Why do some woods not burn well?

Worst Types of Firewood to Use Softwood tends to burn quickly, inefficiently and produce harmful chemicals. They also tend to contain large amounts of resin – even when seasoned. Resinous woods produce thick oils when burned that blacken glass and leave hard to remove deposits on the inside of your stove and chimney.

mendipstoves.co.uk - What Wood to burn on your Woodburner? - Mendip Stoves

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Before deciding which type of wood to burn on your woodburner, you have to remember that whatever wood you decide burn to needs to be dried, fully seasoned and with a moisture level of less than 20%. Moisture levels can be easily checked with a moisture metre if buying from a local source, or large companies such as Certainly Wood guarantee that the moisture level of your delivered kiln dried wood will be 20% or less. Burning dry wood helps your stove run at its optimum efficiency, burning wet or unseasoned wood will also reduce the effectiveness of the stove’s air wash system thus causing staining and blackening of the glass.

Wet or unseasoned wood produces the following poor performance:

Fires that are simply very hard and very slow to start

Fires that are then difficult to keep going or to keep burning well Smokey fires with fewer flames which are also lacklustre and of a dull or dirty orange colour

Increased dense grey / blue smoke from the chimney

Shorter burn times

Low heat output

Dirty glass and firebricks

Excessive and rapid creosote build-up in the flue system and chimney

Unpleasant smoky smells both inside and sometimes outside the house (When you burn good wood and know how to operate your wood burning stove properly it's really hard to detect any wood smoke at all) If you are still unsure about whether the wood you’re buying is dry enough, then check for the Woodsure sticker. Woodsure, a non-profit organisation run by HETAS, is striving to raise the quality of wood fuel in the industry. As a company we recommend only using wood that is below 20% moisture for burning on any of our appliances. This new Woodsure certification scheme along with it’s logo shows wood fuel users the suppliers and products that they can trust and adhere to their guidelines.

Best Types of Firewood to Use

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The best types of wood to burn on your fire, are mostly non-resinous hard woods. The best types of these are: Ash – Ash wood produces a steady flames in wood burning stoves, with good heat. It is considered one of the best woods for burning. Birch and Beech – Birch and Beech both make excellent firewood, they produce a good heat and are staples in many seasoned wood bags. Oak – Oak is an ideal wood to use on your woodburning stove, known for its long, slow burns. Oak is a dense hardwood, that is probably one of the all-around best firewood for a woodburning stove. While oak can take a little longer to become properly seasoned than other firewood’s, it is well worth the wait. While these are our top four, there are many other types of firewood that are acceptable to burn on a woodburning stove such as:

Hawthorn

Cherry

Mulberry

Apple

Worst Types of Firewood to Use

Softwoods are some of the worst woods you can burn on your woodburning stove. Softwood tends to burn quickly, inefficiently and produce harmful chemicals. They also tend to contain large amounts of resin – even when seasoned. Resinous woods produce thick oils when burned that blacken glass and leave hard to remove deposits on the inside of your stove and chimney. We do not recommend the following types of firewood to be burnt on any of our woodburning stoves:

Poplar

Cedar

Eucalyptus

It is also worth noting that woodburning stoves are not the same as incinerators and that items such as general rubbish, sawn timber offcuts and treated wood should not be burnt in your appliance.