Burning wood – are you trying to save money?

Do you go and forage for your own wood to burn? You may find that in the long run this is costing you more money and impacting on the environment as well as causing damage to your wood burning stove and chimney. There are some simple guidelines to follow when burning wood.

Update: In February 2020 the UK government announced plans to ban wet wood and house coal from the UK. Read our article which clarfiies the situation.

Heading: No ban on wood-burning stoves, repeat no ban on wood-burning stoves

Link: https://www.bowlandstoves.co.uk/blog/stove-advice-and-maintenance/no-ban-wood-burning-stoves-repeat-no-ban-wood-burning-stoves/

Different types of wood

Unseasoned firewood is a dark/mid brown colour and often has a green tinge to it. It has no cracks in the ingrain of the wood. These logs have about a 45% water content and are much heavier to lift. When burning unseasoned firewood more energy is used to burn the wood as the moisture content needs to evaporate up the chimney. This means you will have a cooler fire. As the wet wood or green wood as it is sometimes called is burnt it will cause a build up of creosote, a black sticky tar substance that clogs up your chimney, pollutes the environment and causes the glass in your fire to turn black. This substance is the main cause of chimney fires. If left unattended it could burn down your house or at the least cause damage to your chimney. An annual chimney sweep is always recommended for those with wood burning fires.