When you choose to heat with wood, there are many things to consider and to know. This article deals with firewood.

Woodburning is a very environmentally friendly act. Did you know a tree decaying in the forest will give off more carbon that the same tree burned in your wood stove? People that say burning wood is irresponsible are simply uneducated on the facts.

Each and every year I hear the same questions from my new woodburning friends. “What kind of wood” is often asked. My answer may surprise you.

The species of wood, ironically is not as important as your stove or how long the wood has been split and stacked in the dry!

THE STOVE: You absolutely want to start with a modern stove; a stove that has been listed and tested to meet the strict EPA Phase II emissions limits. Older, uncertified stoves do not have any form of secondary combustion to reburn the emissions of the stove. What that means is there will be a lot more pollution from an older stove and those emissions are unburned fuel and lost heat. You will have to burn a lot more wood to get the same amount of heat you would from a certified stove.

THE FIREWOOD: As I stated a moment ago, the species of the wood is not as important as how long it has been split and stacked in the dry. Fresh split wood, even if it has been laying on the ground for years, is still wet. Only when wood is cut to length, split and stacked does is begin to lose its moisture. I can’t count how many people said the tree fell 2 years ago so it should be seasoned and ready to cut and split. Not the case.

For hardwoods, you typically want the wood to be stacked to air-dry for a minimum of 6 months before heating season. For medium to soft woods, a year or more is ideal. Even the best of wood will heat poorly when it is not properly seasoned. That is because so much of the energy from the fire is being used up by the firewood itself to dry up the moisture. Very little heat will be used to heat your home.

“But Jack, my Pappy told me never to burn pine in the stove because it will clog up the chimney”. If it is not dried properly, ANY wood will clog up the chimney. Other places in the US have nothing but evergreens and that is all they burn. Ever burned a bunch of old pine or a bundle of lumber scraps? That burned real nice and hot didn’t it? That is because it was dry.

Here’s a bit of knowledge that will set your mind at ease on firewood;

ALL WOOD, regardless of species, has the same amount of particulate matter. With the same moisture content, a pound of white pine will produce the same amount of emissions as a pound of red oak. Pine is less dense than oak therefore you may need more cubic feet of pine to make the same weight as oak but they will heat and pollute about the same. Since their emissions are the same, neither will gunk up the chimney more than the other.

“I can get pine for almost nothing! So, you’re saying I can just burn pine”? ABSOLUTELY! Like I said, there are places that have nothing else. In fact, you will love burning pine. It starts easy and heats great. The only, and I mean ONLY drawbacks are burntimes and seasoning time. Since BTU in wood is PER POUND, you just can’t get as much pine into your stove as you can hardwoods. The denser the wood, the more pounds per cubic foot of firewood, the more fuel you have in your stove, therefore the longer it will burn on a load. Personally I would like to have some of both so I could load up with hardwood at night and burn softwoods during the day when I am there to load the stove.

Have a friend in the tree cutting business? I bet you can get their softwood for next to nothing. They probably chip it up and make mulch out of it just to get rid of it. Call him up and get yourself free heat. Just stack it a year in advance or more and you will be happy as a tic on a dog.

REVIEW:

1. A good stove is the place to start.
2. Properly season your firewood.
3. Burn any wood you want as long as it is dry.