I’m approaching my first winter relying on a wood burning stove as the sole heat for the house, so have become a bit obsessed with any fallen wood I see. The strong winds this week deposited three fairly large ash trees pretty close to my house 🙂

With the farmers expressed permission, I tidied one up into my car, probably wrecked the rear springs, and spent the evening with the chainsaw and splitter. Feeling very manly right now.

The largest bits were about a foot diameter, and I’ve quartered them. How long till they’re good to burn please? I’m keeping them under a a tarp outside, decent airflow around.

not this winter for recently collected stuff.

depends on the wood. most, 1 year will do. (though I will burn stuff thats just had 6 months – i.e. mar-sept.

some, like oak, can be 2-3 years.

Yeah it just smokes up if its not properly seasoned innit.

2 years ish.
The sap needs to dry out, it should make a sort of ringing noise when you tap it when it’s properly seasoned.

I use wood as soon as I get it 8)

Get a moisture meter. I got one from Amazon for about £10.

Then you can test any wood. Moisture levels vary by species. It should be below 20% to burn well.

2 years then 6 months inside to dry out.

do not burn unseasoned wood, have had to break into chimney stacks and then get the breaker on the tar deposits before from people burning poor wood.

Ash you say Mowgli? Luckily this is the best timber to burn green, although obviously it’s better dry. Throw the tarp off if it’s a dry day and it will make a huge difference to the drying-out time even at this time of the year.

stack it so the wind can circulate, then burn it as soon as you like.
Ash- Seer or green,its fit for a queen. I think thats the old rhyme.

Cheers guys. It’s stacked nicely with a tarp only on top, so the wind and sun should dry it out. Will leave it till I’ve used the rest of the store. Need to go and get the other two trees!

Serious question here,

Would it not be beneficial to have a chamber at high level within the stack where a small amount of wood is stored?

Any heat at this point is waste and the energy be used to speed up the seasoning process?

My brother in law who had a wood burner reckons on 2 years. It not just “smokes” up. You will get tar build up if you burn too soon, which will just mean added expense/effort to get your burner de-tarred. It’s yr choice.

Or you could just stack it next to the stove to dry Kev

Or you could just stack it next to the stove to dry

Yes, but the relative calorific energy of charcoal is greater than that of wood due to pyrolysis iirc?

The advice is not to stack wood next to the stove as it can get hot enough to burn, certainly has smoldered next to ours in the past.

Proper wet wood needs 2 years.

Yes, but the relative calorific energy of charcoal is greater than that of wood due to pyrolysis iirc?

By weight maybe but for a given amount of wood you couldn’t increase its energy output by turning it into charcoal. Where would the extra energy come from?
Genuinely asking, I have no idea what pyrolysis is 🙂

I’ve set wood alight before now by putting it too close to the stove. So be careful.

That is a fair point, I never have, but it can happen.

Yes, but you decrease its mass as the water is removed.

Heating will achieve this but if you increase the passing air flow at the same time, more moisture will be removed. The analogy would be washing on the line on a hot day then warm windy day.

Pyrolysis <quickly googles to make sure > is heating without oxygen. The air flow in the stack would be oxygen deprived so should aid this.

Ash is good to burn pretty much straight away. Every wood is different, eg. pine is worst for messing up your flue if not seasoned properly

i tip mine inside a polytunnel – it doesnt need much time in there to dry out !

As mentioned, ash will burn green, better seasoned, but good enough fresh.
Split it whilst green as it’s easier, will also dry quicker and deeper once split, increased surface area and all that. 3 months somewhere dry and ventilated that gets some sun will see ash good.

As for stacking, our non scientific testing at work suggests that the sheds we slung the logs in dried better than the ones we stacked. Probably more air in them as we get 2 less trailer loads out of them