside from aspen that you like to burn? Deer River MN? My in-laws live in Crosslake during the summers and we visit them then. Nice country up there in northern MN. Pete.
I have a theory about why some of you have longer burn times with green wood.
If your OWB is too big, either because the dealer over sized it or you haven't got the new workshop built yet. Then the time between burns is longer and to keep the fire from going out, you need to let some air in. During this slow burn time you boil the water out of green wood or if your wood is dry the heat gasifies some of your wood and the gas goes up the chimney without burning. That wastes a lot of your wood.
In a smaller stove not only is the slow burn time much shorter but also you need less air/heat to keep it burning.
John- I think you and I have the same theory, you are just better at putting it into words than me :) Pete, I have a Heatmor, I've been pretty happy with it. Green birch is real good, leaves a good bed of coals, green jack pine and soft maple are decent too. I haven't burned much else, thats what I have on my property. And I agree with you, it is pretty up here. It's a fine place to live. I'd like to see the east, it's about the only region of the U.S. I haven't got to visit yet.