I'm not near as experienced as some of you guys, but I'm in the camp that ascribes to burning quite dry wood. I have most of next years wood split, stacked and drying.
I agree, using not so dry wood is an easier way to extend burn times and I had done so when I first started burning wood. However I found I had to certainly keep a close eye on the chimney and was cleaning it about once a month or so.
As I stocked up on more wood and began burning consistently more dry wood, I found that it was easier to get the fire going, easier to manage the stove and we got a ton more heat out of the wood, so I could clamp down the damper a lot more than with the greenish wood.
Burning dry wood is just lower maintance in my opinion. I get more heat with less wood, less time cleaning out the chimney, etc. I really don't mind starting a fire from scratch.
With respect to my senior and more experienced burners out there - burning green wood just makes no sense to me. You're taking an old and much lower efficiency stove (compared to todays stoves) and making it even less efficient by burning green wood. I don't think someone could ever convince me burning green wood is better than dry wood
However if it works for you and heats your home, by all means proceed. That's what we are all after in the end, a warm house.
I agree, using not so dry wood is an easier way to extend burn times and I had done so when I first started burning wood. However I found I had to certainly keep a close eye on the chimney and was cleaning it about once a month or so.
As I stocked up on more wood and began burning consistently more dry wood, I found that it was easier to get the fire going, easier to manage the stove and we got a ton more heat out of the wood, so I could clamp down the damper a lot more than with the greenish wood.
Burning dry wood is just lower maintance in my opinion. I get more heat with less wood, less time cleaning out the chimney, etc. I really don't mind starting a fire from scratch.
With respect to my senior and more experienced burners out there - burning green wood just makes no sense to me. You're taking an old and much lower efficiency stove (compared to todays stoves) and making it even less efficient by burning green wood. I don't think someone could ever convince me burning green wood is better than dry wood
However if it works for you and heats your home, by all means proceed. That's what we are all after in the end, a warm house.