Is your fire not cranking like you want it to? It could be wet wood.

If you can't seem to get your fire to put out sufficient heat it could be due to unseasoned wood. Properly dried wood is where it's at! And here's why...

Less heat than dry wood

Wet wood can have up to 100% moisture in it, which means your wood is more water than wood. Heating up all the water before your wood starts to burn is not the ideal way to get a fire going, it takes a lot longer to get that fire box up to a decent temperature.

Fire Hazard

When you are burning wet wood, you will notice it produces a lot more smoke that dry wood, this smoke and moisture is creating a buildup of creosote in your flue, this creosote clogs your flue and can turn into a fire hazard if not cleaned and maintained.

Less Efficient

If your burning wet wood, then your fireplace is working overtime. You are not getting the most efficient performance you could be getting. You will notice a huge difference when you burn dry wood, the firebox glows hot, the glass stays clean and there is less smoke. You can even hear a difference in the burning, with dry wood you will get that crackling fire sound and the wet wood will be more of a sizzling steaming sound.

Top tips for drying wood…

• Split wood into the right size for you wood heater, cut in spring or summer for next winter.
• Keep your wood stack raised up off the ground.
• Store wood undercover especially in the winter.
• Stack firewood in a single row so the sun and breeze can draw the moisture out the cut ends.

Check out more tips on fires in our blog.