Basement Firewood Seasoning

[Bill G]

I had giant yellow jackets coming out of the wood last year. Only spiders and gnats this year

I hate bugs as much as I hate snakes.

 

[furb]

I hate bugs as much as I hate snakes.

When we bought the house there were fleas in the basement that we fought for months to get rid of. Since that mess I didn’t really care about the bugs. Ladybugs are a pain. They get in everywhere. I bet there was 200 dead in my basement. The house has a drive in basement and they all go to die at the garage door window.

 

[Stihl036]

Nope. 15ish percent moisture content. All three years split and stacked as I’m on the 3 year plan. Which means I’m at least 3 years ahead on my firewood.

Look up Woodstock soapstone Co. Ideal Steel and you’ll find my results are the norm. The other company I would recommend to anyone interested in reducing their firewood consumption is Blaze king. There’s plenty of good information on both companies on places like Hearth.com.

Your Ideal Steel if I'm not mistaken is a hybrid. It has both a catalytic device and secondary air tubes.

It sounds like a great stove. My Jotul just has secondary air tubes. The hybrids weren't out back in 2002 when I bought mine.

I'll be reading up on the Ideal Steel this even. I love these efficient wood stove. I keep two to three years ahead like you do.

A good wood seasoning system is an important part of efficient wood heating.

 

[Woodpecker]

A drolet escape. It’s not a cat stove but is picky about wood to get good heat.

I significantly reduced my wood consumption going from the fisher to the drolet. This is only my third year here so the first years wood is dwindling and the current good wood is mostly ash and poplar. With everything going on and all the trees that had to come down here I didn’t have time to cut better wood elsewhere. Next year there should be about four cords ready to go. I have a pile of oak decking from a crane truck I redid I can mix in.

I had a Drolet Austral II that I replaced with this Ideal Steel. Yours most likely has a very similar heat tube secondary burn set up.

It most definitely won’t like fresh cut oak. The magic number for any modern stove is a moisture content below 20%. Most firewooders in the know will tell you, and I agree, oak needs at least 2 years of seasoning to get below 20% moisture content. It has to do with the closed cell structure of that particular species.

Where I’m located we get a lot of humidity so I typically have to wait 3 years on oak. In short the more moisture in the wood the the more energy you lose from converting that moisture to steam. In some cases this also increases your likelihood of creosote build up and a chimney fire.

Where did you purchase? I might be replacing a whipped out Country Hearth this year.

I purchased directly from the company Woodstock soapstone Co. You should also check out Blaze King as well. They are also known for super long burn times like I get with this Ideal Steel. I believe Blaze King has Dealers here in the Mitten state.

Your Ideal Steel if I'm not mistaken is a hybrid. It has both a catalytic device and secondary air tubes.

It sounds like a great stove. My Jotul just has secondary air tubes. The hybrids weren't out back in 2002 when I bought mine.

I'll be reading up on the Ideal Steel this even. I love these efficient wood stove. I keep two to three years ahead like you do.

A good wood seasoning system is an important part of efficient wood heating.

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Yes it is a hybrid having both a secondary burn and a catalytic burner in it. I was already reaping rewards from a Drolet Austral but it couldn’t keep up with the heat load of the house when temps went down into the teens and lower, and I had to load it about every 6 hours. When I put the Ideal Steel in I cut my wood use nearly in half and burn times also doubled for essentially the same heat load.





Stove was loaded at around 10pm last night and is still chooching out usable heat this morning at 9 am. I regularly get 12 hour burn times on a load with temps in the teens. When the temps are milder outside burn times increase. When the temps are closer to the 30s burn times increase to around 18-24 hours, and I burn stuff like boxelder/soft maple, pine, and Poplar.

Conditions here the next couple days are expected to be single digit highs with negative lows. I’ll switch to the heavy hitters like well seasoned oak, hard maple, and hickory for those conditions and will probably see 10 hours on a load. Of course variables will differ for everyone, but my results are pretty similar to many other ideal steel owners.

 

[furb]

I had a Drolet Austral II that I replaced with this Ideal Steel. Yours most likely has a very similar heat tube secondary burn set up.

It most definitely won’t like fresh cut oak. The magic number for any modern stove is a moisture content below 20%. Most firewooders in the know will tell you, and I agree, oak needs at least 2 years of seasoning to get below 20% moisture content. It has to do with the closed cell structure of that particular species.

Where I’m located we get a lot of humidity so I typically have to wait 3 years on oak. In short the more moisture in the wood the the more energy you lose from converting that moisture to steam. In some cases this also increases your likelihood of creosote build up and a chimney fire.

I purchased directly from the company Woodstock soapstone Co. You should also check out Blaze King as well. They are also known for super long burn times like I get with this Ideal Steel. I believe Blaze King has Dealers here in the Mitten state.

Yes it is a hybrid having both a secondary burn and a catalytic burner in it. I was already reaping rewards from a Drolet Austral but it couldn’t keep up with the heat load of the house when temps went down into the teens and lower, and I had to load it about every 6 hours. When I put the Ideal Steel in I cut my wood use nearly in half and burn times also doubled for essentially the same heat load.

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Stove was loaded at around 10pm last night and is still chooching out usable heat this morning at 9 am. I regularly get 12 hour burn times on a load with temps in the teens. When the temps are milder outside burn times increase. When the temps are closer to the 30s burn times increase to around 18-24 hours, and I burn stuff like boxelder/soft maple, pine, and Poplar.

Conditions here the next couple days are expected to be single digit highs with negative lows. I’ll switch to the heavy hitters like well seasoned oak, hard maple, and hickory for those conditions and will probably see 10 hours on a load. Of course variables will differ for everyone, but my results are pretty similar to many other ideal steel owners.

I can usually get below 20% in about 16 - 18 months if it’s standing dead. If it’s split before summer starts the year before it’ll be okay for November the following year. I split the oak to around 4x4 pieces and only go two rows. The bigger stuff sits an extra year. I’ll look at the stoves like yours. I’m not opposed to getting something with longer burn times.