# anyone burn green wood exclusively?



## volks-man (Jan 1, 2009)

my boss burned only wood for heat for around twenty years. for as long as i have known him i rarely saw a stack of firewood. 
he had always cut a little wood and then burned it. he also has told me about some wood having 'more sap' then others. as an example he said the blackish liquid running down the wall at his thimble was 'sap' from burning wild cherry. he also mentioned that it was very difficult to clean the glass on his wood stove. after a while it was completely blacked out.

this all sounds like creosote to me. he seems to be blisssfully unaware of the situation. somehow he never has had a chimney fire. fortunately he is now burning oil in a new home.

anyone else burn green more than seasoned? is there some advantage i am not seeing?


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## modn (Jan 1, 2009)

volks-man said:


> my boss burned only wood for heat for around twenty years. for as long as i have known him i rarely saw a stack of firewood.
> he had always cut a little wood and then burned it. he also has told me about some wood having 'more sap' then others. as an example he said the blackish liquid running down the wall at his thimble was 'sap' from burning wild cherry. he also mentioned that it was very difficult to clean the glass on his wood stove. after a while it was completely blacked out.
> 
> this all sounds like creosote to me. he seems to be blisssfully unaware of the situation. somehow he never has had a chimney fire. fortunately he is now burning oil in a new home.
> ...




Sap???? Oh brother!! Your correct in the assumption of creosote. The only advantage is cutting it now, burning it now. I sure wouldn't recommend it especially in an in house burner, just too dangerous with creasote. You see house fires on the news everyday from this. IMHO the 1st year of cutting wood is the worst as you have to cut twice the amount. After that it is gravy as you just cut for the next year as the previous cutting is seasoning. I love to cut, so I tend to over do it. I did pick up some white pine limbs that blew down last week. I cut them up and put them in my OWB to basically get rid of them, but couldn't resist the "free heat" from them. It sure did smell like pine outside for a while. It also takes a lot of energy of fire to burn off the water in the green wood, so a lot of the energy is wasted instead of just waiting for it to be seasoned. Seasoned wood is the way to go for maximum btu's and safety. Just my wordy take anyway.


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## Bass (Jan 1, 2009)

unless he burns ash i'm surpised he's not dead from a chimney fire 

give him some seasoned wood to try and maybe you an convert him to a true burner


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## whiting-5 (Jan 1, 2009)

lots of people around here burn green say it last longer . our freinds just put a heatmore in her mothers house black crud comin out the bottom of stove onto floor. they only burn green what was funny last night they stopped buy for some nice dry hickory to mix said they were havin hard time getting fire going this being my second year burning im sure can tell the difference in wood that has been out and split for over a year and stuff split last spring all oak. its real hard to get the green stuff roarin in my clayton. i would have to say my addiction is the hickory though thats been out for 2 + years


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## treeslayer (Jan 1, 2009)

green wood burns longer, a lot of older folks swear by it. start it with dry, and switch it over to half, or more. 
A well built, older chimney does not suffer from fire like the newer ones do. masonry flue liners when surrounded by a foot of brick or more, are a lot safer than the prefab crap you see nowadays. 

colonial era chimneys here in my area that are huge (sometimes 4' - 8' or bigger), are at little risk at all, regular small chimney fires keep the creosote deposits from building up too high. only if the fire climbs way up will it threaten the roof as it spews sparks and embers. this did not happen if fireplaces were tended properly, and planned chimney fires were commonplace. a raging fire on a rainy day, no more creosote.

Monticello in Jefferson's day burned up to 10 cords a week in the winter in all its fireplaces. kinda hard to stockpile all that wood, in the summer all the slaves and servants often worked on more important duties. so firewood production was a busy job in the winter, and the more seasoned wood went to the kitchen fireplaces, so as not to taint the food being cooked.

The fireplace I'm sitting front of. It heats half the house when I crank it.


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## barkeatr (Jan 1, 2009)

green wood probably does take longer to burn, as the fire is has to boil the water before really accessing the wood feul. Pretty dangerous in a indoor wood burning appliance. I have used green wood in my outdoor boiler for a few years as i get my systems in order and sometimes i get a chimney fire that looks like a suturn 5 rocket upside down. This year i am burning only partially dry wood in my outdoor boiler and the difference is substantial.


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## dnf0929 (Jan 1, 2009)

Sometimes if I'm running low I'll resort to the half and half method too. Get it really rippin' with the dry stuff and then feed the green stuf in gradually. Doesn't seem to cause much creosote buildup but part of the BTU's are definitely spent boiling the water. I figure this is better than having to...gasp...buy wood.


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## treeslayer (Jan 1, 2009)

barkeatr said:


> green wood probably does take longer to burn, as the fire is has to boil the water before really accessing the wood feul. Pretty dangerous in a indoor wood burning appliance. I have used green wood in my outdoor boiler for a few years as i get my systems in order and sometimes i get a chimney fire that looks like a suturn 5 rocket upside down. This year i am burning only partially dry wood in my outdoor boiler and the difference is substantial.



great point, many BTU's are wasted boiling the water, and the steam is a very unwelcome byproduct in a closed system. It carries creosote much further than smoke, and woodstoves are designed to radiate heat, not act as a pressure vessel.


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## Zodiac45 (Jan 1, 2009)

treeslayer said:


> great point, many BTU's are wasted boiling the water, and the steam is a very unwelcome byproduct in a closed system. It carries creosote much further than smoke, and woodstoves are designed to radiate heat, not act as a pressure vessel.



That's correct. No matter what they tell you about green wood lasting longer, it will never be as efficient as burning properly seasoned wood and the risk of chimney fire is increased by plenty. It's wasteful and you can't get a good hot fire going.


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## wkpoor (Jan 1, 2009)

> masonry flue liners when surrounded by a foot of brick or more, are a lot safer than the prefab crap you see nowadays.


I totally disagree. There is no reason to build a masonry chimney today when a triple wall metal fab is much safer and efficient. Flu liners are known to crack and the fire will eat through the motor. Metal chimneys stay warmer thus creosote is less of a problem. We have a 35' tall 12'wide stone appearance chimney but inside is triple wall pipes with lots of space around them and fire blocking against the inside walls of the chimney. 
I have a friend who has burned green wood too his whole life. Never had a problem other than creosote blocking his pipe. Its crazy I know but he won't stock pile fuel ahead because he says the neighbors will steal it. He always cuts it, brings it home straight to the stove.


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## Dan_IN_MN (Jan 1, 2009)

*Green wood.....= water.....water puts out fire*

Growing up we went from burning oil in a converted coal furnace, which the blower started about a half hour after the burner (I'm not joking!), to a home made wood stove, back to a commercial oil burner, back to another home made wood burner, (I'm trying to think if I missed something....), and back to a commercial oil burner. My dad, mom passed about 5 years ago, is now burning oil and using electric baseboard heat.

Anyway...to my point. When we were burning wood, we lived in a small town with no way to transport wood, we would buy 8 foot lengths trucked in and then my brother and I would go at the pile. This was freshly cut wood from the woods. We really knew nothing of sharping a chain and would run that thing until it wouldn't cut any more. We would cut enough for a few days and call it quits. We always had a hissing fire. Lots of :monkey: ing around! For what?    


Fast forward to today. I'm cutting dead fall in a neighbors woods. I don't know how long this stuff has been dead/drying but it burst in to flame in a few seconds if put on a bed of hot coals.  One of the best things is that the trees fell on other downed trees or other items so they aren't laying on the ground rotting. I did cut some green and there is a big difference. The fire not as intense. I will be cutting wood in advance so I have dry wood to burn. Or when I exhaust the woods I'm cutting in now....I have a couple other woods in my sights with dead fall.  

*I hope, as long as God gives me an able body, I hope I never have to burn GREEN wood again!!*​
Dan


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## Dan_IN_MN (Jan 1, 2009)

wkpoor said:


> Its crazy I know but he won't stock pile fuel ahead because he says the neighbors will steal it. He always cuts it, brings it home straight to the stove.



This would be a good reason to get a dog,(*no a bigger one*) and have his dog house by the wood pile. 

Dan


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## J.W Younger (Jan 1, 2009)

No


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## Husky137 (Jan 1, 2009)

The moral of the story really comes down to the fact that you can't fix stupid. Some people do stupid things all of their lives.


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## FJH (Jan 2, 2009)

dnf0929 said:


> Sometimes if I'm running low I'll resort to the half and half method too. Get it really rippin' with the dry stuff and then feed the green stuf in gradually. Doesn't seem to cause much creosote buildup but part of the BTU's are definitely spent boiling the water. I figure this is better than having to...gasp...buy wood.



I am digging wood out of the snow right now because I have reached this point above ,I mix half and half to keep it hot only burn totaly dri at nite one load per evening the rest of the time the stove stays wide open or 3/4s open and am burning wet stuff There is surprisingly little smoke from the stack once its warmed up!


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## Tesen (Jan 2, 2009)

FJH said:


> I am digging wood out of the snow right now because I have reached this point above ,I mix half and half to keep it hot only burn totaly dri at nite one load per evening the rest of the time the stove stays wide open or 3/4s open and am burning wet stuff There is surprisingly little smoke from the stack once its warmed up!



I've burnt what I know to be some green hickory; basically same deal, load it up with dry and seasoned wood. Throw nice logs of hickory on top, let it boil and dry out (furnace staying hot, in fact the stove pipe to the tripple wall, spit on it and well 1/2 second later there is no spit anymore, hot enough that if you keep your hands about 6" away, you'll still cook them ) after the hickory dries up it burnt really well. Flue is pretty darn clean as well. 

Exclusively heating with green wood is a mistake IMHO; but how much you can get away with depends on a) how seasoned your seasoned wood, b) hard or soft seasoned wood, c) your individual setup. Some setups are more prone to cool exhaust gases, meaning more flue buildup.

If you can vent the exhaust gases and prevent the gas from condensating, then you're doing well IMHO. We all get caught short sometime during our burning "careers" just be sensible about it and know your setup.

Tes


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## 046 (Jan 2, 2009)

chimney technologies have been around for hundreds of years. those masons knew their craft. a properly constructed fireplace will draft fiercely. forced draft in latest modern gas furnaces performs the same function. 

this results in very hot fires, which completely burns wood.... green wood included. naturally dry wood would be needed to start fire. 

as always... the proof is what comes out chimney. all wood stoves will smoke when warming up. a clean burning wood stove will produce barely a wisp after getting up to temps. 

JUCA wood insert operates in this exact manner. during my first season, before stock piling enough wood. a lot of green wood was burned. high draft produced by JUCA results in hot fires... which means even green wood will be burned completely. 

after season, little to no creosote was found when chimney was inspected. 

please note in no way am I advocating burning green wood. air tight stoves will not burn properly unless wood is dried (JUCA is not air tight). there could be a loss of 35+% in wasted energy burning off moisture. but when your are out of dried wood. it's nice to have option of using green wood safely. 



treeslayer said:


> green wood burns longer, a lot of older folks swear by it. start it with dry, and switch it over to half, or more.
> A well built, older chimney does not suffer from fire like the newer ones do. masonry flue liners when surrounded by a foot of brick or more, are a lot safer than the prefab crap you see nowadays.
> 
> colonial era chimneys here in my area that are huge (sometimes 4' - 8' or bigger), are at little risk at all, regular small chimney fires keep the creosote deposits from building up too high. only if the fire climbs way up will it threaten the roof as it spews sparks and embers. this did not happen if fireplaces were tended properly, and planned chimney fires were commonplace. a raging fire on a rainy day, no more creosote.


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## Jredsjeep (Jan 2, 2009)

i to have been stuck burning wet wood. i wasent able to get enough together to make it through last winter so i ordered "seasoned" oak.:censored: i mixed it while i had some dry stuff left. i didnt wait till i was on my last stick to order . well eventually i was stuck with just the wet oak and it gummed up my woodstove with black creasode on the window and it oozed out of the pipe joints staining my floor from a cool overnight burn:censored: 

i ended up scraping more money together after that and just buying another load and wrote what i had off at a loss until next year. burns fine now after a year of drying.

i can get away with mixing some wet in when its going but just wet wood is messy dangerous and ineffiecent in my book.


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## FanOFatherNash (Dec 20, 2015)

volks-man said:


> my boss burned only wood for heat for around twenty years. for as long as i have known him i rarely saw a stack of firewood.
> he had always cut a little wood and then burned it. he also has told me about some wood having 'more sap' then others. as an example he said the blackish liquid running down the wall at his thimble was 'sap' from burning wild cherry. he also mentioned that it was very difficult to clean the glass on his wood stove. after a while it was completely blacked out.
> 
> this all sounds like creosote to me. he seems to be blisssfully unaware of the situation. somehow he never has had a chimney fire. fortunately he is now burning oil in a new home.
> ...



i burn green woood all the time, of course dry is better more btu for your effort
dont belive the hype, never burn green , never burn pine, people in alaska i believe are mostly pine and spruce
as long as you sweep out your chimminey twice a year, maybe more for peace of mind , you ll be fine
.... burn green or freeze to death, i ll burn green


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## greenskeeper (Dec 20, 2015)

Worked with a guy who burned green or whatever he could get his hands on. He had a wood furnace in his basement vented with well casing pipe. He was also the fire chief for the township. He said the neighbors would get a bit worried on the occasion that a flame shot out the top of his chimney....never bother him though.


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## al-k (Dec 20, 2015)

do you think that when you burn strictly green wood that the flu temps never get hot enough to start a chimney fire?


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## olympyk_999 (Dec 20, 2015)

does burning pressure treated count?...its greenish in color


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## zogger (Dec 20, 2015)

al-k said:


> do you think that when you burn strictly green wood that the flu temps never get hot enough to start a chimney fire?



I wouldn't count on that...


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## cigmaker (Dec 20, 2015)

I have a buddy who burns nothing but green wood. I went over and cleaned his double wall pipe earlier this year for the safety of his family. Ran the soot eater from the top down and got about 5 gallons of black hard creosote out. I looked at him he says that wasn't as bad as I thought it'd be . He's in the if it's to dry it burns up fast group. I tried explaining the dry wood makes more heat deal but I might as well be talking to that bucket of creosote.


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## zogger (Dec 20, 2015)

cigmaker said:


> I have a buddy who burns nothing but green wood. I went over and cleaned his double wall pipe earlier this year for the safety of his family. Ran the soot eater from the top down and got about 5 gallons of black hard creosote out. I looked at him he says that wasn't as bad as I thought it'd be . He's in the if it's to dry it burns up fast group. I tried explaining the dry wood makes more heat deal but I might as well be talking to that bucket of creosote.



That really sucks! Ta heck with the wood, doesn't he realize a chimney fire is no joke? Insurance company might not even cover it, creosote buildup isn't an accident, it is negligence, and if family members are lost..how cheap and ignorant can you get....good for you to help out, but he needs like a fireman or someone like that to talk to him. I just can't see burning green wood, it's like putting water in your gas....


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## ChoppyChoppy (Dec 20, 2015)

Burn everything from the trash, processor scraps and some actual split firewood (poplar) in the shop stove. Chimney stays pretty clean actually. Dunno why, but it does. Burn in the area of 20-25 cords a winter I'd guess.

Don't really worry much about it, stove is almost 1/2" thick and the chimney is 1/4" 8" well casing.


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## cigmaker (Dec 20, 2015)

So I go over and visit my buddy tonight and with the mild winter he has plenty of wood left. I make the comment man your gonna have a good start on next year so it will be dry. He says I really hope I don't have much left over it won't as good next year. I just walked back to the fire pit where the wood was boiling water out the end of the splits.


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## hupte (Dec 20, 2015)

I knew one guy who only burned soft green wood. he had a heatmor with a double blower set up. it was a 10,000 sq ft unit heating a 1700 sq ft house. he said green wood is the only stuff that lasts. and he sells all the hard wood. (shrug) i've tried burning some green in the past. never worked out good for me.


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## cus_deluxe (Dec 20, 2015)

a couple lazy folks i work with burn strictly green wood in the OWB (smoke dragon indeed) and it works ok for them but still dumb in my eyes. anybody else notice this is a 6 year old thread?


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## aokpops (Dec 20, 2015)

cus_deluxe said:


> a couple lazy folks i work with burn strictly green wood in the OWB (smoke dragon indeed) and it works ok for them but still dumb in my eyes. anybody else notice this is a 6 year old thread?


Yea I notice . To describe burning green wood for me . Dump a few gallons of water in the gas tank of your car an tell me how good it runs . Our we could call green wood safety wood don't know how to burn the stuff . Being lazy for me is learning doing things the right way . Being ignorant an bull headed is the great American way .


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## Otahyoni (Dec 21, 2015)

Some of these stories are scary.

My parents burn 'medium' wood. It's not seasoned, but its not green either. I was going to burn wood this winter, but found out my wood wasn't as dry as i thought it was (after 8 months), so i'm going back to oil.


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## Jeff Lary (Dec 21, 2015)

Sap....yea there's some sap going on alright.


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