just curious, ive burned a bit of pine. what i usually do is just burn a little at a time try to mix it woth hardwoods on occasion. i used to burn skids like crazy in my fireplace. they burn really fast but man do they throw the heat. any thoughts on pine burning?? thanks, Mike
Lots of info on this site about burning pine. A search will give you lots of reading.
Here is one question answered at woodheat.org
"Is ? ? ? species of firewood unsafe or unsuitable to burn? A friend told me it would produce a lot of creosote or burn too hot."
It seems like almost every species of wood has been tagged as unsuitable by someone. This is our response:
A few species of wood can produce dangerous emissions and most of them have dangerous sounding names, like poison sumac (swamp sumac), poison dogwood, poison elderberry, poison elder, poison oak. The smoke can contain the same compounds that cause allergic reactions on skin, but when airborne can cause respiratory distress if inhaled.
Aside from these few examples, we don't consider any normal species of wood dangerous or inappropriate for burning based on the idea that they produce much more creosote. There are woods with sticky sap in their bark and others that can't be split by hand and so are not as desirable as others. But creosote is a product of combustion, not a component of wood. If burned in bright, hot fires, much less creosote is formed from whatever wood is burned. This includes the pitchy bark of pine and spruce and the volatile bark of white (paper) birch.
Our advice is to try whatever firewood you have available. Make sure the wood is properly seasoned because all wood species burn poorly and produce smoky fires if their moisture content is too high. Extremely dry wood, like kiln-dried lumber, can also produce smoky fires. If you have some very dry wood available, mix it with regular firewood to avoid excessive smoke.
Burn bright, hot fires. Don't let your fires smolder.
We burn a lot of wood that others might consider junk. But maybe junk wood is the most environmentally suitable type to burn because it is useless for any other purpose. In our view, aside from the few poisonous species, no wood species is junk unless it has been painted, treated or is salt-laden from being in the ocean.
. In the middle of winter I shovel ash every other day with pine. With hardwood it's once a day-another big plus. As far as soot buildup I brush the pipe about every 3 years. With the right stove, only heat waves are coming out the pipe-no visable smoke, as in my case. I have a phase 2 certified stove that's about 12 years old if memory serves. But I really like the brightness of the fire and the popping too-lively fire. I burn up to 3 cords of pine and maybe 1/2 cord of oak or pecan, or juniper. I load hardwood when we're gonna be gone extended periods say 5-7 hours. Then I have coals when I get home. The idea for me is to pay zero for natural gas (rumored to be increasing around 40% this fall). Low temps range from 9-22 degrees here in mid winter.
