From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Date: Thu, 4 Nov 2004 10:47:33 -0500 1) What is the difference between seasoned logs and the others? What happens if you wind up with unseasoned logs? Do they burn? How do you season them?
Seasoned just means dried. Unseasoned wood is harder to burn, and produces more steam when it burns. It also creates more tar when it burns, so you have to clean your chimney more often. To season wood, you keep it somewhere where air can circulate around it for a year or so. Preferably off the ground, and with small sticks between layers of logs to allow air to circulate between the layers. Make sure that you burn hardwood. Softwood (eg, pine) has a lot more tar, burns faster and produces less heat. Get your chimney cleaned and inspected. It's safest to do this every year, but most people do it every other year. Tar can build up in the chimney (especially if you've burned un-seasoned wood or softwood), and it can catch fire (called a chimney fire). A fire in a fireplace is not for heating your house, it's for pretty (although it's very nice to curl up next to when you come in from the cold.) Make sure that your damper works. You have to open it before lighting a fire. If you forget, the room will fill up with smoke, which will remind you. You need to close it when you are done with the fire. Don't close it while the fire is burning still smoldering, you'll get carbon monoxide and die. I'm not joking. If you want to heat your home with firewood, get a franklin stove. If you don't close the damper, all of your heat will go up the chimney, along with money you pay in heating bills. Often people will close the damper half way when the fire is down to coals, go to bed, and then close the damper all the way in the morning. Never leave the fire burning un-attended. If there's a little moisture in a log, it will turn to steam. You'll hear it as little pops and crackles as the fire burns. Well, sometimes it's a big pop, and a burning piece of wood can fly out of the fireplace. If you don't have a screen, someone needs to be paying attention to the fire. If you have a screen, then you can be doing other things in the same room. Do not leave a fire burning with no one in the room. Logs can roll out and knock over the screen, so even with a screen you need someone in the room. (I've left a five year old in the room, with instructions that, "If any fire gets out of the fireplace, you yell "FIRE" and run to get us.) "Banking" a fire means that you re-arrange the wood with a poker so that it's all close to the ground instead of being stacked up. It makes it less likely that anything will fly or roll out. You bank a fire before leaving it for the night. All of this requires judgement, no two fires are identical. Be careful while you are learning. 2) How much wood is in a cord? How much does it cost? If you burn logs about 5 hours per day, how long would a cord last? A cord is four feet by four feet by eight feet. I used to buy a half cord and it would last me all season. You probably won't build a fire every night. How long a cord lasts depends on how big a fire you build. A five hour fire might take about four or five quartered logs, figure about 1 cubic foot, so a cord would give you about 128 five hour fires. That's a rough guess. Wood should be stored off the ground outside, so that it doesn't absorb moisture or insects. Enjoy your fire place! I wish I had one! --- Chip ---- You are receiving this because you are subscribed to the list named "UnivCity." To unsubscribe or for archive information, see <http://www.purple.com/list.html>.
