Semi OT - Pine Firewood

[J T]

A few days ago someone stated in a thread that pine should not be burned as firewood, because of the creosote buildup. Not necessarily. The below quote was taken from here:

Lots of info on this, a couple minutes on google will turn up a bunch.

The quote: Some people say that pine should not be burned for firewood. This is not true. Pine can be burned for home heating. In fact, the heating value of many of the Southern pines is higher than the less dense hardwood species and equal to the medium density hardwoods like ash. Burning pine may cause more creosote deposits in the chimney because of the resin content in the smoke. However, creosote formation depends more on how you burn the wood than on the species you use. A slow-burning fire in an airtight stove will produce creosote regardless of species

JOAT Don't e-mail me while I'm breathing.

[Jon Endres, PE]

Good thing, because I've got slabwood from 17,000 board feet of white pine logs sitting in the yard, and it's gonna heat my house for at least a couple of years.

Jon E

[A Dubya]

I've got an outdoor woodboiler, that feeds a coil in a forced air furnace, and heat exchanger for the hotwater tank. I burn tons (literally) of pine. It causes more build up in the firebox and chimney, but cleans out fairly quick with a couple of days worth of hardwood being burned.

Cheers,

aw

[A Dubya]

...cleans out fairly well.

...digesting the easter dinner, and just kicked out the guests.....I'm spent.

Cheers,

aw

[Dave in Fairfax]

I'm glad to be corrected. When I was growing up we were cautioned against it because of the danger of chimney fires. We used to toss some compound, can't remember the name of the stuff, into the fire at regular intervals to make the creosote cake up and flake off the chimney. I've seen chimney fires take out houses, they were very impressive. If that much creosote can build up from burning seasoned hardwood, it seems that pine would build it up much more quickly. I don't have references, just anecdotal rememberances. Dave in Fairfax

[Gerald Ross]

Pine is the main wood we burned when I was growing up. In a fireplace. Every 2 or 3 years while a big hot fire was burning, the chimney would "burn out". Which means the creosote/soot in the chimney caught fire and it would sound like a locomotive coming down the chimney, but it only lasted a few seconds. The problem is when this happens and your chimney is old and has cracks--it can start a house fire.

[jo4hn]

Uh huh. Really. What kind of mash do you use? j4

[A Dubya]

...why bother with mash...sugar, water, yeast :)

Cheers,

aw

[Luigi Zanasi]

On Sat, 10 Apr 2004 19:10:10 -0400, [e-mail] (J T) scribbled:

Here in the Yukon we do not have much choice: It's either pine and spruce or poplar/aspen/cottonwood which are not worth anything. We cringe at the thought of you guys burning maple and oak.

Most people have some kind of wood burning appliance and many heat exclusively with wood, which is the cheapest fuel. The preferred fuel is "firekill", wood from areas burned in forest fires. The wood is already dry, but the soot makes it messy to deal with. Regular (once a year) chimney cleaning is critical, and I don't think we have more house fires than other places.

Luigi Replace "nonet" with "yukonomics" for real email address

[RB]

Was this it?

Try here for a novel way to keep your chimney free of creosote

I saw this demoed at the Home Show a couple of weeks ago in Augusta, ME. Great product, but smallest home show I've ever seen.

RB

Dave >>burned as firewood, because of the creosote buildup. Not necessarily. >

[dave in fairfax]

Hard to say, it was about 30-35 years ago. As I remember, it came in a yellow can witha a pry off top, alot like Johnson's Paste Wax, and it had a scoop inside. A scoop or two into the fire was all it took. This could be the same stuff, repackaged, but I can't remember the name.

Dave in Fairfax