It’s important to know how to choose firewood when it comes to your stove. Each type of wood – whether that be seasoned or unseasoned – has different features that can influence its performance. Understanding the differences with each wood type can help you pick the best firewood for your home.
Why is Choosing Firewood Important?
Choosing the right firewood for your stove is incredibly important. Different types of woods can have vastly different properties that affect how they each burn, the cleanliness of the smoke they create and the aroma they produce. It’s also essential to consider safety when picking firewood – especially when burning them within your home.
Stoves require a lot of maintenance when burning firewood to ensure the fire is contained and continuously lit. The various wood types have different needs when maintaining them, and some are much easier to keep alight than others. If you’re someone with less experience with using stoves, then it may be better to choose logs that are easier to burn.
Seasoned or Unseasoned firewood?
When it comes to burning firewood in a stove, it’s always best to use seasoned wood. Seasoned wood will have a lower moisture percentage to make it much easier to burn efficiently. Seasoned wood will also be cleaner overall to ensure the air it produces is much cleaner.
Unseasoned wood – also commonly known as wet wood – will have a considerably higher moisture percentage which will make it much more difficult to burn. Wet wood will be relatively dirty and the smoke it produces can be quite harmful to the environment. More smoke may lead to extra maintenance as your chimney may become blocked more frequently.
Hardwood or Softwood?
There are two types of wood you will want to choose between when it comes to using stoves: hardwood and softwood. The woods have different properties when burning, and both can be suitable in different circumstances.
Overall, hardwoods are an ideal firewood for burning in stoves. Hardwoods are quite dense which means they will burn for longer and typically will burn hotter which will keep your home warm than softwoods. Hardwoods also produce minimal smoke which makes them ideal to burning indoors. However, hardwoods are usually more expensive than softwoods. Some common types used are oak, ash, maple, and apple.
On the other hand, softwoods are ideal for someone who doesn’t intend to use their stove for long periods of time. Softwood trees are much easier to grow which makes their logs much easier to produce and season. The ease of their production means softwood is cheaper to buy than hardwoods. Some common types of softwoods are poplar, cedar and pine.
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