Bought House with Wood Stove...Now what??

[arwenvaughan]

This may be a stupid question, but this is totally new to me and I can't find an existing post to answer my question.  I just bought a new house in Denver with a wood burning stove (Nestor Martin X33) and it will be getting cold very soon! I can't seem to find any good source of information of what kind of wood to use and where to buy it. Maybe it is more important to know what types of wood not to use...there seems to be all kinds of disagreement about this on the web? So, I turn to you guys.

What kinds of wood should I use and how available are they? Can you use any kind of pine, aspen, etc? Where do you find / buy your wood?

Thanks in advance.

Arwen

[willib]

The only type of wood i would not use is wood that is treated .
Any thing else is fair game, if it burns its good..

I've burned wood in a stove for years as a kid.
you get it where you can.
On the side of the road,ppl throw out logs all the time.
You'll need a sledge hammer and acouple of  wood wedges to split the logs, and something to cut them with.

The best feeling in the world was when the gas company guy come out to see why we werent using the same amount of gas as the year before 

[TomW]

What most folks burn is known as cordwood. Which is simply short chunks of wood that fit the stove and are easily handled.

What species is very location specific.

Here we have good heavy hardwoods like Oak and Hickory. Places like Colorado use things like Tamarack and other softer woods.

I made it through a whole winter at 44 north latitude just burning pallets I cut up with an electric sawzall and collected from behind businesses.

I fetch wood with this rig now:



And stash it here:



Burning wood is very satisfying, hard work. I wouldn't have it any other way!

Starting out flat footed you will likely need to purchase cordwood. Look in the local paper for firewood sale ads.

There are several items you need to cut and gather your own firewood:

Chain saw(s) & extra chains.

A way to transport it (pickup truck or tractor & wagon)

A way to split it (Splitting maul, power splitter)

The time (often hardest to find)

A place to cut it if your land does not have the resource.

Gas, oil and maintenance on the equipment.

Split body wood is the best stuff to burn but is more work.

If you buy cordwood, you can often save some cost by hauling it yourself if you have a pickup or buddy with one who will help.

I have done this for most of my life so there are parts I don't even think of as part of it so I may have missed some details.

There is a learning curve on running the stove. It is a bit more involved than setting a thermostat most are used to.

Good Luck on it.

Tom

[tanner0441]

Hi

When I first moved to a rural location I installed a Villager wood burning stove, I bought some trees from a local estate and after proving my ability to use a chain saw, cut them down, caked them and carried them home for splitting. Very satisfying to keep warm with wood you have collected.

Then I was given all the pilings and planking from an old marina, several tons of it, loads of two foot square by 20 foot pitch pine beams.  I set to work cutting them up after the first one I gave the whole lot away.........  The sand of many years being in the sea and the marine creatures with hard shells took the edge off the blades faster than I could sharpen them.

Trees, pallats, crates, old sheds and fence posts. Brilliant, and apart from the odd nail, kind on the blade.  Stuff that has spent the last 20 years in the sea, forget it.

According to a book on RE I bought all wood and coal have the same calorific value per pound, it's the density that varies.

[DamonHD]

There are some woods such as Laurel that you're not meant to burn because of the cyanide produced, but it's not stopping my dad working through his hackings...

Rgds

Damon

[TomW]

There are some woods such as Laurel that you're not meant to burn because of the cyanide produced, but it's not stopping my dad working through his hackings...

Rgds

Damon

HD;

I thought you Brits were savvy folks?

The stove is supposed to be vented to the outside

At least that is the accepted method here.




Tom

[DamonHD]

Oh, not under the chair then?

(Yes, AFAIK his wood stoves are sealed to the room(s), but when you load more wood in, and/or if it's not drawing well, then I guess you could get a blast of the ole Prussian Blues.)

Rgds

Damon

[SteveCH]

I  realize that "Denver" can mean many actual specific locations. If you don't already know it, like you are new to the area or something, many areas of Denver do not allow wood burning and others allow it only on certain days. Not very many days.

But assuming you are in a burning location, you can use any local wood. That means aspen, cottonwood, pine, spruce and fir. That is most of what is out here. [I live in the foothills.] Aspen and cottonwood leave LOTS of ash and burn up rapidly. But they are wood and they put out plenty of heat. Ponderosa pine is great, much heat and average ash. There are millions of dead trees due to beetle kill so I would assume you will have little problem finding wood. Some Internet searching will help. Also, if you are in a burning area, you must have neighbors you can ask about their sources. Good luck, nothing like wood heat.

[frackers]

If you have just moved in, and its not new, then get the flue cleaned and checked.

The most important thing I have found with a log burner is using dry seasoned wood - it should be stacked out in the open over summer (rain won't actually make it very wet - its the sap you're trying to dry out of it) and stored with plenty of air round it as the burning season starts.

Failure to use dry timber results in lots of deposits in the flue that can block it or cause a fire.

We are getting into spring now so I'm felling trees before the sap gets up too much and they will be cut and split immediately (bluegum gets as hard as nails if left to dry), stacking on old pallets in the paddocks near to shelter trees to allow the sun and wind onto it and I'll stack it in the shed in March/April ready to start burning in May/June.

[dnix71]

If you are in Colorado can you get tar shale to burn? I've heard stories of early settlers who didn't know better and built chimneys out of shale and the first time they lit the fireplace the whole house went up in flames.

[arwenvaughan]

Wow, thanks for all the comments!! This has cleared up a lot of things for me. I always get the best information here at fieldlines. I fired up the stove the other night and it was a thing of beauty.

Also, it turns out I have to take out a large Black Walnut tree that is growing out of my garage foundation. I know what to do with that bad boy!!!!!

Thanks again!

[dualsport54]

Wow, thanks for all the comments!! This has cleared up a lot of things for me. I always get the best information here at fieldlines. I fired up the stove the other night and it was a thing of beauty.

Also, it turns out I have to take out a large Black Walnut tree that is growing out of my garage foundation. I know what to do with that bad boy!!!!!

Thanks again!

You'll love wood heat. A very satisfying warm friend on a cold Winter's night. One thought though... You might consider trying to find a buyer for that "large Black Walnut tree". Someone may pay you quite nicely for it. (Makes nice furniture.) A good size, straight black walnut can bring in an impressive sum of money. You could then buy several cords of ready cut/seasoned hardwood plus probably have significant money left over. Just a thought.

[luv2weld]

Yeah,
I'm one of those guys looking for walnut.
Maybe we can arrange a trade.
I've got over 200 acres in the mountains. Between Salida and Buena Vista.
Yeah, I know it's a hundred miles from Denver. But if you have a wood lathe and enjoy working wood..............
Contact me at luv*2*weld*@*hughes*.net     Take out the *

Ralph

[WindriderNM]

Check with the Forest Service They sell permits to cut firewood. some times it is already cut into manageable sized pieces.

[ghurd]

After the flue is cleaned...

Wood heat always feels a little drier to me.  Itchy skin and Sahara dry sinus.
I would suggest keeping your eyes open for a cheap deep stock pot.
Fill it with water and set it on top.

Can use a coffee can for a temporary solution, but the seams fail before long and rusty water runs all over.

Do NOT use a good piece of cookware.
It will go dry when you didn't notice.
Then it warps, and gets dents.
Warps from the heat.
Dents from the wife beating you on the head with it when she finds out you warped her favorite skillet.
G-

[SparWeb]

...And all that is only the "supply" side.  Then there's the "user" side, and the waste, too.  Other things you'll need to get the hang of:  stacking the wood so it doesn't fall over, setting aside kindling, lighting the fire, cleaning the ash, and so on.  There are 100 little skills to perfect with wood stoves and furnaces.  Nothing like the "set-and-forget" gas and electric furnaces, eh!

[HiddenMountain]

If you don't mind, I'll add my $0.02 here.

Since I don't know Colorado, I don't know what kinds of wood you have available. From what I read, you don't have much of a selection on hardwoods, which is by far the best for wood heating. If you have to burn conifers, fir is the best, although it breaks my heart to see that nice building wood go up in smoke. Here's a link that'll give you an idea of what kind of heat you can get from different species of wood... http://chimneysweeponline.com/howood.htm The units of measurement are called British Thermal Units, or BTU's. The higher the number, the hotter the burn.

As was mentioned by Frackers, it is imperative that you get your stove pipe cleaned. The nasty stuff called creosote builds up inside the chimney or stove pipe and it is HIGHLY FLAMMABLE! Many house fires start because of this overlooked detail. It's well worth the cost for a good chimney sweep to come and clean it for you. They usually will show you how to do it yourself, if you don't mind heights that is!

And the advise about getting your wood a good six months before you start burning it? Very good idea! We are getting a logging truck load of wood delivered tomorrow! That's 35 to 40 cubic meters of maple, alder and birch for $2000.00 CDN. A little late in the season this year, I know, but we still have lots of wood from last year that should get us in to the new year.

Ok, that might have been $0.03 worth.......

Enjoy your wood stove!

[Ungrounded Lightning Rod]

Once you get the chimney cleaned and start burning, DON'T try to "bank the fire" to try to stretch the wood.  That's how you build up more creosote in the chimney (as the smoke condenses there) and then, after some months, start a chimney fire the next time your stove gets hot again and burn down the house.  You have to let some heat up the stack to keep it clean.  (This is presuming you have a basic stove, not one of the low-ash, forced-air, modern stoves, which inject extra air to burn the smoke before exhausting it to the stack.)

When you stack your wood, DON'T stack it against a wall of the house.  Stack it in its own space some distance away.  A stack of firewood against a house is a termite antenna.

[freejuice]

Once you get the chimney cleaned and start burning, DON'T try to "bank the fire" to try to stretch the wood.  That's how you build up more creosote in the chimney (as the smoke condenses there) and then, after some months, start a chimney fire the next time your stove gets hot again and burn down the house.  You have to let some heat up the stack to keep it clean.  (This is presuming you have a basic stove, not one of the low-ash, forced-air, modern stoves, which inject extra air to burn the smoke before exhausting it to the stack.)

When you stack your wood, DON'T stack it against a wall of the house.  Stack it in its own space some distance away.  A stack of firewood against a house is a termite antenna.

I will parrot exactly this!
 Here in the Southeast, most folks dont even burn pine....you cant give the stuff away....too much creosote build up they claim....yellow pines and many of the scrub pines  ( when I say scrub pines...think of the trunks being 1-2 feet in diameter) have too much resin in them.
 If you burn that walnut tree, well thats ok but it will ash up fairly quickly....it might be worth more as lumber.
As Ghurd said, get something to humidify your home, a pot of water simmering on top of the stove will do just nicely just niecly on the stove.
Also there was a product out there at one time called "Chimflex" if the spelling is correct. Well these things look sort of like those roadside flares you can buy....but these things are made for chimney fires. I think the concept is to toss two of these things in a woodstove if the horrible chimney fire starts and batten down the hatches... its suppose to smoother that locomotive as it is roaring down the tracks!
 It might not be a bad idea to have a couple of these things close by in case you get into some kind of voodoo.

[mesuno]

First up, congrats on the new house! You'll come to love your wood stove, but they take a bit of time to really get used to using. Are you planning on using it as your primary heating, or will you mostly be using a traditional boiler system?

The reason I ask is that there is a big diffence in scale for the firewood you will need to get in if you plan on using it for most of your heating. The big things to make using a stove a happy experience are that your firewood should be dry... in practice this usually means it needs to season for two summers. Most firewood that you buy in as seasoned is likely to have had only one summer.

I recently test burned a piece of "seasoned" sweet chestnut - part of a large load my dad bought in - and it still needs another year. The wet piece of wood sat in the back of the fire going slowly black and took over an hour before it really started smouldering/burning. By contrast a piece of our good firewood, which has been stacked for an extra year, will smoke as soon as placed on the bed of embers burn merrily within a minute or so. Wet firewood also contributes to build ups of creosote in the chimney and flue - cold, wet smoke condenses on the flue walls where it builds up and can cause a serious fire hazzard.


You will also find it helpful to get a good collection of split kindling in - I spend 30 minuites splitting some seasoned pine logs down to quarter inch slivers. These are  dry enough to pretty much light with a match and by having a big stock already split and ready to use you avoid problems trying to get a fire going with too little skindling. I'm sure you've all seen people trying to light fires with one last piece of kindling from the box, rather than going out and splitting more. I know for certain that my mum won't light a fire unless everything is there within arms reach and ready to use.

Regarding what type of wood to burn - basically anything goes so long as it isdry. I know in some prts of america there are whuge regions with beetle killed pine dead, dry and basically ready to burn. Some people don't like pine for what ever reason, but if it is available, local and cheap go for it. Some dense woods give more heat per log, but you can get round that by just having a few more logs.

To find a local firewood supplier I'd try local newspapers, loock for business cards in local agricultural type places or contact tree surgeons. Firewood is basically a business with local reach - it isn't valuable enough to be worth hauling long distances by road so you are unlikely to find someone with firewood at a good price unless it is local.