burning fresh wood in fireplaces

is there any particular reason why wood should be aged before it is burned in a fireplace? I can see how it might burn better since it is dryer, but does fresh wood pose any threat to clogging a chimney with residue? This might sound like a dumb question but it would seriously be great if i could chop up my dead trees and burn em.

 

you know what, i just put in a little effort and found out for myself on google

 

well...since you started it, you might as well explain it here.

 

You seem to have a pretty good grasp on the situation. fresh logs produce much more creosote and basically fuck up your fireplace.


Hotwater

 

Oh, shit...It's Mr. Creosote!

 

Chim chiminey
Chim chiminey
Chim chim cher-ee!
A sweep is as lucky
As lucky can be

Chim chiminey
Chim chiminey
Chim chim cher-oo!
Good luck will rub off when
I shake 'ands with you
Or blow me a kiss
And that's lucky too



Hotwater

 

Better get a bucket....

 

and some waffer-thin chocolate

 

Basically, it works like this

When you burn any wood some of the smoke contains unburned flammable wood residue that has been vaporized. When this residue touches the cold chimney it cools down and some of it solidifies on the chimney walls and is known as creosote. This crap thickens and can ignite, creating a dangerous house fire.

So why is dry wood better to burn? To start with, wet wood (fresh wood is usually wet) does not burn very hot so a higher percentage of the smoke is unburned wooden particles. The smoke itself is also cooler, so when it touches the chimney it won't have as much resistance and is more apt to solidify. The particles in hotter smoke produced by drier wood will be cooled by the chimney but not enough to make it solidify. Finally, the chimney itself is cooler in a wet-log fire because it hasn't been warmed up much by the smoke. A cold chimney will have a better shot at solidifying the particulates.

Damn, I sound smart.

 

kind of depends on the fireplace and the house or other environment.
everything said so far about sooting up a chimney is certainly true.
and in conventional construction, the kind most building codes insist upon, that is potentialy a serious problem. but there are other kinds of situations where burning resony and less then complety parched and dehydrated wood might not make or be such a problem. such as an outdoor barbque type fireplace. or in a more primative sort of shelter if it were of entirely nonflamable construction.

you'll still get the occasional chimney fire in but of those cases, it's just that it then wouldn't be quite so much all that big of a deal. well provided there were a proper chimney pot on top to prevent the sparks from igniting the surrounding landscape. or some other method of effectively trapping them.

=^^=
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