This article is aimed at providing basic information to persons interested in burning green wood.
Unseasoned wood is commonly known to be unsuitable for combustion uses. The reasons are obvious; efficient burning and heating are almost impossible.
Plus, there’s the problem of excess smoke given off during the combustion process. So, why burn green wood when it’s clearly unsuitable?
Well, that could be the only option you have at the moment.
If you must burn unseasoned wood, there are ways to go about the process. Plus, it’s also important to state that the process isn’t as complicated as you think.
About Green Wood
To better appreciate why it’s difficult to burn green wood, you’ll need to look at its moisture content levels.
According to the Chimney Safety Institute of America, fresh green wood is composed of roughly 45 percent moisture. This is significant as combustion is almost impossible with such high moisture content.
The ideal time allowed for proper wood seasoning is about 6 to 12 months. At this rate, the moisture content should drop to about 15 to 20 percent.
This is the ideal moisture content of seasoned wood. However, we’re looking at how to burn green or unseasoned wood with all the moisture content still present or intact.
What is Green Wood?
A lot of people have the misconception that green wood is simply any tree that’s freshly cut.
However, the reality is quite different. Freshly cut dead or dry trees do not qualify as green wood. Instead, only freshly cut live trees can be termed green wood.
These have the most moisture content.
Put another way, green woods are live trees that aren’t seasoned in any way. To burn such woods, you won’t have to wait for the moisture content to reduce.
Some people actually want to burn such woods either immediately or the next day. Will it ignite? It certainly will when the right process is followed.
Is it Possible to Burn Unseasoned Wood?
Although burning unseasoned wood can be challenging, it’s totally possible.
To have any real results, the combustion procedure needs to be done in a certain way. Also, where you burn such wood is important. You’ll learn all about these details by simply reading on.
Let’s get into specifics.
Burning Green Wood
Ordinarily, burning green wood would make little sense to most people as it’s known to be an ineffective wood combustion strategy. However, there could be reasons for that.
People have different reasons why they need to burn green wood. Whatever such reasons are, it’s best to avoid such as there are lots of disadvantages.
To burn green wood, one thing you must do is to avoid doing so indoors. In other words, green wood shouldn’t be burned indoors. Green wood combustion produces a lot of smoke.
This will be a poor choice for indoor wood stoves or furnaces.
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Splitting Green Wood Into Tiny Pieces
To have a real shot at green wood combustion, you’ll have to split the wood into tiny pieces. Unlike seasoned wood, logs of green wood can’t be burned due to high moisture content.
The only way will be when such wood is split into small pieces.
Having split your green wood, have some dry kindling mixed with the wood pieces. Of course, these will be placed in a suitable fire pit or burn container.
It’s important that the pieces of green wood are stacked in such a way that there is ample airflow around the pile.
You want to ensure that the airflow that comes in is enough. The more the airflow the better the burn rate. Now, ignite your fire and watch the wood burn.
You might have wondered why green wood had to be split into tiny pieces. The reason is simple; it needs to be split that way to allow for faster and more efficient dissipation of moisture.
The faster such moisture dissipates the better. Moisture dissipation is crucial to allow access to the wood fuel. Without an escape, it will be difficult to burn such wood.
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Again, Only Burn Green Wood Outdoors
The need to burn green wood outdoors cannot be overstated. We’ve said that green wood combustion is known for its characteristic release of excessive smoke.
Having to deal with such smoke in indoor environments isn’t work the stress. Plus, it easily affects your chimney system as there’s a faster buildup of creosote.
The high smoke levels also mean you’ll have to inhale a lot of it. Your health and that of your family will be negatively impacted.
It’s clear to see that it isn’t worth the risk of burning green wood indoors.
Why Burning Green Wood isn’t Worth the Stress
The many disadvantages of burning greenwood are quite obvious.
However, not everyone has an idea of what it involves. Apart from the discomfort and negative impact to health caused by smoke, green wood consumption rate is reduced by as much as 25 percent.
In other words, it’s slow-burning.
The slow-burning of green wood may be seen as a good thing as not much wood is consumed. However, that’s totally not the case. Slow and efficiently burning wood is only considered an advantage with seasoned wood.
Green wood doesn’t burn efficiently.
Also, about one-half of the weight of green wood is due to water or moisture. All of that moisture will need to be burned off.
The fact that heat is needed to dry out green wood during combustion means that a lot of the energy that would have provided warmth is lost.
This is clearly a disadvantage.
You’ll have to weigh your options on whether to proceed with burning green wood or use seasoned wood in its place. However, there may be a reason why you choose to burn green wood.
If you must, the lighting methods discussed above should be of help.
Prepping for the Rainy Day
As stated earlier, seasoning of wood is a necessary action for persons seeking to use them as fuels It’s important to have your wood seasoned for around 6 months to a year.
By doing this, you won’t have the need to burn green wood.
We’ve discussed ways to burn green wood in addition to the disadvantages. With these strategies, the process shouldn’t be difficult to implement at all.