How'd it go today?

We don't burn pine here either unless it's outside fogging for mosquitos .

You all have to remember Bermy is in Bermuda .If you've never been there everything has to be shipped in which drives the price through the ceiling .Neat little island in the Atlantic but it damned certain is not cheap .
 
Burn it all the time..
I mix it up a lot with my oak and such.
On warmer days, we will burn pine during the day in the winter instead of the hardwoods. No Issues.
Short metal chimney though. Could be more of an issue in brick and mortar.
 
Creosote is a combination of water vapor (steam) mixing with the smoke (unburnt wood particles), and that is what builds up over time in the chimney. Dry seasoned wood produces less creosote than wet green wood regardless of wood species.
 
I do allot of work for fireman one being a Fire Inspector. He burns lots of pine inside his metal chimney he tells me. I asked how often he cleans his chimney and his answer, " NEVER!" I was shocked but just like a previous poster stated if it is seasoned properly then it is not a problem. I know quite a few fireman that burn it once well seasoned. Walmart along with many other stores sell Pine Mountain logs. Are they actually pine? I don't know but next time I am in the store I will find out.
 
Correctly seasoned is important, but getting enough air to the combustion is even more so.
I can adjust my furnace to the moisture content and type of the wood; I burn ( not that I ever do, all I burn is hardwood, seasoned for 2-3 years)
It'll burn pine as cleanly as anything else.
 
I used to have a lot of problems with creosote on my tile lined block chimney. Keeping it hot enough to not condense is the key. I put a double wall insulated metal pipe in. Haven't cleaned it since I put it in. Several years. I should sweep it out at the end of the season as recommended. Stops corrosion I think is the idea.

I have had a few chimney fires in block chimneys in my several decades of heating with wood. They are to be avoided.
 
There are some products that you can put directly into the fire or on logs before burning, supposed to make the creosote peel off. I have no experience with them. In my shop I can just cook the creosote with a super hot fire, then banging on the pipe after it cools seems to make it fall off. There is no fire hazard, even with a red hot pipe.
 
From what I have heard and read the burning type don't do much. There is a spray on cleaner that sounds good.

I made a scraping tool to try to remove the glazed creosote. An exercise in futility.

My cousin had a block chimney. He used to pull the pipe out and stuff a bunch of crumpled up newspapers in and fire it up. A controlled burn, so to speak.
 
Burning pine is fine, provided and it well seasoned and allowed to burn hot. Sap doesn't make creosote. Cold smoke does. You can clog a chimney with seasoned wood if you smolder it all the time. Go far up into Canada and they pretty much only heat with conifers. Anyone that says "Pine clogs chimneys" usually has limited or no experience in heating with wood..(talking out their ass).
 
The old grade school janitor in my home town used to wad up the sunday paper and throw it in the furnace to clean the flue each week. You could always tell when he had finished reading it. Smoke and soot rolled out of the chimney for about 30 seconds and all was good for another week. Seemed to work quite well. He heated with wood as long as I knew him. I had a couple of chimney fires when I was burning mostly oak in my younger days, probably wasn't seasoned as well as it could have been. Also shut the stove down a lot when we were gone during the day working. Chimney was on the outside wall of the house and did not stay real warm at those times. Never had any damage, just a lot of smoke and a few flames. Usually lasted less than 5 minutes, but scary as hell when it started roaring. I should have subscribed to the paper I guess.
 
I'll burn any wood.........but my flue pipe is only 10' long and straight up. I'll tap on the inner pipe sometimes and let deposits fall into the stove. I've been heating with wood all my life.
 
To clean my chimney I let the fire SCREAM full of lumber scraps and kindling every now and again and once the fire is raging and everything is red hot, I shut the damper and cut off the air. Within a minute you can hear little bits of creosote rain back down the chimney. The intense heat expands the chimney liner, and the sudden cool down contracts it quickly. Breaks the tension and bond that holds the creosote to the flue and lets it fall off. For getting the fire ripping in the morning and getting the stove piping hot in a hurry, I LOVE some well seasoned spruce or pine. It doesn't burn a long time or make a great bed of coals, but it gets the stove up and running very well. I had a 55 gallon drum of cedar shingles this past winter that I used for kindling. No paper, no nothing. Split a few shingles, toss them in the stove in a pile and throw a match at them.
 
People in New Mexico tell me that mixing aspen and pine helps to prevent creosote build up.

That probably makes for a hot and fast burning fire, which helps prevent build up. There's one and only one thing that keeps a chimney from clogging, and that is a hot fire. Hot fires make a more complete burn, and in the case of a cold smoldering fire, the smoke is full of material. Think of a bon fire or camp fire. When lit initially, it smokes like hell. Once that fire is howling, theres little or no smoke. That because the fire is hot and making a complete burn. Whether that bon fire is pine, oak, maple, etc, once is ripping, little more then heat mirage dances above the flames. Ive seen chimneys clog from burning the best and driest hardwoods because the fires were kept muffled and damped down all the time.
 
Bda prices...600 miles of ocean to get stuff here! The place that repairs alternators is a 3/4 hr drive away, so I probably got charged for them taking it up there, I brought it back! My alternator was rebuilt 2 yrs ago and this time it was a stuck brush and corrosion, van sat outside for seven months in a salty environment!

Re pine: In Tasmania we have as much macrocarpa as we want and we cut some pine the other day too...we burn it no problem. Like others have said, in a stove its fine, let it roar once in a while and don't idle the stove for too long. The problem some people have their wood stove is too big for the space they have to heat, so they have to close it down to idle so they don't bake themselves, result, deposit buildup!
Pine does leave more ash...trying to find enough places to dump it in our small garden is getting interesting.
Everybody laughs at our woodpile
 
Well my day is off to a friggen great start.. Kat went to work in the Datsun so I could have the van to haul the kids to church in. HA! Just as I was getting kids ready I get a call the Datsun is out in the middle of her parking lot at work, rolled out of the parking place. She tells me come get it or tow it. I was like... well?????? did you try pushing, rolling or starting the vehicle and getting back in a space.. "No". Why? "Won't stay in space W/O brakes..... I ask... you leave it in gear??? "I dunno, will it stay in a space that way because the brakes were acting up on the way to work this morning (4:30AM)". Yes dear, it will.....
Now I ask myself as I am about to lose my mind, why did she even drive it down an 8% grade for a drop of 1200 feet in elevation over 6 miles to work ???:X :|:
She calls back... truck in space, I can bring van when convenient. I get on the phone to everyone to see if the kids are even going to sing in the choir today, see if I can get them there. Grandma and Grandpa will bring them home.. Kewl.. Rob will watch them if need be. Kewl. I finish getting kids ready and head for town... One of the cats stowed away in the van... GREAT... Kids all cleaned and pressed arrive at church, let the church take over and I need to see to the Datsun that was running fine and had great brakes yesterday. Low on fluid.. :what: There is fluid in the truck. No biggie. No one checks the fluids in a while I guess. Brakes felt ok even before I top it back off. The E brake has never been all that great... WTH??
Pretty much bull shit... She forgot to leave the thing in gear and now it is my problem and has screwed my entire morning up. OK... Recoup...
Now, I need to change out a tire on the Ford and get ready to go over the hills to the next town (45 minute) to pick up a 14 foot garage door and a drill press... After 12 and before 3. NP.
So days, I wonder... I think everyone feels it is just easier to make these things my problem and shut their FN brain off.



Rant Over...
 
butch i have always been told to never burn our long needle pine in a fireplace/wood stove. i know guys who burn it as camp fire wood outdoors and in chimineas, but i don't know a person that will burn it inside.
 
I've never seen a soul ever use it for indoor firewood, nor ever seen it sold. Hardwood only, with red oak being the best.
 
I am supposed to be doing some work for the Fire Investigator soon. When I do I will check out his set up and report what I learn:) I don't know anybody willing to pay for it that's for sure. I wish I would!
 
Back
Top