Elm Just Split and Burning?? No Way (PICS)

[Cambium]

To my surprise I figured I throw a piece of split elm in my wood stove tonight. It's actually burning well and not fizzling out. There is another piece of wood in there (Silver Maple) but the Elm piece is burning.

The tree was just cut down. I split it 3 weeks ago. Uncovered this whole time outside.

Is that possible? Am I harming the flu? The air? The stove?

I am shocked after everything I read and heard about Elm.

 

[TreePointer]

Because of DED, a lot of elms are "dead standing" and are seasoned to a degree before they hit the ground; so yes, it's very possible and I've witnessed freshly cut elm burning.

I think elm is misunderstood as firewood. The fact that it's difficult to split and can have an odor to it when wet seems to cloud the fact that, when seasoned, it's pretty darn good firewood. It has more BTU's than the lower end hardwoods and makes nice coals.

 

[Cambium]

Because of DED, a lot of elms are "dead standing" and are seasoned to a degree before they hit the ground; so yes, it's very possible and I've witnessed it firsthand.

I think elm is misunderstood as firewood. The fact that it's difficult to split and can have an odor to it when wet seems to cloud the fact that, when seasoned, it's pretty darn good firewood. It has more BTU's than the lower end hardwoods and makes nice coals.

Interesting. Pretty exciting. So even though some rounds had donut holes and most looked fresh, healthy, strong and juices poured out as I split...it still could have been DED?

 

[TreePointer]

I go by the look of the tree for DED. There are stages: Leaves will prematurely yellow, then you'll get no leaves, then bark starts to come off, next you are left with a barkless standing tree, and finally the tree falls down. Do a search on Dutch Elm Disease and you'll get more details on the symptoms and progression.

I usually cut advanced stage DED elms in which bark is almost completely off, so there is no water gushing out. The disease essentially cuts off or plugs the vascular tissue of the tree. The smaller to midsized branches can be bone dry, yet the base of the tree may still be a little "wet."

EDIT: I don't have a wood furnace, stove, or insert, but I've burned wet (but dead) elm on the farm's burnpile. It burned just fine and had red glowing coals well into the night. As far as harm to your burning setup, I'll let the experienced burners comment on green or wet elm and creosote buildup.

 

[Steve NW WI]

In my experience, if the bark is still hanging on, it still needs seasoning. If water's gushing, it's gonna take some time, not near as long as oak, but still some time.

I cut and split some this spring that were just budding out, and full of water. By late summer, they looked to be ready to burn, nicely checked on the ends.

If it's standing dead and barkless, you might want to split the bigger stuff and let it dry for a couple weeks, but the tops are ready to burn as-is. By the time one of these hits the ground, the bottom few feet is already starting to get punky, so I try to drop em as I see em losing their bark.

Like Treepointer said, it's good wood. Maybe more work than some, but it does a fine job of keeping old man winter outside where he belongs. No sense letting good wood go to waste.

Did you notice moisture boiling out of the ends while burning, or a hissing sound? Those are two giveaways that (ANY SPECIES) your wood is too wet. At the least, you lose energy boiling off that water so it will burn, and at worst cause a creosote problem and a chimney fire.

If you have to burn green/unseasoned wood, GET UP THERE AND INSPECT YOUR CHIMNEY OFTEN! (Preferably every week or two) and clean it if it's showing signs of buildup. Even with good, seasoned wood, it's still good practice. My ladder is leaned up against the roof all winter for this purpose. As I've gotten ahead on my woodcutting, I went from nearly weekly chimney scrubbings a couple years ago with a bunch of green wood, to 1 midwinter cleaning, and a postseason scrub last year. A quick peek down the chimney is peace of mind no matter what you burn.

 

[Wood Doctor]

Roots Feed the Tree

A dead elm tree that has no bark is likely not going to be dry firewood when first cut. The roots continue to feed the tree with water for years after the bark has fallen off and the tree produces no leaves whatsoever. The sapwood may be dry but the heartwood will be moist and not ready to burn.

OP's picture of the "burning" wood proves this.

 

[Cambium]

I used the 6" round brissle brush and cleaned the flu. Up and down I went 3 times. Looked nice and clean afterwards. I'll get up there and clean next month again.

Yes...some bubbling formed but not much.

 

[laynes69]

Its a dull fire in the picture, and like wood doctor said the pic says it all. I've burnt elm the same day, but not all of the tree. The tops were dry as a bone, and most of the trunk. When I hit moisture, it was cut and split to finish the drying. I'm sure any green wood will burn, but I wouldn't make a habit of it. I wouldn't even try burning wood green like that. What kind of stove do you have cambium?

 

[Cambium]

Its a dull fire in the picture, and like wood doctor said the pic says it all. I've burnt elm the same day, but not all of the tree. The tops were dry as a bone, and most of the trunk. When I hit moisture, it was cut and split to finish the drying. I'm sure any green wood will burn, but I wouldn't make a habit of it. I wouldn't even try burning wood green like that. What kind of stove do you have cambium?

Vermont Casting. This one. It's tiny but I got it brand new for $300 from craigslist.
http://www.vermontcastings.com/content/products/productdetails.cfm?id=204

 

[laynes69]

If you would continue to burn that wood it will eventually show in the chimney. Especially in a EPA stove. They need higher temps to promote combustion, where green/unseasoned wood will keep the firebox cooler and secondary combustion won't occur. It would have been a night and day difference if that wood you burned was seasoned. Plus you burn more wood trying to heat the home when its green. Moisture robbing the btus of the wood. You'll also keep the glass clean with seasoned wood and hot fires. Hopefully you have seasoned wood for this year.

 

[Cambium]

Hopefully you have seasoned wood for this year.

Good info. Thanks for the post. I do. About 2 cords worth of seasoned wood but I thought I just throw an Elm in there for fun just to see.

 

[WoodchuckPaddy]

Ash...

The only wood I know of that will burn unseasoned is ash.

There is an old saying:

"Ash Dry, ash green-builds a fire fit for a queen"

I haven't tried it in my stove but on the outside fire it did in fact burn green with no noticeable hissing.

For what it is worth...

 

[sachsmo]

All wood will burn "green", you just need heat,fuel, oxygen.

The problem is most of the energy is used to dry the green and very little is transferred to stove /house.

I cut a live standing Cottonwood last fall (it was shading my garden too much)

I dropped linbed, bucked and burned and by morning all that was left was a few pounds of ash.

Green wood will in fact burn, but it won't keep you very warm.

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[Brufab]

To my surprise I figured I throw a piece of split elm in my wood stove tonight. It's actually burning well and not fizzling out. There is another piece of wood in there (Silver Maple) but the Elm piece is burning.

The tree was just cut down. I split it 3 weeks ago. Uncovered this whole time outside.

Is that possible? Am I harming the flu? The air? The stove?

I am shocked after everything I read and heard about Elm.

I too am burning some elm. It was cut and split about 7-9 months ago and a half wheel barrow I put in the shed of it. It surprisingly burns really well. I made smaller splits than usual to help it dry out but it's burning nicely.

 

[Wood Doctor]

I too am burning some elm. It was cut and split about 7-9 months ago and a half wheel barrow I put in the shed of it. It surprisingly burns really well. I made smaller splits than usual to help it dry out but it's burning nicely.

The small splits made that all possible. They will dry in a couple of seasons or less. The elm you were likely burning is what I normally call kindling. Also, if you add that to a fire that already has a bed of hot coals, you can burn almost any hardwood that exists. Whatever moisture content is has on board disappears rapidly.