BEST Moisture levels for Firewood
20,513
Published 2021-04-07
Ideally don't buy anything with over 20% moisture, whatever the wood, you're paying for a lot of water which will have to be dried off before burning. Some firewood is sold unseasoned or part seasoned, fresh cut wood can be up to 60% water, but most hardwoods cut for burning are 35-40% when cut.
No stove manufacturer suggests burning anything with over 20% moisture content and the ideal to aim for is 15% Some softwoods will over-dry to below 10% and while good for kindling, as logs, these will burn too fast for a good fire. The dryer the wood the faster it will burn. Anywhere between 10 and 20% is where to aim for, on large logs it is worth splitting one and testing the central moisture content, because how a log seasons is dependent on volume as well as the storage conditions, and as we show there can be a 10-15% difference between the old cut surface and the center of the log when split.
Check out our channel for videos about
- Gardener's Cottage in Blakeney
- Five crazy dogs and our adventure with puppies!
- Visits and tours of our gardens and the plants we grow
- Our baking disasters and cooking with our garden produce.
- Places to visit in the beautiful county of Norfolk
All Comments (14)
-
Great review, I was just looking at getting this very same unit. Cheers 🍻
-
Good info thanks. Ps: even using the imperial system your British accent didn’t scare me away because I knew this would be % and not the metric system. 😂 I cut my logs to 16 inches. Cheers.
-
It's not important to "push down really hard" to get a good cntact. In fact you'll end up damaging the meter that way.
-
Great video man
-
Great video! Thank you. Out of curiosity, are pallets treated with chemicals so they last in weather? If so is it ok to burn them?
-
Please give the difference between 'dryness and 'seasoning'
-
nice one mate cheers
-
Hi what the make and model of the meter good video thanks
-
would like to know what setting for an unknown wood(a,b,c,d.)
-
Very helpful video. What was the brand of the moisture meter?
-
You'll get a false reading unless you measure on a freshly cut face, regardless of how 'seasoned' the wood is.
-
The wood needs to be resplit and tested on the freshly exposed face of the wood. End grain readings are meaningless.
-
Why not just ban logs, how can anyone check the moisture like this for every log
