Cycling UK Forum

Pebble wrote: 16 Dec 2021, 12:21am Yes there is a lot of water in unseasoned wood, about a third of its weight, but it takes a very long time to come out.

Thought I would do a little experiment, today I took a piece of oak from a perfectly healthy tree that had come down in the big storm last week, I have brought one piece into the house and sat it on the hearth, in 6 hours it has went from 2290g to 2271g, so has only lost 19ml of water.

If we had 10 such pieces (which would be a fair bit of wood in the house), that would amount to 190g of water evaporating into the air. half a cup full seems a fair bit, but compared to the water emitted in our breath by, lets say two people watching tele for 6 hours, would amount to something like 840g of moisture.

Although all our wood is seasoned outdoors, I really can't see drying some would in the house would be significant to overall moisture.

I was going to drop it as Mick is happy and far be it from me to constantly disturb his happy state.

The experiment is interesting and I commend your curiosity.
Actually Mick himself already did it once before, but more as a attempt to show that " half the weight of wood is water" is NOT true!!
But he burned the pieces before most of them had fully stopped losing weight.
It's somewhere in here.


viewtopic.php?f=15&t=71994&hilit=I+want ... bb0b6b7bfa
Beware there's this boring bloke who keeps banging on about getting fuel wood dry!!! Bit of a firewood nut, if you ask me.
..........
I have a couple of things to say about your experiment, and to ask about it.

Was your piece still in the round or was it split?

In those 6 hours, the first hour or so will only really dry the surface but as the wood warms more and more water will be driven out, and that will continue for some time- a period of days- it depends on how warm you warm it!

Dead wood will lose water much more quickly than live because the cell walls are more permeable. So dead but wet wood will lose a lot more moisture in two days than live wood.

Split open speeds the process of moisture loss a great deal under any circumstance (outside or in) because the moisture retaining skin of bark is absent.
Split and dead, but wet, will lose the most fastest. And dry quickest of course.

6 hours is a quarter of 24!
And an eighth of 48.
So you can do the multiples.
And then the multiples of stacked quantity.

I reckon my guess at a large saucepan full, poured unnecessarily over the carpets every day is probably not that far off the mark.
The more warm humidity in a dwelling, the more condensation and damp in the cooler spots-it's a no brainer that.


Obviously normal living produces a fair bit but in a damp climate, such as yours, mine and Mick's, a few simple measures to keep internal humidity lower seems wise.

There are significant other benefits too- also done to death .

........... done to death!

BTW, the washing is outside on the line today. Still no wind, but the air is dry as the skies are clear with sunny intervals. Temp lower than it's been in a week. Now 9degC instead of the usual 12degC thanks to the clear(ish) skies.

Mick F wrote: 16 Dec 2021, 10:52am ........... done to death!

BTW, the washing is outside on the line today. Still no wind, but the air is dry as the skies are clear with sunny intervals. Temp lower than it's been in a week. Now 9degC instead of the usual 12degC thanks to the clear(ish) skies.

It's so mild here, bees were flying at 09:30.

Well, the humidity here in Somerset is 86% at the moment and thats pretty useless for drying wood outside. A lot of the suppliers use heated kilns to dry logs....presumably fired with logs?

And...according to Beeb Weather the humidity in Gunnislake is 85%!

Al

al_yrpal wrote: 16 Dec 2021, 11:14am Well, the humidity here in Somerset is 86% at the moment and thats pretty useless for drying wood outside. A lot of the suppliers use heated kilns to dry logs....presumably fired with logs?

And...according to Beeb Weather the humidity in Gunnislake is 85%!

Al

Yes nothing will dry much here in the last week.
Even dry wood outside probably gains a bit of moisture.

If a dry easterly springs up sometime then that will dry stacked wood fast. The high surface area loses loads of moisture every day in such a wind.
Sun AND wind are best.

The idea is that you dry it in/though summer and burn it (mostly) in winter.
I know it's a difficult concept.

It's a bit like gardening, sow in spring, eat later.
Many other proper country skills are similar.

So simple though, and it works.
I keep a minimum 12 months ahead -that's the hard(er) bit - right at the start.

But most of my fuel is already felled for some months before stacking.
Sometimes it comes in very dry straight from the forest, after 4 weeks drought for example.
Seems quite wise to then keep it covered.

Yes, at least a year and often longer.

Jonathan

"Wood burners cause nearly half of urban air pollution cancer risk – study":
https://www.theguardian.com/environment ... risk-study

Jonathan

Has anyone mentioned the advantages of external air intakes for stoves?

Jonathan

Jdsk wrote: 17 Dec 2021, 1:42pm "Wood burners cause nearly half of urban air pollution cancer risk – study":
https://www.theguardian.com/environment ... risk-study

Jonathan

I see the study was in done in Athens.
It may be different today but it was a city that had a very polluted atmosphere, mostly from transport fumes. The Greek government tried to cut down on car use by restricting entry to cars with even number registrations one day followed by odd numbers the following day.
I seem to remember the geographic features meant fumes didn't escape easily.

I do object to wood burners in towns being used just as a decorative feature.
With the rise in the cost of gas anyone with a flu and access to wood may be tempted.

Anyone who has been to Delhi would know all about the extremes of air pollution. The causes...

Woodburning
Coal burning
Cow Pat cooking fires
Tuk Tuk emisions
Field burning in nearby farms
Diwali fireworks

Thank goodness for those South Westerlies!

Al

Often, very little wind

Still logging up the windfalls in our wood.
Latest one today, was a dead tree with no branches and just a long pole of a tree. It was on the border between our wood and the next, but it fell into ours. Maybe 18" thick at the bottom.

Sliced off a few 12ft lengths the other day and brought five of them out to split this morning.
Very heavy wood, totally dry, dead for years but not rotten.

Mystery wood. Took a photo of the bark in the hope that someone could identify it. Not many pieces with bark on at all.
I fancy it's holly as the bark has a green tinge to it. Certainly isn't ash, as it's way too heavy.

Any idea?

^^
I think you are right.
Probably Holly.
The rippled bark around the old branch area is very Holly like.
As chance would have it I have been burning some too. A large dead tree.
Stacked since early spring and it is a fine hot fuel.

A traditional Yule log!!

Merry Xmas.

Have you tried Google Lens? It nearly always works pretty well when me & chums are out & about and come across flora & fauna we don't recognize eg trees, flowers, fungii etc..

Not tried it, and TBH, I'd not heard about it.
I'll have a go, but look it up first.

https://lens.google

First hit for me on my iPhone is You Lens.
Just downloading it. Sorry, I have to pay!
Deleted it.

Off out shortly, but I'll try later today/this evening.

PDQ Mobile wrote: 16 Dec 2021, 10:42am

Pebble wrote: 16 Dec 2021, 12:21am Yes there is a lot of water in unseasoned wood, about a third of its weight, but it takes a very long time to come out.

Thought I would do a little experiment, today I took a piece of oak from a perfectly healthy tree that had come down in the big storm last week, I have brought one piece into the house and sat it on the hearth, in 6 hours it has went from 2290g to 2271g, so has only lost 19ml of water.

If we had 10 such pieces (which would be a fair bit of wood in the house), that would amount to 190g of water evaporating into the air. half a cup full seems a fair bit, but compared to the water emitted in our breath by, lets say two people watching tele for 6 hours, would amount to something like 840g of moisture.

Although all our wood is seasoned outdoors, I really can't see drying some would in the house would be significant to overall moisture.

I was going to drop it as Mick is happy and far be it from me to constantly disturb his happy state.

The experiment is interesting and I commend your curiosity.
Actually Mick himself already did it once before, but more as a attempt to show that " half the weight of wood is water" is NOT true!!
But he burned the pieces before most of them had fully stopped losing weight.
It's somewhere in here.


viewtopic.php?f=15&t=71994&hilit=I+want ... bb0b6b7bfa
Beware there's this boring bloke who keeps banging on about getting fuel wood dry!!! Bit of a firewood nut, if you ask me.
..........
I have a couple of things to say about your experiment, and to ask about it.

Was your piece still in the round or was it split?

In those 6 hours, the first hour or so will only really dry the surface but as the wood warms more and more water will be driven out, and that will continue for some time- a period of days- it depends on how warm you warm it!

Dead wood will lose water much more quickly than live because the cell walls are more permeable. So dead but wet wood will lose a lot more moisture in two days than live wood.

Split open speeds the process of moisture loss a great deal under any circumstance (outside or in) because the moisture retaining skin of bark is absent.
Split and dead, but wet, will lose the most fastest. And dry quickest of course.

It was one piece split in two (I need to get my eye in with the maul, the pieces were not too equal 2290&1891, 55/45%)
In the past I have normally found freshly cut wood is about a third water.
Anyway, to these two pieces, one is sitting on the hearth next to the fire, fire is only on 2 or 3 hours every evening, but house is centrally heated and reasonably warm all day
The other bit is on the top of the pile of logs in the log store, it has a roof but it is outside.