Wood stove users?

[browning204]

Who here uses wood stove to heat their home? I have a question. I asked on another forum but wanna get as many opinions that I can.

My knew house has propane heat that means lotsa $$$ during the winter. I have a wood stove that I Plan to heat the house with as much as I can. I can get lots of free wood from family land, Oak, Maple, Birch and stuff.

On my land there is alot of Pine, White and red I think. Two big trees are uprooted and dead and there is another 3 still standing but dead. The vines choked these trees out. I have been cutting the vines so they don't keep killing trees but these dead ones are an eye sore.

So, my question is. Do you guys burn pine in your wood stoves?  I know the old story is that pine will mess up your set-up but I have been reading that as long as pine is good and seasoned, it is fine. Do you guys think it is ok to burn for heat?

That would allow me to have alot more free wood, right from my back yard!

Thanks for any input.

[Bills Custom Calls]

It takes a very long time to dry pine,even though it looks and feels dry it will still causes alot of creosote in your
chimney. That is not good,it will cause a fire.
If you cut it and split it you might get away with burning a piece of it every once in awhile,but not every day
It is not worth the chance of a fire I would not and never will burn pine in my wood burner

[Tikaani]

I have been burning pine in my wood stoves for years, nine cords a winter in my old house, that was supplemental to my boiler.  I have since moved to a smaller home (the kids are gone). Last winter two cords. I have never had a problem, however, I clean my stack every spring and my fires burn hot.  Over the years, I found that the hotter the fire the less soot and build up I have in the spring, smoldering low heat fires blacken the glass on the stove and create alot of soot in the stack, and there is where you have problems.

John

[Tikaani]

Another thing is that here in Alaska, we do not have hard woods so pine is it. 

John

[browning204]

yes I was gonna say, the guys out west don't have much of a choice but to burn pine. I was only gonna mix it with my hard wood, not burn it only. It is a shame to just let it waste away if I can use it.

[KySongDog]

I burn mostly hardwoods in my stove but occassionally will burn pine if available.  As Tikaani said, the key to a clean stove is to keep a hot fire going whether you burn pine or knot.    

[alscalls]

I have burned wood for many years and have always cleaned my chimney on a regular basis and still this year ours caught fire due to an unseen crack in the liner. I just wanted to say first thing BE CAREFULL!
It does not take much to cause a fire and in my opinion Pine is one of the worst things you could burn, if not the worst.
The sap is very thick and never really goes away. If you are new to this please do not burn pine......ever.
An outside stove with a short straight pipe can burn off this sap very fast and is easy to clean.
An inside stove with a longer pipe will build up very quickly and really.....you can look down the pipe and not see the problem.
The build up can be just in the joints, or a smoother build up along the whole pipe. Worse case is if you have any bends or turns in your pipe! A really sap filled piece CAN set your pipe on fire with one slow burn!
A smooth piece can take a brushing and still be their even though you do not see it. That smooth piece can crack and fall off blocking your freshly cleaned pipe and in an hour or two........FIRE a bad one.
You should also change the pipe out for new every two or three years just to be safe. This burning pine thing really scares me and I would recommend you have a pro come out and look things over before you burn any wood at all and be very cautious always. A chimney fire like mine ? And I was prepared and we got it put out right away could have cost my whole family our lives. But We were lucky and it was just a lot of money instead. The fireman said I did every thing right It was just a freak crack in the liner and would have been hard for a pro to find....That crack had build up in it and the next thing I new the whole house was shaking and I ran for the fire sticks to put it out.....two sticks went off in the stove and nothing had changed! The fire dept. came and they used two more of the very same fire sticks.you put em in the stove and they go off like a smoke bomb to cut off oxygen to the fire but they could not work because my freshly cleaned chimney was blocked by that burning crack that fell out. So please for heavens sake be careful.
I hope my babble helps It just scares me to hear "pine"
The type of pipe, the type of fire and the care you give it is everything!!

[FinsnFur]

I think it depends on how dry it is.
I dont have a wood burner in the house but I do out in the shop, and I've burned nothing but pine, winter after winter, with no probs at all. Now here's the kicker... ..it was kiln dried ponderosa pine lumber cut offs form my construction business....and it was plentiful. 

I would fare to say if your mixing it with hard wood you'd be fine. But to burn a full night of wet or green pine, I think you'll have issues.

As mentioned, do not put off checking and cleaning that chimney on a regular basis.

[browning204]

thanks guys, I already had the chimney checked and the stove pipe hasn't had more than five fires through it. I will make sure the Pine is dry and only mix it with my hard stuff. I will not run pine at bed time.

I wanna find more info on these "fire sticks"

[Silencer]

cuttin pine's gotta  be a messy job. 

[alscalls]

They look like a road flare only the color is white. They have a chem. in them that steals all the oxygen from the fire.
You can get them at tracktor  supply, or any woodstove shop. It takes a few of them to be safe.
"Chimfex Fire Suppressor" That is what they are called.....I found the box.

Another product to get is chimeny sweep logs........for use only right before you clean your chimeny, never as a substitute.

[Rich]

Back in the 1940's and 50,s almost everyone burned wood, at least where I came from they did. My Grandparents burned coal because there were very few trees around Norden, nebraska.  My parents burned what they had to throw in the old home built stove. Sometimes my Dad would even cut up old tires to throw in the stove. The stove pipe above the stove would often turn red hot, almost all the way to the ceiling. When Dad would get up in the middle of the night to stoke up the stove, I could hear the "puff, puff, puff" of the fire and the legs of the stove would  jump clean up of the floor. "Thump, thump, thump, thump" bounced the old stove. Every house within fifty miles should have burned to the ground, but they didn't. I think that the secret is in a good strong, thick chimney. Most folks had chimney's of brick in those days.

[browning204]

cuttin pine's gotta  be a messy job. 

It's not that bad. The good thing is, pine is real light so it makes it easiers to roll the logs and un pinch the saw bar if need be.

[vvarmitr]

What you should do is, since it's free , is burn every stick of it you can get. It don't matter iffen it's dry or not.
However, make sure the house insurance is higher than the house & contents are worth, & you & the family sleep outside. 

If you think your going to save money burning free pine & go in the hole w/ all the chimney cleanning & worry.  If it was all you had it would be different. A good hardwood fire is hard to beat. I love the smell of Maple & Birch burning. 

Remember too hardwoods need seasoned too!  There is some creasote in them too. Ash, it is said, has very little creasote & can be burned safely unseasoned.  Luckly, it makes good heat.

Does your chimney have a clean-out at the bottom?

[browning204]

Does your chimney have a clean-out at the bottom?

Yes it is one of those pipe chimneys, not a real chimney. It has the clean out door at the bottom.

[msmith]

For all of the reasons listed above, since you have access to oaks, maplles, locusts, ash, poplar, hickory, etc., there isn't any reason to consider pine. If it is dead, just cut it up and pile it for the critters. I even shy away from cherry.

Mike

[BigB]

We've got an abundance of hedge, cedar, and locust in one of our brushy pastures.  That's what we burn in our shop in the winter to keep it warm.  They all burn really HOT!  A really good thing about the hedge is that a log 8" or bigger in diameter will burn all night long and will still have warm coals in the morning.  The cedar isn't the same.  You gotta have some hedge with the cedar to get it to burn completely over night.  I wouldn't burn the hedge in an open sided fireplace.  It spits and pops out embers if you don't have the doors shut.  I had a bunch of burn spots in the carpet in my old apartment from the hedge.   We've had the shop stove pretty darn red before from the hedge.  Black locust burns hot as well if you can stand working around the thorns.  I loved blue flames coming from the wood in the fireplace.

We had some powder stuff that we would throw in the stove every couple of days with the fire going pretty good.  It was supposed to be a creasote remover.   I don't remember the name of it.  Ya never know if it works, but every once in a while, we would hear some stuff come loose and trickle down the chimney.

Brian

[browning204]

Never heard of Locus wood 

But I just scored a HUGE Ash tree on the neighbors property!!! It is a Monster and should give me a bunch of wood!! 

[msmith]

Never heard of Locus wood 

But I just scored a HUGE Ash tree on the neighbors property!!! It is a Monster and should give me a bunch of wood!! 

Here is a link for locust trees. http://www.treehelp.com/trees/locust/locust-types.asp

Black locust is great for fence posts and lasts for years. Honey Locust is pretty much just good for firewood although some use it for fence posts. It just doesn't last very long. Both are a legume, putting nitrogen into the soil. Right now the locust trees are in bloom and locust honey is very good. It is light colored and quite clear.

Mike

[browning204]

cool site, thanks