A Preliminary Comment As I have burned wood for heat for many years and grew up around trees, I thought this ought to be a relatively simple subject to deal with. However in doing research to dig up facts to back up what I thought I knew, I was made to realize that like so many people, I had preconceptions and personal beliefs about the subject that simply do not square with the research and evidence. There has indeed been much research done on this subject in the past 10 to 15 years, especially since the cost of other forms of heating have continued to escalate. So as a confession, I therefore ended up writing this article as much for me as for you. Now it is a matter of whether or not each of us is willing to consider the real truth behind burning wood and be willing to give up our antiquated and unfounded preconceptions we have been taught and learned over the years. I don't know though, Hillbilly's are pretty hard headed, but I'm willing to try and I hope you are also. |
Introduction
Each year, as the weather turns cool and the frosts threaten, countless thousands of folks start to consider converging on the timber stands of the world as a source of winter heating. The crisp air of a fall morning is filled with the aromatic and inviting smell of wood smoke as stoves and fireplaces are lit for the first fires of the season and the whine of chainsaws can be heard everywhere. Perhaps you are not one of those energetic, outdoorsy types who enjoys a few days of strenuous, outdoor exercise each fall. For these. it might be to your local newspaper classifieds or telephone book that you turn. But it is a given that most of us start to consider our winter heating needs as the weather turns colder. For some it is a matter of necessity or choice, for some it is the sight of a crackling fire in the fireplace and for some it is an attempt to keep old man winter (or the utility companies) from getting fat from our heating bills. Whatever the reason, heating or homes and shops is an endeavor of right and choice that many enjoy each year. And why not, it can be a safe and cost effective alternative that is also renewable if we will exercise good stewardship of our resources. But like anything else, our wood supply is not endless and has been abused in many areas and the best woods for home heating take a great many years to renew themselves to a harvestable size. So it is in our best interest to be ever mindful that this is truly a renewable resource, but we must start now if we are to guarantee that our children and grandchildren are to enjoy these same rights and privileges that we do now.
Volume Measurements For Firewood
If you've been heating with wood for any length of time, no doubt you've seen many units of measure for firewood. Some of the methods that I have personally seen or heard of are:
Cord (true cord) - A true cord is a stack of wood that measures 4 feet wide X 4 feet tall X 8 feet long OR 128 cubic feet
Face cord - Generally a stack of wood 4 feet high X 8 feet long but only as wide as a stick of wood. As a stick of firewood is generally 16 inches long, you end up with less than half of a cord of wood.
Stick cord - This is the number of sticks of wood the dealer estimates it takes to make up a cord. Of course this number is totally up to the dealer and the size of the sticks greatly impacts the total volume, etc.
Weight cord - Sometimes a dealer will sell the wood by weight. But the total cubic feet of wood will vary according to how long the wood has been cut. When wood is first cut, it can be as much as 60% water. Therefore, fully cured wood will yield nearly 40% to 50% more cubic feet of wood than green wood will.
Rick - A Rick of wood is one half of a true cord or 4 feet wide X 4 feet tall X 4 feet long.
Pick-up load - A standard 8 foot long pick-up bed will hold roughly 1/2 of a cord if tightly thrown in loose. If it is stacked and slightly rounded, this will also generally yield approximately 1/2 to 2/3 cord. However, a heavy duty pick-up with 12 inch side boards and carefully stacked can often yield a full cord. However, this is not common due to the weight of the wood.
Pile - A pile of wood can be any amount and generally it is up to the buyer and seller to come to an agreement as to what the pile is worth. Don't be afraid to "Haggle" over price as most times the owner of the wood expects this and will normally set the price quite high just so they can come down. When dealing with this type of purchase, I feel it best to walk away from any seller who is unwilling to "Haggle", as there is a possibility they are attempting to take unfair advantage of you or pass off wood that is not in your best interest to buy.
Bundle - A bundle of wood is normally those neatly tied or wrapped bundles of wood sold at convenience and grocery stores that have between 4 to 8 sticks of wood in them. These are generally sold to those individuals who only wish a fire now and then and are not meant to be a source of heat. The cost of these can be as much as 50 to 100 times the cost of a full cord of wood, depending on where you purchase it.
Windrow - This is a practice whereby as the tree is cut up the wood is thrown to the side in the form of a long windrow usually about a length equal to the height of the tree and left in the field. The windrow is as the pile described above and both the buyer and seller come to an agreement as to the estimated quantity in the windrow and value of the wood. A typical windrow will yield from 1 1/2 to 2 1/2 cords, but can go as high as 4 cords for a very large tree and can be a good value if the seller becomes proficient at estimating volume as the seller has no handling or transport cost involved.
Because of the vast discrepancies in what was and was not a cord of wood and the fact that so many people were getting "ripped off" on their wood purchases, something needed to be done. The US Bureau of Weights and Measures finally stepped in and set a definition of a legal cord of wood as being a stack of wood measuring 4 feet wide X 4 feet tall X 8 feet long or 128 cu. ft. and a rick of wood at 4 feet wide X 4 feet tall X 4 feet long or 64 cu. ft. Since that time many, if not most states, have followed suit with similar laws in order to place some form of a standard unit of measure on the sale of firewood and thereby protecting consumers. (See Avoiding Getting Burned) So with the law now on your side exercise caution in purchasing your firewood, but go forth boldly and if they say a cord, it must be a cord. If possible, know your dealer and try to form a relationship of trust with him or her and whenever possible visually inspect your wood prior to shelling out your hard-earned money if you must buy your wood.
Heating Characteristics Of Firewood's
Now this is where the science hits the wood pile. For many of us who have burned wood for years, we have heard most of the stories about which is the best wood to use for our heating purposes. In fact, most of us have gone so far as to form our own personal beliefs and opinions when it comes to which woods are best and which ones we desire to stay away from. But research done by many universities and institutions has led to some amazing and startling revelations in the science of burning wood for heat. In laboratory testing under ideal conditions, it was discovered that nearly all woods were pretty equal in that most of them produced right at 8660 Btu/ld of wood, regardless of type (note that it is per pound of wood). So why do we see, or at least perceive, a difference in various types of wood under actual use? The answer lies in the moisture content and density of the wood. Wood by its nature is as much as 60% water when it is first cut. It is the moisture in the wood at the time it is burned, coupled with its density that gives it it's evidential good and bad characteristics that we observe. The real key to obtaining the best heating characteristics of wood is in its dryness, or "cure" of the wood. An ideal wood for heating has been "cured" for at least one year and some species (most of the hardwoods) may require two years to cure properly.
Properly seasoned wood will have a moisture content of not more than 20% and lower moisture contents are even better. When wood is burned, a certain amount of the energy we desire for heat is directed not at making us warm, but rather at drying out the remainder of the moisture, heating and evaporating the humidity of the air. To put it in different terms, let's say you have a piece of wood seasoned to 20% moisture that weighs 1.25 pounds. If the wood was totally dry (0% moisture) it would produce 8660 Btu/pound of heat. In order to burn, some of the heat produced must go to evaporating the remaining 20% of moisture, heating the combustion air and vaporizing the humidity in the air. This is called "latent heat" or the heat needed to evaporate the moisture and leave strictly burnable wood. This is lost in the form of water vapor and smoke and the remaining heat that is available to warm us drops to 6050 Btu (this is based on a wood stove with a 50% efficiency). As the moisture in the wood increases, so does the latent heat requirement to dry the wood for combustion and the available Btu's drops even more.
Ok, so we all know that some woods burn longer and better than others. Why? The answer to this lies in the weight per cubic foot of the wood and the density. The heavier the wood you are putting into the fire, the more potential Btu's you will be getting back (remember 8660 Btu's per pound of dry wood). This is why woods such as Hickory and Oak are so preferred and woods such as Cottonwood and Willows are disliked. However, the density of the wood can play a vital role in how quickly a piece of wood is consumed. A piece of Black Walnut for instance does indeed posses a tremendous amount of heat because it is a heavy hardwood. But it is also an extremely dense wood and therefore will burn very slowly and give off its energy very slowly. Cottonwood on the other hand is a very light wood and will be consumed quickly, with little apparent heat produced.
Some phenomena that I have personally witnessed, have not been addressed (that I have found thus far) however by researchers are:
Black Walnut wood burns extremely slowly and will indeed go out if it does not receive adequate oxygen. Therefore a fire of Black Walnut in an air tight stove can and will actually extinguish itself. I theorize that it has much to do with the density of the wood being so dense that it can not form enough surface area for spontaneous combustion (but this is merely my speculation).
However, Hedge (Osage Orange, Osage-apple, mock orange, hedge-apple, horse-apple, hedge ball, bois d'arc, bodark, bodart, bow wood) is denser than Black Walnut and will burn with an intense heat if it has any moisture in it at all. Hedge should never be burned by itself and should always be mixed with other woods as well as be very dry. I suspect that volatile compounds are present it the wood that are flammable which gives it its intense heat, but no studies have been done (that I have thus far found) to support this theory. Stoves have actually been melted, cracked and destroyed by burning straight hedge wood.
Cottonwood and Water Willow are both very light woods and do burn up very quickly. These also burn at a very low temperature and thereby produce little heat. We have a saying that "you can freeze to death while standing in front of a Cottonwood bonfire". Here again science has not done any studies to confirm this (that I have found), but it was an extremely cold winter in our house when I tried to burn Cottonwood, but I got a good workout from all the stoking of the stove.
Here again, let me stress that most studies were done in a laboratory setting with 100% dry wood and pure oxygen in order to find total heat "POTENTIAL". But then, don't we desire to get the most we can out of that "hard earned" wood? No, we can never reach 0% moisture in the real world, but we for sure can do a lot better than the 50 or 60% of green wood.
Since about 1050 Btu are necessary to boil or evaporate a pound of water, and 1 Btu additional is necessary to raise the pound's temperature 1°F, it is possible to determine the latent heat fairly easily by knowing the total weight of water vapor given off by the fire. Earlier we had the 0.25 pound of moisture content in our 1.25 pound piece of wood. Add about 0.54 pounds of water vapor as products of combustion. If we assume low humidity conditions that contribution is small. We now have 0.79 pounds of water vapor that started at say 60°F average temperature and was heated to say 400°F. The latent heat is then 0.79 times (1050 plus 340 temp rise {400 degrees minus 60 degrees outside air}) or 1098 Btu required per 1.25 pound piece, or 880 Btu/pound lost. The result is that the available energy in seasoned (20% moisture content) wood used in an actual usage environment (400°F flue gases) is about 6050 Btu/pound. Rather shocking isn't it?
Ok, but I know you probably don't want to do a bunch of figuring to find out how many Btu's your getting for your favorite wood, so take a look at this handy average Btu/Cord @20% moisture chart.
General Characteristics of Woods
Ok, we now have a general idea about heat and moisture content, but what about all of those other things I like about my favorite wood. Can I find these same characteristics in other woods? Each of us has a favorite wood for various reasons. Among them are how easily it splits, how long it burns, how many sparks it produces and the smell it creates. These are all factors that many wood burners take into consideration if they have a choice.
Of these, ease of splitting is a big factor, especially if one does not have the advantage of a mechanical splitter. As anyone who has ever split a wood like elm for instance can tell you, a wood that is difficult to split makes burning wood much less attractive. Many an elm log has been rolled off to the burn pile after splitting mauls have been broken and wood wedges hopelessly buried in them, never to see the light of day again. However, a good straight grained wood such as locust, cherry, pine and others practically split themselves. Therefore taking the time to learn the characteristics of various woods is well worth the time spent.
Sparks are a major factor in choosing a firewood in terms of safety, both to your home and yourself. It can be a rude awakening indeed to open the door of your woodstove and get a face full of hot sparks. While the internal elements of many woods, such as volatile compounds will account for much of the sparking characteristics of some woods, there are things you can do to limit many of the unpleasant sparks. One is the dryness of the wood. Excessive moisture in wood will intensify the sparking characteristics of any wood. Simply put, the more the moisture, the more the sparks. Another factor is the rapid introduction of cool air into the burning chamber or firebox. If burning in a wood stove, always open the door slowly and open the door only an inch or two for a few seconds to allow the fire to get accustomed to the rapid introduction of fresh air.
When it comes to having to refuel a stove or fireplace, it can be frustrating at times if you must do this to often. As a general rule, the softer and lighter a wood is, the more often your appliance will need to be replenished. Therefore it is to your advantage to burn the hardest and densest woods you have available, both from a refueling and economic standpoint.
When it comes to the pleasant smell of wood burning, all woods smell great to many. However, some woods do have a larger following than others when it comes to smell. Probably the two woods with the biggest following are hickory, which is probably the number one wood for aroma and fir. However, each person has his or her personal favorite and only they can decide this. But to much of anything can be a bad thing. If you walk into your house and instantly get the sensation of being in a pine distillery or charcoal plant, you may have a problem. Want to know more about the characteristics of your favorite firewood? Check this handy reference table.
The Cost of Heating With Wood
When it comes to figuring the cost of heating in general and wood in particular, this is the most difficult of any area to get an accurate answer, especially if you have no previous history and/or experience. Some of the things you will need to consider are:
How much energy have you used in the past? Knowing this will give you an idea as to how much you will need.
How energy efficient is your home? This may be a best guess for most folks.
What type of wood appliance are you going to use? Open fireplaces can be as low as 5% efficient, while some of the newer wood stoves are as high as 50% efficient or more.
What is the current cost of your particular energy source at present, i.e.; electricity, natural gas, propane, fuel oil, etc.?Type of wood you are planning on burning? As you can see from the discussion thus far, the type of wood used can make a big difference on the amount of heat you will receive.
How dry is the wood? Remember that a substantial amount of the energy produced goes to just drying out the wood.
Are you buying the wood or are you going to cut it yourself? Most studies show that it costs from 1/3 to 1/2 as much to cut the wood yourself as it costs to buy it if you can find a local source.
Is your wood heat to be your primary source of heat or a secondary system? Many people may choose to operate their wood systems only as a back up or a supplemental system to another primary system such as a natural gas furnace.
For a handy reference chart to compare costs of various heating fuels, check out here.
Wood Fire Safety
Sadly, every year about this time the sound of sirens becomes more and more frequent as more and more homes catch fire and burn, taking with it a lifetime of cherished possessions, memories and sadder still - lives. The prime home fire season is from November through March, but the vast majority of home fires occur during December through February. Fires caused by heating is second only to the number of fires caused by cooking.
As it relates to wood heating, the primary causes of fires are:
Flue fires caused by defective flues. Cracks, poor fitting and loose joints and improper design and/or materials make up a sizable number of flue fires each year. These defects become the means by which the fire enters the home. Over time joints can become loose and cracks can develop, especially with clay-type flue liners. When a fire starts in the chimney, it burns through these cracks and finds its way into the home. In the case of masonry flues with liners, the fire will get in between the liner and the masonry chimney, where it will burn for days, or in extreme cases weeks, and eventually will burn through the mortar holding the chimney together, which is often in need of repair in the first place. During my time spent as a firefighter, these were often the most difficult to extinguish and almost always resulted in a great amount of damage in proportion to the fire because of how much often had to be torn apart in order to get to the fire itself.
Build up of creosote in the chimney.
When fires burn they emit many bi-products of combustion. Among these are particulate matter, resins and various gases. These are carried aloft in the heat and water vapor that results from the wood being burned. The cooler the combustion and flue gases, the greater the amounts of these by-products and are visible as smoke coming out of your chimney. When these bi-products come in contact with the cooler walls of the chimney, many of them condense on the walls of the chimney to form a black coating known as creosote. When hot, these deposits will take on a semi-liquid consistency that will find their way into cracks and defects in the chimney and will saturate porous mortar joints. When the build up becomes great enough and flue gas temperature is high enough, this creosote will ignite into a flue fire. Unless extinguished quickly, the resulting fire will follow the creosote wherever it goes. If the creosote has found its way into your home through cracks and other defects, the fire will migrate to the inside of the home. Creosote build up can be limited by:
Burn only cured and dry wood. Avoid wood that has been rain-soaked and allow it to dry for a few days before it is burned. Bottom line - limit the amount of moisture that enters your heating appliance.
Avoid burning woods that are exceptionally high in resins and other volatile products such as yellow pine, building scraps, plywood, particle board and others. If you do burn any of these, make it in small quantities, mixed with other dry woods and always with a hot fire.
Keep your chimney clean. All flue systems should be thoroughly cleaned at least once per year before the beginning of the heating season and try to clean it again at least once during the heating season. This is especially important if you have been burning high moisture green woods or running low fires for any length of time.
Keep the flue gas temperature high. This usually means keeping the fire burning hot. But during times when a hot fire is not practical, at least build a really hot fire each morning and each evening and let it burn hot for several minutes to "burn out" any creosote deposits that may have formed. Now when we say to "burn out" the creosote, we are not talking about trying to deliberately create a flue fire. What we are trying to do is to limit the amount of creosote to a point below that where it will spontaneously combust. Therefore we need to raise the flue temperatures to a point where the existing creosote volatilizes and leaves the chimney or the flue temperatures are great enough to consume the creosote into a harmless ash.
Defective or improper equipment and/or components.
Equipment, and or components account for a great number of fires each year. Fireplaces with defective and/or missing screens, defective doors on wood stoves and loose joints can all be places where sparks and embers escape. Fireplaces should all have proper fitting glass or metal screens that cover the entire opening of the fireplace and should have wood grates and andirons that are in good repair. Wood stoves must have tight fitting doors and any insulating seal around the door kept in good repair. There must be no cracks in seams or joints and the stove must be installed on a sturdy, level base. The flue liner, whether metal or clay must be periodically inspected for holes, cracks, loose joints and repaired when needed. When it comes to flues and liners, clay is still extremely popular and is a primary choice for fireplaces even today. Often local codes will dictate the type of liner for a fireplace. However, for a wood stove, if you are installing a new one for the first time or replacing an existing one, an excellent choice would be a triple wall stainless steel flue. Yes these do insulate your home from the heat of the flue gasses very well, but their role is two-fold to also keep the flue gas temperature high and prevent the flue gasses from coming into contact with a cool sidewall of a flue. This limits the amount of creosote that can condense.
Every year fire safety people try to remind us to be safe with our winter heating. It seems everywhere we turn, there are fire safety check lists, FYI fliers and cute characters everywhere trying to remind us to exercise safety with our winter heating. And as an ex-firefighter and your friend I do hope each of us listens. Because it is a fact of life that we do tend to forget the "main and plain" things unless we are very, very careful and not reminded periodically. This is especially true if we have not had a "wake up call" in a while. All to often, if we do not receive a reality check, we start thinking that it won't happen to us and what we are doing is right - even if what we have been doing has been wrong. We call this a "shot in the shorts reality check" here in the Ozarks. This does not mean we are right - it only means we are lucky and like all things in life, it eventually runs out. Along with everything discussed thus far, the following are a few other FYI's and "must do's" for your safety with your winter heating:
Do have a safety plan for your family in place and practice it. Do not merely talk about it once and drop it. Talk about it regularly and practice it at least two or three times a year. As an ex-firefighter, let me assure you that in a panic situation, this does work and failure to plan and practice equally guarantees disaster.
The majority of deaths from home fires occur at night while you are asleep. Many of these never even get the chance to try to escape. Unless you have practiced an escape plan until it is habit, don't deceive yourself into thinking you'll remember it at the time you are abruptly jerked from sleep into a house full of dense smoke that disorients everything further.
Do have working smoke and carbon monoxide detectors in your home and test them often. It is time to set your clocks back again and therefore it is time to change the batteries in your smoke and carbon monoxide detectors. Get in a habit of changing these with every clock change or every six months if you do not practice time changes. By-products of fire (smoke and carbon monoxide as well as many other gasses) are the primary cause of death in home fires and detectors have been proven repeatedly to be your best means of increasing your odds of surviving a fire. Do not rely on a smoke detector alone. Carbon monoxide is a odorless colorless gas that is present as a by-product of any flame. If there is uncontrolled fire or defective equipment, this gas will be introduced into your environment and most of the time you will not detect it until it is to late.
Do have at least one and preferably two fire extinguishers in your home and know how to use them. Any extinguisher company or fire department will be happy to provide training. But do not allow yourself to think you can fight the fire with an extinguisher alone. Unless the fire is very small, it should only be used to allow you and your loved ones enough time to escape to safety and then let the professionals, who are equipped and trained to do so handle the fire. Your primary concern should be to get yourself and your loved ones out to safety.
Regardless of the type of heating system, keep it in good repair and working order and you greatly increase your chances of never needing to put emergency response practices into use.
Get It Locally
As the world continues to shrink and we become more and more of a global community, we have ever increasing access to many wonderful things from foreign lands and cultures that were inaccessible just a few short years ago. We can now enjoy foods from the far flung corners of the globe that are almost as fresh as when they were picked, fine furnishings from distant craftsmen and for us gardeners, plants that until now were enjoyed only by our neighbors in some far flung country. But with this globalization comes hazards. Some of which are difficult or impossible to deal with. Take for instance the starling, English sparrows, pigeons, killer bees, zebra muscles, and dandelions. These are all natives of distant lands where nature kept everything in its own proper balance. But once introduced to this continent, they had no natural predators and their control has thus far been impossible.
Now the newest of these "globalized guests" has entered into this continent and they appear to pose a bigger potential threat to the world as we know it than all of the others combined. It is tree destroying insects. In some areas of the continent, entire stands of valuable tress are being destroyed. And these guests are growing and expanding in numbers and area of coverage more and more each year, causing both the federal and state governments take increasingly drastic measures in order to curb their spread while they try to find effective methods to control them without also harming the environment and its inhabitants. Couple these with our native insects that go through periodic cycles and naturally occurring diseases and our timber forests are under attack as never before.
In an effort to combat the spread of these insects and diseases all federal parks in threatened areas and most state parks within threatened areas now ban bringing wood in from the outside. Many states, including my home state of Missouri, bans the import of wood from many states in an effort to limit the spread of the insects and diseases. Most states along the northern and eastern half of the United States request that you obtain your wood locally and within 40 miles of your residence. In many states, my own included, a bill of sale that includes the name and address of both buyer and seller and where the wood was cut is required in order to track these pests and diseases. In some states the problem has gotten so great that bans have been put in place to limit the movement of some woods to less than 20 miles and proof of origin must be supplied.
As this world becomes more and more mobile, this will become an increasingly common issue for everyone to deal with and everyone will face the ramifications of it. For those who may be thinking that since they don't burn wood, this doesn't effect them, let me point out a couple of things. First off these are our trees as residents of North America and this same scenario could be played out in virtually any country in the world. As we loose our trees, we also loose a piece of each of us and our heritage to our children and grandchildren.
Additionally, as another offshoot of this whole imported guest issue, many nurseries are having an increasingly difficult time shipping to many states and in some cases have been blocked from shipping out of their state altogether. What this means to you is that it is at least theoretically possible that one day, you may be limited to only those plants that are grown locally if we don't start finding some answers soon. So yes, this is an issue that effects all of us. So getting your wood from local sources is one way we can all help fight this battle.
When you get your wood home do not apply any form of insecticides to the wood. Many of the compounds that may be formed when burned could be toxic and many of them will be released into the air. Bear in mind that the majority of the bugs found in firewood pose no threat to you or your home and are nothing but a nuisance if they get into your home. To limit their chance of being released into your home, keep the wood as cold as possible until it burned.
Take a moment to study these foreign "guests" in the side bar so you can help identify them if they try to crash your party.
Take Care Of Your Wood
You've gone to a lot of trouble to lay in a stock of the best quality wood you could fine. So what are you going to do now? Throw it in a pile on the ground in the back yard? You've got to much work and money invested in it to do that. Here are a few tips to help protect your hard-earned investment:
Never stack your wood directly on the ground. This will invite pest problems and retain moisture in the lower wood. A concrete slab, sloped for drainage is best, but not everyone is going to have such a luxury. The next best thing would be to build a rectangular frame out of landscape timbers or railroad ties and fill this with 6 to 8 inches of gravel. If all else fails find sturdy shipping pallets to stack your wood on. These can normally be found for little or no cost at all from stores and factories. I use shipping pallets because I can find them for free. I cleaned off and leveled an area for the wood. I then covered this with 2 inches of small gravel (called chat here in the Ozarks) of approximately 1/2 to 1 inch diameter and tamped it down firmly with a hand tamper (a power tamper would also work if you have one available). Over this I covered it with landscaping fabric and arranged 12" paving stones so that 8 or 9 pavers would be under each pallet. I then filled in between with more chat and arranged my pallets. Heavy duty pallets will last for several years before they will need to be replaced. Standard pallets may need to be replaced every couple of years (but then - they're free). Recycle the pallets by cutting them up and using them as kindling only for starting fires.
Cover your wood piles.
Wood left exposed to the elements will soak up surface moisture from rains and wood covered with ice and snow is miserable to beat apart and handle in the middle of winter. But never NEVER cover or wrap your wood with a tarp or plastic. This will prevent it from drying out and will trap moisture inside. If possible keep your wood inside a well ventilated shed (called what else - a woodshed) . But here again, this may not be practical or affordable for many people. Solution (or at least one that works for me) - corrugated fiberglass roofing panels. Purchase 12 foot sheets and cut them in half to give you two 6 foot long panels. These can now be placed over your stacked wood with a foot hanging over each side to shed rain, snow and ice. Simply weight the panels down with rocks or concrete blocks. [This is assuming you have stacked your wood in stacks 4 feet wide]. Assuming you have stacked your wood in 4 feet by 8 feet cord stacks (called ranking), it will require 2 - 12foot sheets to cover the stack. A fiberglass or fine-toothed blade in a circular saw will make quick work of cutting the sheets with no sharp edges to cut you and the sheets are lighter than steel to handle.
Never stack new wood on top of the old wood. Just as with any perishable product, you want to use up the oldest wood first. Most common firewood's will start to deteriorate after about 5 years and most good quality hardwoods will take 2 years to fully cure, so ideally you will be burning wood that is between 2 to 4 years old. There is a mistaken belief that new wood is best because it leaves a bed of coals for the morning. However, remember what was discussed earlier, the reason for this wood lasting longer is because up to 1/2 or more of the total energy produced by the fire is NOT going to provide warmth for you. It is being used to simply dry the wood out so that the fire can sustain itself, and in the process creosote is being deposited inside your flue increasing your odds of having a flue fire.
Never treat your wood with any kind of insecticide to kill the insects. A couple of reasons this is not a good idea:
By-products of burning some insecticides have been shown to be more toxic to you than the insects. And in the process you are releasing these toxic materials into the atmosphere through the flue gases.
Insecticides offered today that are effective against the types of insects found in wood rely on ingesting the chemicals. Since any insects found in the wood at this time of the year are in a dormant or semi-dormant state, they are not feeding and therefore will not ingest the poisons. Most of the insects you will find in wood right now are there for a warm place to take a long winters nap. Leave your wood in a cold location until you are ready to burn it and then insects should not be a problem and knock off any dirt and insects outside before you bring it inside.
Never stack your wood next to or near your house or an existing building. This will only invite insects in and create problems.
Always cut to length and split your wood to size before you stack it as this will hasten the drying process.
Environmental Issues
Properly executed, burning wood for heat can be an environmentally responsible means of keeping warm. However, that does not mean that it is without risk or without its hazards. Some of the by-products of wood combustion are:
carbon dioxide
water vapor
ash
heat
carbon monoxide
various hydrocarbons
various other gases.
Much of what is expelled by your wood burning appliance is in direct correlation with the manner in which it is burned. Burning wood with to high of a moisture content lowers the flue gas temperature and increases emissions. Also burning at lower temperatures such as a low fire for long periods significantly increases emissions and decreases flue gas temperatures.
Many new stoves now have catalytic combustors installed to help burn off these by-products and reclaim much of the heat that would have been lost. These devices are also now being offered for installation on older stoves not previously equipped with them. Some states have started requiring the installation of these devises on wood burning appliances to help cut down on emissions. While they can be expensive, and may add an additional $200.00 to the cost of an existing stove, the cost is offset by the fact that they can easily reclaim 50% to 60% of the heat that is presently going up the chimney as well as clean up the flue emissions. So this is an appliance that will pay for itself in a short amount of time. However, they will need to be replaces every few years. But the length of time that they will last is largely up to you and your wood choices.
So cozy up to a warm, crackling fire this winter knowing that it can be a safe, cost effective way to keep warm that can be environmentally friendly and have a steaming cup of cocoa or hot spiced cider and enjoy the winter.
