Why Dry Firewood? 

Good advice… summed up appropriately in the Latent Heat section of your book “Trying to burn unseasoned wood is like trying to get warm in wet clothes”

You really put the moisture content of our firewood into perspective. Thanks for another great video!

Thank you for making this visual video. We need to Share this with everyone who burns/heats with wood. People don't equate [say 20 percent) moisture content that it's actually 20 percent of the weight of the piece of wood is water !!! I personally cut, split, stack, and cover (the top only) a full year in advance, minimum. When it starts getting cool, around mid-Sept, I put a full cord of wood uncovered on my covered porch to let it air dry even more. Then about two weeks before burning I'll bring half a face cord in two separate stacks. (1/4 face cord/1/4 rick each) into the room where my non-catalytic woodstove is. I'll use from one pile until it's gone then refill that stack then use from the other stack. When burning, I have a ceiling fan to move heat and air to help dry my indoor wood even more. I need a moisture meter to test my wood just before it goes into the stove. That's what's important to me. Question; Can cordwood/firewood be too dry? Sorry for getting long-winded. Thanks for the video and God Bless.

Thank you very much. The glasses of water was a great use of video medium to make the point. Cheers d

20% is still great for wood chunks that you want to use for smoking your food. Thanks for another very informative video. I just subscribed! Hello from Manitoba, Cadada

Thank you for such an informative video. I have never seen anyone else explain it in this way, and show how much water that 20% moisture equates too. Simply fascinating.

Wow very graphic and really gets the message across. I knew it was good to have dry wood,now I understand why and it saves money and makes my wood last longer.Small wood store. Please do the overnight burn video. I have not heard of the put damp wood on. Thanks for kitchen physics! The OU would be proud.

Well said, and I totally agree with your reasoning with damp or wet timber.

Great video, looking forward to the next one! It's staggering to think that at todays wood prices how much of your money can be lost if the wood is not sufficiently dry. Thankfully I use a lot of chunky untreated birch and oak joiners offcuts at around 10% moisture so hopefully getting maximum heat for my money!

Appreciated the physics - if you wanted to continue how about breaking down the density of woods - we have heated debates (pun) over buying oak or ash or birch as a example as that’s generally what’s kiln dried commercially available I want oak and my wife is happy with ash. Best burn for the buck? And yes let’s put the overnight fire question to bed (sorry on a roll there)

Well done Vince. A great video!

There's a reason why nobody talks about this: people just don't understand it enough to see its importance. I know, that sounds mean and cynical. But it also happens to the case: simply put, we're just naturally bad at interpreting statistical information. That's why there are such things as casinos, adjustable-rate loans, and the lottery. The idea that small amounts gather seems intuitively obvious to us, yet, in practice, it somehow still remains ever beyond our conceptual grasp. My neighbor, smart as he is (and old enough to be my Dad), throws uncovered, unseasoned logs into the burner to fuel his boiler. He does this all winter long. I've mentioned to him the considerable numerical disadvantage of doing so, to which he snaps, "It'll still burn." Understanding efficiency is tough. The ability to think at scale is just not natural equipment for us human beings. We have to _learn_ to appreciate, well, appreciation. Hopefully we start to do this sooner than later!

We own a young small forest and sell off most of the thinnings as firewood. Currently we're thinning mostly softwood. Customers are so hung up on hardwood vs softwood when the should pay far more attention to the moisture content over the type of wood. Of course most very dry hardwood is superior but many sellers often don't wait long enough before selling it. Moisture content is the basis of a good wood fire 👍

Such a good video !!!!!! Rewatched this one tonight, I have so many questions 😂😂😂 Hope Christmas trade is good looking forward for a video come January

Hello fella, just found your channel and absolutely love and appreciate your knowledge and the fact your from Somerset like me. Books on my Christmas list 👍 Thankyou

thank you for another really informative video we love it when you launch a new one. Big thank you for them all

I enjoyed it too ☺️ thank you 👍 Newbie log stove owner here 😃

Brilliant video as always !!!! We’re going through wood like no one’s business this year !!!!! Haven’t had the heating on mind 😂😍👍🏻

Danke, sehr beeindruckend. Viele Grüße von einem „Holzherdfreund” aus Deutschland

so why was the garages and shops up till 2 yrs ago selling wet wood and coal oh yes for the weight so they could make more profit . glad your showing the importance of dry wood

really good info thanks

Thanks for sharing

Couldent agree more Gree

I`ve been very upset when i bought eight cubic meters of firewood and that pile of wood just get wet because of rain started just right in the moment when truck unloaded that wood in my yard. Thats an enormous volume of wood, and i could not stack them all at once. Rain showered these logs day and night, wood became heavy, like three times heavier, which indeed made my work harder, and of course it wont burn at all. But only one week under the sun and logs became light, i could even lift them with my index finger, and it burned like matches.

I saw a video of a guy using latent heat extend the warm of his fire one. He put a giant pot of wax on the stove when the fire was hot to melt it. Then when the fire dies down over night, the wax give the heat off as it changes state from liquid back to solid. Genious though extremely dangerous if the wax isn't contained safely.

Really clear and informative. One question I have is how low a moisture content could we possibly achieve by leaving the logs to season for longer. Being new to wood fires, I’m fascinated by the theory and science behind it all and imagine it hits a point of diminishing returns?

Bonjour!! What a nice test, nice to have visualized it like this....! I see a fire extinguisher near the wood stove in the video...chimney fire...my worst nightmare...I sweep the chimney 3x a winter...just in case..Is it an idea to make a video about that? ? I only heat on wood here in the Dordogne, France...Especially oak...and I light the fire since your video like you do but with dried Atlascedar pines...the very big ones ;-)..works amazing for kindling!!..we have a very old Atlas cedar in the meadow, beautiful tree! ... Warm regards ; ) Christian

Second of your vids I've seen and the second that I completely agree with. Can I add that wet wood, by burning at a lower temperature gives off more partially-combusted hydrocarbons and that steam is implicated in reactions in the flue gas producing other pollutants?

I never considered the actual energy loss I just figured it was bad for creosote buildup. But makes sense, that steam is basically latent heat going up the chimney.

Wow, thanks so much. That puts it into perspective!

Great video where are you finding Elm you are really lucky to have it.

It surprises me that you dont have a high efficiency stove. I cut my wood consumption by 30% by going from an airtight boiler to a gasification boiler. Had heat storage witu both, just changed appliances.

Wow, that graphic is a real attention getter. If you're heating with wood, that's a lot of lost heat... I actually use the not-so-dry wood to slow the fire down trick- but only in my outdoor campfires. I have a large amount of softer, fast burning wood that I no longer need, and is just in the way. If I just burn it by itself, the resulting fire is too big and too hot for my use: cooking. Mixing it with semi seasoned wood results in a more manageable fire. Not at all the ideal way to do things, but it's serving it's purpose and soon the bulk of the Silver Maple will be gone. (and I can use that space to stack more ideal wood-- of which I have loads, just waiting for space to stack it in) I wouldn't do it in anything with a chimney- unless you LIKE the messy job of cleaning that chimney out often. But for outdoor fires, it's fine.

When are you going to make the video of “overnight burn

did your elm get dutch elm disease