telephone poles for firewood

[olyman]

michealj--i agree, some people just aint happy speaking a opinion--they just about have to call you a idiot for doing it--but if they own a owb--and someone condemns that--they get all up in arms--and remember--we are feeding the global warming by burning wood---have to buy some credits from goreless so i feel good---blahhhhhh why dont some of the people on here get a life--period--dont like it--tough

 

[bushinspector]

Only thing I know about railroad ties is when we planted them around a tree is the old tree died within a year.

 

[olyman]

bush--if they are just set on top of ground--your ok--but when you bury them--the creosote leaches

 

[turnkey4099]

michealj--i agree, some people just aint happy speaking a opinion--they just about have to call you a idiot for doing it--but if they own a owb--and someone condemns that--they get all up in arms--and remember--we are feeding the global warming by burning wood---have to buy some credits from goreless so i feel good---blahhhhhh why dont some of the people on here get a life--period--dont like it--tough

I'm curious about your reasoning "feeding the GW by burning wood". I think it is almost neutral as if I weren't burning wood, I would be burning oil.

Harry K

 

[turnkey4099]

I see I got some bashing for burning RR ties. Well, I was trying to answer the original question. It had no adverse affect on my stove. I didn't post it to be judged by people that weren't big enough to carry a saw in 1984. Yes in 1984 I burnt ties. Creosote which is a derivative of coal tar, not crude oil, was available to the general public at the local hardware store. I preferred ties to the coal alot of people burn because it burnt cleaner than smoking, soot spewing coal.
I also remember my Dad dusting the garden with chlordane, when it was the thing to use, and we ate the veggies. If you buy produce from Mexico today, you're probably eating it too. Don't bash me for answering a question. What I did was acceptable at the time.I really don't know why I'm explaining myself anyway. I guess I just got a burr in my boot or something.
Rant off.

Mike

Fairly reasonable post except that in 1984 it was _not_ acceptable. I started burning in the 70s and it was already a no-no then.

Harry K

 

[olyman]

I'm curious about your reasoning "feeding the GW by burning wood". I think it is almost neutral as if I weren't burning wood, I would be burning oil.

Harry K

turnkey--that was sarcasm--i dont believe we are feeding it---and the woodburners in use now--are lots more efficent than years ago--- also post 46--the yuppies were in business even then--they nearly always want to spout off about something--with no FACTS--just repeat drivel they have heard--sheep to the slaughter---

 

[Sprig]

Don't everybody panic about burning cedar telephone poles. There are a few different types of treated poles. By looking they are easy to tell apart. There are the redish brown ones called a full treat, treated with creosote top to bottom, don't burn those. Then there is the butt treated poles, they are only treated from the base to approximatly 12feet up or at the hash mark, ok to burn the portion above 12feet of the hash mark as that is untreated. Then there are the green treated ones don't burn them. Sometime it is easier to do a cut on a pole above the hash mark and look at the wood for any sign of being treated. Burning the creosote in the open is not to bad, but when you burn it in a wood stove it creates some toxic gases etc. We must tag our old treated poles with a do not incinerate tag. We are also warned not to have skin contact with the green ones, not to sure what it will do to you, but it's ok to use it in playground structures.
Bob

The 'green' I believe is 'Coprinol' (sp), a copper-based antirot agent, very toxic bad bad stuff, many playgrounds (including all the ones around here) that used treated woods for their structures are being torn down, the ground scraped down, and replaced by plastic or metal yard toys. As far as I know treated woods are now banned from Canadian playgrounds, not sure about the States, may be a local state-by-state thing, dunno. Yup, don't burn it! They do make great corner posts for fences or floor/structure supports tho.



Serge

 

[BigSawMan]

bush--if they are just set on top of ground--your ok--but when you bury them--the creosote leaches

So if these are old poles, and most of the creosote has been allready leached out, then it probably wouldnt be that bad then huh?

We have a classic CL75 owb and I can fill the fire box up to the hilt in that thing at night, then have to put logs in it in the early AM when I'm burning yellow pine logs treated with creosote, or bare. Course I'm radiant heating a 40x60x16 shop with no insulation in it and a open peak roof at the moment untill we get it finished up, along with a heat exchanger in the house(30x60x8).


They burn clean, cant smell em, and the smoke just wafts off into our woods, which we have 3 acres of.

 

[goblin]

It seemed to me to be more a batch of activists pushing for it until they finally bent over. No matter how much info was put out that any 'leaching' was minimal and a lot of drinking water naturally contains more arsenic than you could get from the wood (other than by chewing and eating it).

Harry K

Around here when they outlawed creosote (late 80's?) they switched from creosote to copper arsenic, which is like going from the frying pan into the fire. It wasn't until several years later that they realized the arsenic was leaching out of the wood into the environment (children's playgrounds!) much worse than the creosote ever did. Now they use copper something-or-other instead of the arsenic.

By the way, the copper is actually 'verdigris', or copper acetate, the greenish-blue stuff that coats old copper (brass, etc) when left to weather. Also can be used as an insecticide.

 

[johnb]

Why burn them

Hey just saw them into posts and sell them or trade them for good hardwood firewood. I've burned stuff in my OWB that would make Al Gore stroke out but not anymore. We have a new local OWB ordinace in place even though most units are far from Neibors. The ordinace states if you burn anything other that what it is intended to burn by manufactures specification you will be fined. Good luck The Hoosier

 

[mudguts]

The only poles safe to burn are the untreated cedars. When we pull them, we lay'em in a seperate pile for the employees to take. I would'nt burn any other pole.

 

[Patrick62]

Been there, done that

1984-1985 I was burning RR ties as well! I had a weekly flue fire to keep it cleaned out. It stank, but it heated.
At the time we were kinda broke, and had no way to get firewood.
The ties were free, and easy to get.

I would probably not burn stuff like that now.

-Pat

 

[bassman]

A local guy with a small saw mill has been buying old poles and making 2 x 4's and fence boards .
he told me he made $72000 last year in sales .
I asked what he does with the reject pieces and he said he burns them in his Tarm boiler with no smoke and no problems.
I said they are treated and that its a big NO NO to burn treated wood .
His reply was that the government has guidlines on this type of thing and that his tarm meets them....
He then went on to tell me about how medical waste is disposed of and that a good design will burn all the bad out of the smoke and all will be OK .
what do I know
untill I cant get wood I will still burn just good dry wood.
shayne

 

[Husky137]

He must have hundreds of thousands of dollars in scrubbers on that Tarm or........... He is just an idiot.

 

[Fuzly]

The only poles safe to burn are the untreated cedars. When we pull them, we lay'em in a seperate pile for the employees to take. I would'nt burn any other pole.

The mill my Dad works at replaced all the power poles. The old ones were beautiful, untreated cedar. So they blocked them up and let the guys take the chunks to get rid of them. Best kindling ever.

The consensous among the guys is that they are about 60 years old.

It may be true. Big, straight cedar trees are unheard of nowadays in our area and have been for sometime.

I think all the new poles are treated norway pine, reddish with the black stuff on them.

 

[Sprig]

The mill my Dad works at replaced all the power poles. The old ones were beautiful, untreated cedar. So they blocked them up and let the guys take the chunks to get rid of them. Best kindling ever.

The consensous among the guys is that they are about 60 years old.

It may be true. Big, straight cedar trees are unheard of nowadays in our area and have been for sometime.

I think all the new poles are treated norway pine, reddish with the black stuff on them.

Agree Fuzly, some of the old poles I've run into were great stuff, pure and non-treated. Now-a-days you have to be wary of creosote (black stuff) and (the worst) 'Couprinol' (sp, its bluey/green carp, I thinks its a coppersulphate based anti-fungiside, we use to use it on pilons and decking joists etc. years ago, can still get it in various forms but yuck, also a base for now banned copper bottom paints if I'm not mistaken, nasty stuff, bleh!). If you value you and your families' health you should NOT burn this or any treated woods (construction ends etc., somewhere posted about the joys of 'tri-pentachloriformates' (sp)nice good ol' heavy metal 'it doesn't affect ya' junk) no matter how good you think your stove is, PERIOD!
Nuff said............................maybe............................later...........



Serge

 

[Mike Van]

better living through chemistry

The green colored poles are treated with CCA or Chromated copper arsenate, to .6 which was about twice what the lumber was. When you burn this, it gives off Hydrogen Cyanide, you don't want to breath this gas, trust me - The newer brown ones have pentachlorophenol in them, look that up sometime, it's just as bad. Lots of towns are banning OWB's, burning stuff like this sure doesn't help any of us. No, I didn't vote for Gore, I'm not a greenpeace member either - I worked with all of it as a lineman for 35 years.

 

[hammer0419]

The only poles safe to burn are the untreated cedars. When we pull them, we lay'em in a seperate pile for the employees to take. I would'nt burn any other pole.

We do the same. Bring them back to the yard cut them up then divide between all of us!