For those who own wood stoves, seasoning (drying) both hard and soft woods is an essential step, one that will require storage rotation, foresight, and patience, but which will yield much more efficient wood fuel use and which may actually save your house.

Wood is surprisingly wet. A cord of oak, for instance, contains enough H2O to fill 6 50 gallon drums. Trees need this water to fill their cells, metabolize food, convert sunlight, and move nutrients. But when the tree dies or gets chopped that water begins to evaporate—slowly. Split logs need at least one year before they are dry enough to be burned. In optimal circumstances, softwoods require two and hardwoods three or four years of drying underneath a shed or other covering (not a tarp as these can cause mold build-up and hinder evaporation).

While seasoning would be worthwhile simply to yield a hotter more efficient burn (as moisture suppresses combustion in your wood stove or fireplace) it has an added bonus. When this moisture is forced out of the wood during burning, it lowers the temperature of the system and causes condensation of the smoke on the inside of the chimney, forming an oily mass known as creosote.

Creosote is dangerous. Huge amounts of energy can be locked up in these leavings, resulting in chimney fires and lost homes. The addition of a wood shed and a 3 year rotation scheme is a small price to pay in comparison, and will yield lighter wood and more efficiency in your actual stove usage—and fewer chimney cleanings as well.

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