Burn pine in an insert fireplace?

I have lots of pine logs from trees I had to cut down last year. I know pine isn't optimal burning wood, but I got lots. If it has sat for a year in 16" rounds, is it ok to split and burn in a fireplace/insert for heat in the winter? I have heard mixed about it plugging up the chimney...any experience/knowledge about this?

Reply to
beerguzzler50
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Lots of folks burn lots of pine including me! :) It won't "plug up" a chimney unless you were to let a pitch buildup continue for a very long time. You do need to be more careful w/ pine to make sure excessive pitch buildup doesn't occur and I would recommend an experienced cleaner every year if you burn the fire a significant amount over a winter. If you can also get a supply of hardwood, it works better to mix the pine in as you get tha advantage of the longer-burning hardwoods and reduce the rate of pitch buildup plus less risk of a really large flame likely to begin a flue fire. I used a stove insert in TN w/ a mixture of hardwoods and yellow pine culled as you propose and by controlling the inlet damper never had an issue of flareup that is possible in an open fireplace. In the western mountainous regions there are many areas with essentially no hardwoods and fireplaces are stoked routinely w/ various pines.

Reply to
dpb

Depends on the type of pine. Check the below link for all tree types used for firewood.

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Reply to
Bob

Fireplace chimneys need to be clean periodically no matter what type of wood is burned. In the northwest, many people use pine, usually a mix of pine, Douglas fir, real fir and spruce. Nothing wrong with burning pine, just need to clean the chimney before too much stuff builds up.

Reply to
George E. Cawthon

Burned properly (complete secondary combustion) it's no problem. Of course, this depends very much on the particular appliance and the operator.

Many pines have high moisture content on the stump. Meaning: season and dry it as thoroughly as possible. And ... it'll finish drying much faster after buzzing & splitting.

Compared to hardwoods, you should find yourself feeding smaller batches more frequently.

HTH, J

Reply to
barry

The biggest problem comes when you burn pine in a wood burning stove that is dampered down. Open fire in a fireplace is usually OK.

Reply to
Edwin Pawlowski

Being an east coaster, I was ignorant to burning pine. I was working as a chimney sweep in Colorado for my inlaws, a weird vaction for me. A person mentioned splitting pine by hand. I asked, why use pine since it was bad for fireplaces I heard. I got the weirdest look, and a reply, "that's the only wood we have in this part of the country to burn". I now wanted to know how I had such a misperception, and asked to be educated. The home owner showed me, four piles of stacked wood. He explained each year he stacked a new pile, and used his oldest pile. So wood drys out for 3 years.

It was an education for me, and I didn't look like a boob for the next customers. ;)

imho,

tom @

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Reply to
Tom The Great

How does drying wood for several years get rid of the creosote? It takes a high temperature to burn creosote; at lower temps, it just evaporates and condenses on cooler surfaces (like the chimney). Do folks out west tend to have better (i.e. higher temperature) fireplaces/stoves than easterners? Hotter, faster flow chimneys? Catalytic combustors to burn creosote? A lot of optimism?

Mike

Reply to
Michael Daly

Green wood burn cooler, gases condense on the chimney and there you go. That is also true of the hardwoods.

No, they just ignore all the old wives tales about creosote problems, clean their chimneys at least once per season and sleep nice and warm. If you don't burn 'dirty', i.e., with the dampers closed, there is no problem.

Harry K

Reply to
Harry K

That would do it, east or west. Not damping down the fire means that they burn up more wood and cleaning frequently means the spend more on maintenance. Overall, they burn money.

Mike

Reply to
Michael Daly

Overall they spend money no matter how they heat their house. Or do you know someway to get heat for free?

Harry K

Reply to
Harry K

You can spend a bit of money or you can spend a lot of money - your choice.

Solar. There are costs associated with construction, of course.

Mike

Reply to
Michael Daly

I'm amazed with the price of fuel today that solar is not being used much more. Once the equipment is installed, it is cheap to operate and has benefits even in the northern areas.

Reply to
Edwin Pawlowski

Solar is like fuel efficient cars. The only time anyone pays attention is when fuel costs go up. If fuel costs go down, everyone assumes they'll never go up again and interest wanes. In the end, solar is only used by a small number of enthusiasts.

Architects are part of the problem - they consider solar to be a fringe technology and won't consider it for mainstream design (there are a few exceptions, but those are like the enthusiasts, few and far between).

Real estate agents are the worst. Solar has a long payback period and most of the cost is up front. I can't count how often I've heard a R.E. agent say something like "On the average, people sell their houses every five years. Why would you buy a heating system that takes over ten years to pay back?" And of course, their sales pitches guarantee that efficiency has no resale value - that's reserved for the gold-plated bathroom fixtures and exotic backsplashes in the kitchen.

Mike

Reply to
Michael Daly

Very true, just that with the cost of solar heating, is a limiting factor. The labor!

First thing I was told you need to increase conservation in a home before taking stepts to 'solarize' your home. I have frients with still only R18-20 in their attic, so the move to conserve heat first hasn't dawned on them.

later,

tom @

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Reply to
Tom The Great

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