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CALCULATOR
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Firewood Hints
Burn Only Seasoned Wood!
Seasoned
wood usually contains 20 - 25% moisture content, while
unseasoned wood can have up to 45% water content.
Seasoned firewood is easier to start and produces more heat.
In order to make sure that you are purchasing seasoned wood,
buy it in the summer 6 months before you plan to use
it. Alternatively, cut your own wood. Green wood
must dry out before it will burn, which uses up a lot of
energy. Less heat is provided by the fire, and more
creosote accumulates on your flue walls as a result.
In order to tell if your wood is seasoned,
look for the following:
1. Wood that seems lightweight.
2. Wood that has dark ends with cracks or splits
Firewood Storage
Store
wood off the ground in a location away from the house, since
termites will be looking for it. You can easily make a
place to hold the wood by placing two 2x4s or 2x6s parallel
to each other on the ground. Stack wood across these
boards, then cover with a tarp, or better yet, build a small
wood shed with a roof to protect it from the elements.
Buying Firewood
Firewood
is generally sold by volume, the most common measure being
the cord. Other terms
often employed are face cord, rick,
or often just a truckload. A standard cord of firewood is
128 cubic feet of wood, measured as a stacked pile of wood 8
feet long by 4 feet tall by 4 feet deep. A face cord is also
8 feet long by 4 feet tall, but it is only as deep as the
wood is cut, so a face cord of 16" wood actually is
only 1/3 of a cord, 24" wood is 1/2 of a cord, etc.
A
rick is simply a pile, and
truck sizes obviously vary, so it is very important that you
get all of this straight with the seller before agreeing on
a price since there is much room for misunderstanding. It is
best to have your wood storage area set up in standard 4 or
8 foot increments, and pay the seller the extra few
dollars to stack the wood.
Although firewood is
usually sold by volume, heat production is dependent on
weight. Pound for pound, all wood has approximately the same
BTU content, but a cord of seasoned hardwood weighs about
twice as much as the same volume of softwood because it is denser. It contains almost twice as much potential heat.
This means that you will have to load your stove or fireplace less often if you
purchase hardwood, but it is certainly ok to use soft wood, too. Mixed
wood costs less per cord.
NEVER burn any construction
scraps of treated or painted wood, especially treated wood
from decks or landscaping ties. The chemicals used can
release dangerous amounts of arsenic and other toxic
compounds into your house. Never burn plastic because it releases toxic
chemicals.
If the wood
you bought turned out to be green and you try to burn it anyway, be sure to have the chimney checked
more often than usual because creosote may build up very
quickly.
EMP Enterprises, Inc. Parent company of:
Padgitt Chimney & Fireplace Padgitt Forensic Investigations
Enviro-clean Padgitt Chimney & Fireplace Supply
816-461-3665
