.

Small amounts of scrap dimensional lumber are OK; just not lots of it . . . being various pine species tend to create more creosote in your pipes. I used that kind of stuff for years, simply as kindling as it tends to burn pretty well. But NOT as main source of wood. Birch can be decent to burn; but poplar not so good and elm can be a pain to get / keep going; as well as to split. Beech, maple and oak are best.

If a wood stove "smells up" your place; you've got smoke getting into your place. Shouldn't be happening but for perhaps a little when you open the door to put wood in. Even then, if you've got a good draft there should be very little. Remember that ANY fuel being burned inside; MUST have a good source, of sufficient volume of outside combustion air available for efficient burning.

Bob

Thanks for the reply, I will talk to some salesman when it gets closer to fall and make a choice then, I am oicking up a new Stihl saw tomorrow and heading up North to cut up some wood. I will have to make a rack to stack the wood for next year.

Do try for a good hardwood such as oak. Soft wood like popular burn way to fast and pine creates the creosote that you hear of in relation to stove pipe 'burn out' .... thats when the pipe catches fire and then there goes the roof!!!

I've never dealt with Elm so no nothing of how well it would work as fuel.

If have a bit of land search for info on coppice lots. Its a cut and come again form of wood harvest. You won't be taking down any of your big pretty old growth trees with a coppice lot. It also means no splitting wood and that is a good bit of the effort involved in providing wood for fuel.
Mike

I've never dealt with Elm so no nothing of how well it would work as fuel.

As a kid on my parents' farm in Iowa, we had an abundance of dead elm to burn, courtesy of "Dutch" elm disease.

Elm burns quite well, not as good as oak, but it's definitely worth using. It's not an easy wood to split, though, due to interlocked grain. Plan on use of either a splitting maul and a lot of sweat equity, or a power splitter. (Dad finally welded together a tractor-powered hydraulic splitter, as the elm was so troublesome.)

--Steve

My QuadraFire made a huge difference this past Winter. I was mostly burning oak and maple, though I may end up with hemlock as well, only because it's free. My only other heat is electric baseboard, and this part of NY State has unfriendly utility prices to match the unfriendly winters. It was not a catylitic type - just a very efficient design! Watching the flames on the reburn tubes is part of the fun. I didn't even need to throw out junk mail - credit card offers make great fire starters!

I haven't heard the word coppice in years... It seems to have entirely gone out of fashion, but it certainly brings back some memories as we used to walk our dogs in a commercially managed forest, much of which was allowed to grow naturally, but they had also planted some large areas as coppice and I was allways amazed how fast it grew. The stuff just seemed to shoot out the ground in no time at all, I believe this was because they used fast growing species, but also when a tree with a large root system is cut to the ground it can support a large amount of fast growth. Either way, it generated a lot of wood in little time. I think the rotations were around 3-4 years, and they yielded plenty of wood.

As for wood stoves, I wouldn't reccomend a catalytic stove. The catalysts are expensive, become less and less effective with age, and they eventually burn out, stoves with a secondary burn provide the same efficient clean burning without reducing efficiency and have no catalyst to burn out. Although you can still buy catalytic stoves, they're less common and most manufacturers have changed over to secondary burn which is widely considered to be better.

Can someone tell me if burning Tamarack or American Larch is acceptable in a high efficiency non-cat wood stove (EPA certified)? I will be using mainly White Birch (70%), Aspen (20%) and Maple (10%). Someone told that Tamarack will tend to produce excessive creosote if used extensively, and also too much heat(!?).

Opinions?
Thank you

It's been a long time since I started this thread, and I have found more answers since... There is paper co. land near my cabin that a person can scrap small wood from after they have finished cutting and crearing what they want, so I've been told anyway. I also have been told that there is no such thing as a diect vent wood stove, I will most likely have to go up the firplace chase, 40 feet up from the basement floor to the top. I can't yet afford a stove this winter, but hopefully next year I will be able to. I will look for a efficient model without the cat converter. I see Northern Tool and Equipment has some deals on Napoleon. They are on the web.

New discovery for me and boy have I been searching and researching the range of stoves from pellets, corn and waterstoves. The one that I just recently heard about and seems like it might fit the bill is called "Lil House Heater" out of St. Louis. Price seems to be right...but I would like to hear from actual owners the pros and cons before I decide to purchase. The wood stove is on the outside of the house which I like...any mess outdoors. Also it is my understanding you only need to load it twice a day and is far cheaper than a water stove. Thanks in advance for any and all responses. ziggy

I burn everyday, all day long in my living room woodstove. Visitors can not even smell it, and are surprised when they see it.
I have burnt pallet pieces and all sorts of lumber. I can say that paper and any trash or (gasp) plastic is a no-no. Just remember that even dry pine is better then wet hardwoods.
My draft is good, and even with the door open no smoke escapes, but you better have that damper open before opening the door! I always leave that door a little open for 10 minutes (supervised!) when I fire her up and I have a bed of coals in no time.
I have a small stove. I fill it up at 7:20 am, leave the door open 10 minutes, shut it, and dampen her down (not choked!). When I get home at 7:00 PM I still have some coals. No problem, I lay a log on them, crack the door, and in 10 minutes or so she is aflame again!
My house is 1048 square foot, and I have not used gas in two years! The woodstove is enough to keep my whole house around 80-85 all day! I don't stuff it full either-or it gets too hot-90 or above.
It is just great when you can sit in your living room at 0 degrees and have fresh air blowing in your open window and still be cozy!

One thing I will warn you about, is that if you are planning on using it as your primary heat source make sure you have a proper heat distribution. We use our woodstove all winter but unless bedroom and bathroom doors are left open those rooms get cold.

Smile3 do you have a forced air furnace also? Try turning on the furnace blower fan and it will circulate the heat through out the house better.

Yeah we do but because it is noisy we don't use it. It is my parents house so I really don't have anything to do with how things are set up (my dad likes everything his way and unless it is his idea nothing is to be changed)

Smile3,

Does your Dad change his mind on occasion?

If he hears a hint of an idea often enough, approached from various directions, lightly ...

... does he sometimes come up with it later, having taken it over a his own?

Jes wonderin'.

ole joyful

I'm in much the same position: I have an oil-fired furnace that I hate to use because of the noise. Most of the time I keep it set to around 55, and use the wood-burning fireplace insert. In a cold spell, the furnace may come on late at night, after the stove has burned down, or when I'm away for the day. But I last filled the tank three (or was it four?) years ago, and it's still about 1/3 full.

Oh, and except for trimmings from the yard, I burn mostly pine & such, that being what grows in the Sierra.

lol Joyful, have you meet my dad? That is exactly what he does, I'm slowly working on him.

I would avoid any catalytic models and go for an airtight stove with a secondary burn chamber. It's also important to consider whether you want a sheet metal, cast iron, or soapstone stove, as each material has its trade-offs in terms of cost, weight, heat retention, etc. Proper installation & maintenance are essential with all of them.

As for the wood, the species is less important than the condition.
It needs to be properly seasoned so it is not green, and not rotten.

That said, different species do have different properties in the way they split
and the way they burn. Elm is notoriously hard to split. Dry softwoods (evergreens, poplar) tend to burn up fast so they make good kindling if cut into small sticks. Dry hardwoods are better for a long-lasting fire that needs less tending, but some species (like red oak) are harder to get started without a lot of kindling.

Then there are site-specific factors. Where we live, certain species are more prone to insect damage and rot, so you may not want them in your pile. When one "expert" tells you a species is the best wood going, and another says avoid it like the plague, they may really be commenting on the condition of certain loads of wood delivered to their homes.

To me, part of the appeal of wood burning is learning all this lore over time.
You can take satisfaction in the experience you develop. The chores involved help you stay fit, too.

But if a little smoke smell bothers you, you might not be a good candidate for a wood stove. Jiggling a thermostat is cleaner and easier.

For high wood burning efficiency and relatively little work, NOTHING beats a masonry heater. One or two short burns per day heats your house for 24 hours - with the efficiency of the latest, high efficiency gas furnaces.

Please check out the link below for more info.

SR

Here is a link that might be useful: how-efficient-is-it-magazine.com

I have to agree with the posters who said that DRY pine is better than wet (green) hardwood.

Seasoned (dry) softwood (pine, etc) does NOT creosote a chimney more than seasoned (dry) hardwoods. That is pure MYTH. I have been burning seasoned (dry) jackpine for over 25 years with no problems what-so-ever. I clean my chimney once a year and get a minimal amount of soot and dry ash. I also burn oak, ash, elm, birch, aspen, maple, fir, spruce, and tamerack growing in my woods and swamps.

It's when you start burning WET (green) unseasoned wood of any species is what causes sticky black drippy creosote. In my experience the worst offender is green oak. It holds a TON of water and just smolders when green.

There's an old saying about firewood: It all burns! Of course heavier, denser wood has more BTUs as the same given volume of softwoods and may hold coals longer, but the firewood you can get the cheapest, easiest or free may be your BEST choice.

Just remember firewood MUST be dried (seasoned) for several months or longer and kept out of the rain and snow if you want good results from your woodstove.

Here is a link that might be useful: Herb's Woods

Northwoodswi Mark,

Have you considered a corn/grain-fired heating system (which I sold, several years ago)? They raise lots of those grains in WI, I'm told.

Cleaner than wood, cheapest fuel except wood that you cut yorself.

Let the cartels that control world grain prices work to keep your fuel price low.

Just a thought.

ole joyful

IMO, corn will not be a good long term choice. It makes no sense to cultivate a crop simply to burn it's seed. Poor choice of land use and far greater energy demand than allowing harvest of natural woodlands.