I used to season for 1 year for our open fire. We had the open fire replaced by a woodburner for reasons of ecconomy and efficiency.
With 1 year seasoned wood (I leave it in long lengths stacked on its end - just because I have no room to stack it in chopped lengths - and chop it after 6 months or when the wood store has room!) we found that the stove chimney blocked after about 1 month of constant use.
OK a lot of my wood is the dreaded wet Sycamore and the chimney is narrow compared to our old inglenook chimney AND it has a 45 degree section in it (which is where it clogs) to get the chimney up the existing hole in the blanking of the inglenook, so the problem is a combination of factors BUT I think that the main problem is that 1 year seasoned wood is just too wet to burn efficiently (especially the Sycamore), hence my moving up to 2 year seasoning.
This means that for the coming season I will be having to buy firewood (from a reputable dealer ) while I still forage and harvest as much as ever.
A lot of our wood is foraged from natural/vehicle assisted fallen branches around the lanes, plus stuff donated by friends getting new windows fitted etc as well as a good proportion coming from tree I grow in our garden hedges, including Sycamore, Willow, Ash, Hawthorn, Hazel and Leylandii.
With 1 year seasoned wood (I leave it in long lengths stacked on its end - just because I have no room to stack it in chopped lengths - and chop it after 6 months or when the wood store has room!) we found that the stove chimney blocked after about 1 month of constant use.
OK a lot of my wood is the dreaded wet Sycamore and the chimney is narrow compared to our old inglenook chimney AND it has a 45 degree section in it (which is where it clogs) to get the chimney up the existing hole in the blanking of the inglenook, so the problem is a combination of factors BUT I think that the main problem is that 1 year seasoned wood is just too wet to burn efficiently (especially the Sycamore), hence my moving up to 2 year seasoning.
This means that for the coming season I will be having to buy firewood (from a reputable dealer ) while I still forage and harvest as much as ever.
A lot of our wood is foraged from natural/vehicle assisted fallen branches around the lanes, plus stuff donated by friends getting new windows fitted etc as well as a good proportion coming from tree I grow in our garden hedges, including Sycamore, Willow, Ash, Hawthorn, Hazel and Leylandii.
