Jotul - You should only burn hardwoods

[pancakedan]

Stumbled across this Jotul guide today actively telling log burner owners to only burn hardwood and never burn pine.  I know a lot of you struggle to convince customers to burn softwood, but to have the "hardwood only mentality"  being enforced by a major stove producer is a bit of a shock.  Extract from the guide:

 

Trust in Hardwoods

Different woods burn in different ways and hardwoods have proven to be among the best sources of heat for any wood burning stove. Hardwoods provide a dense wood structure when properly seasoned, and burn for much longer than the loose structure of soft woods such as pine and spruce. Oak and Elm are great Hardwoods, but can be difficult to burn within the unit as their density structure is sometimes too tight to burn. Some of the best choices include; Crab Apple, Hornbeam, Ash, Beech, and Hawthorn. These woods have proven over time to burn the best without too tight of an interior structure.

 

Some new wood stove owners attempt to burn pine as the wood is cheap, but Pine should always be avoided as the wood builds up harmful deposits within the flue. Overtime, the use has been known to cause fires. The wood is ideal for outdoor fires only as there is no risk of the harmful buildup in the great outdoors.

 

Full guide can be found here:

 

https://jotul.com/uk/guides/how-to-buy-the-right-logs-for-your-wood-burning-stove

Edited October 4, 2018 by pancakedan

[Haironyourchest]

Been burning mostly spruce in my Jotul for 20 years. But I sweep the flu once a year, so...

[Stumpy Grinder]

I wonder what the Scandinavians that invented wood burners and burn mostly pine and birch would have to say about that?

Most kindling is soft wood by nature. If it is dry, then it burns well. If you keep your flue swept, how exactly are deposits harmful?

SG

[Ian88]

Got told the same thing by a manufacturer at a show as well, I disagreed with him but didnt feel the need to discuss further.

[neiln]

more softwood for me to scrounge, carrry on spouting bollcks please jotul.

[maybelateron]

Yep, heard it all before. You can spot the newbie stove owner the moment they ring up looking for logs.

 

They have read the Bear Grills manual of life in the urban jungle and spout such 130110X.

 

Bloke rang me once and the call was literally like this, word for word:

 

Hello have you got any kiln dried Oak logs?

No.

Oh, well have you got any kiln dried Ash?

No.

Ok, bye.

 

I just wasn't in the mood to try to educate someone about the reality of logs that day, so he got monosyllabic answers.

 

The other temptation I get is to say: Ah, well you see, you need to go to a specialist "I only sell Cherry and Beech logs" supplier.

 

Such ignorami!

[woodrascal]

That's a bit odd... Jotul are a Norwegian company and the Scandinavians main source of fuel is various types of softwood and birch.

[Stubby]

34 minutes ago, woodrascal said:

That's a bit odd... Jotul are a Norwegian company and the Scandinavians main source of fuel is various types of softwood and birch.

Yea . Bonkers innit ?

[topchippyles]

Pine gives off tar which will stick to your flue liner so always use a little bit of coal as the heat will kill of the tar and keep the liner clean.

[woodrascal]

If you burn any type of dry wood in a good stove with plenty of air supplied to the firebox you will not get tar depositing in the flueway. The high firebox temperature inside a good woodstove will cause virtually all the volatile gasses to be combusted.

If you burn wet wood (be it hard or soft) in a poor stove with not enough air, you will get problems.