Splitting and Seasoning Oak

[Squaredy]

4 hours ago, Gabriel82 said:

@Squaredy ceramic tile stove is an old technology, swedes and russians used them for centuries(I think...). These stoves are simple,are made only of ceramics(the square plates you see outside) and 230x60x32 mm "bricks" wich will be fitted INSIDE the ceramic square plates you see outside, mud+sand ,some steel wires to hold it all together and no need for power(electricity) to run them. They do need good draught,so a good chimney. Never measured or wheighed the wood that is burned on one fire. But a 3-4 hour burn time from cold ,will keep the whole stove hot to warm for the next 10-12 hours. I opted for a blocking plate inbetween the actual stove and chimney. On windy days the draught can be regulated and when all burning is done and the stove is hot enough for the "user's liking" ,the plate can be closed to block all natural draught.wich is always present. A very important condition and test of the stove: it must have a draught always, regardless summer or winter! You get to the good chimney part, tall enough, big enough on the inside diameter, etc... 

I have friends with Wiessman gasification units that can burn anything ,inverted flame, etc... One paid about 7500 Euros just for the unit+fitting,etc... And when we load it up with dry wood and wood briquettes plus some bituminous briquettes from Ukraine(the GOOD STUFF,tried them myself) got it going ,temperature was up at 65-70 Celcius, everything seemed ok ,we went for a coffee, not far from his house. On return the damn thing extinguished itself ,whole neighbourhood smelled like coal... Smelled it from the car...

And it has double wall 316 stainless steel chimney that cost him a lot of cash again... Never figured out what happened then ,or next weeks... Nothing is defective as tehnicians confirmed but fire goes out once in a while(not always) regardless of fuel used... 

Needles to say I wouldn't wake up in the middle of night to relight the 10000 euros stove... 

He installed another central heating unit on natural gas since his house is too big and he "kind of" forgot about the Wiessman "episode"... 

Compare that to a ceramic tile stove that lasts decades built from new, burns almost anything ,doesn't need electricity fans or pumps and when it's broken you can rebuild it with just refractory bricks ,ceramic tiles some mud+sand... 🙄 Shocking to even think about it 😂 

And it stays hot all night ,or at least 10-12 hours. Plus it's a constant not too high "heat" when burning just dry hard wood. 

On my tests it will get a lot hotter on coal briquettes, wood briquettes or straight bituminous coal(no anthracite around to test it).

My opinion a ceramic tile stove is the best heating option if you don't have 500 square meter house or bigger. Even then, I still would live "small " in cold period, who needs 10-15 rooms 4 bathrooms, gigantic living,etc...

Found this video when I burned only hornbeam and birch. Got blue flame in the end from the remaining coals 😁 

That's why I'm curios how oak will perform in the stove when bone dry . 

Maybe I'll add some coal in there too just for fun

 

Fascinating, thank you.  Great video by the way.

[Gabriel82]

@Dan Maynard these stoves are known for a long time. Problem is ,people have become wealthier,built bigger houses and want ALL of it warm/same temperature with less work. A stove like this as you see in my photo will heat well 1 room or at most 2 rooms(have one twice as big built through a wall heating 2 big rooms). 

Only option for big houses is a central heating unit on natural gas or a wood boiler plus floor heating for the sake of efficiency and esthetics... 

Plus wood boilers can use small wood pellets ,bought in bulk 1-2 tons or more . It can be automated,just fill up the pellet tank and you can sleep well in warm house. Some can use dry wood too or coal fuel(raw coal or briquettes). But nobody wants hard work anymore like splitting oak,hornbeam,birch and stacking them in the shed... 

Especially people with big houses,who can afford the wood boiler using whatever fuel... 

But a ceramic tile stove will always be more economical anytime any day. 

A cast iron/metal  stove will "cook you up" first hours then let you freeze the next hours... 

Only stove that MIGHT keep you warm continous is cast iron using coal(anthracite or bituminous) wich must be bought in bulk by the ton/tons. But it's less work comparing to wood cutting by chainsaw, splitting, stacking, etc...

I wouldn't switch to anything else than a bigger tile stove 😁 although it's not needed right now. 

And I like cutting wood and splitting by axe. I can still do it even at 41 close to 42 years old. When I won't be able to do that I'll switch to coal but still use ceramic tile stove regardless. 

[Gabriel82]

@Stere masonry/ceramic tile stove give up their heat as if you were staying in the sun,that's why is called "radiant heat", the hot mass of ceramic, masonry or ceramic bricks(as in russian stoves) will heat your body by infrared radiation. You can experience this in a thermal  treatment plant when big loads of steel 7-8 tons get heated to 800-900 Celcius and get moved in air or polymer bath. There's one around here. You can feel the radiant heat from 10 meters away on your skin but it's an extreme example since we're talking about 7-8tons of steel at 800-900 degrees celcius. A ceramic tile stove work on same principle but lower temperature. Russian brick stoves have even bigger mass thus work at even lower temperature. Store energy released by chemical oxidation of carbon molecules in wood and release it slowly by infrared radiation. Same natural principle you see in nature when rocks get hot in day time then all night they release radiant heat. 

Metal stoves heat up air around by convection. Not very efficient. Open the door hot air is out ,you're left in cold... Not the case with ceramic tile stove. I can open windows doors while it's minus 10 celcius outside keep them so for 5 minutes, close them and in 20 minutes temperature is back to warm in that room if the stove is hot! 

Just for that I love these stoves! 

 

[Gabriel82]

@openspaceman it's the same exact principle like in the stove I showed in photo but using ceramic bricks with much bigger thermal mass. They need longer burn times 5-6 hours but will stay hott-warm much longer 20-24 hours! Good for very cold zones or constant burn times(light it in begining of winter shut it down in spring). Logical move if outside is always cold under 0 celcius most of time! And more efficient since keeping that big mass of bricks/masonry hot is easier than heating up from cold(say 10 celcius) to 70 degrees celcius!  

 

[Stere]

 

 

I thought   all stoves,  so the metal stoves also would riadiate heat from a hot surface but just not store the heat for hrs after fire gone out, so only when lit...

 

So its actually  is the large thermal mass volume or/plus he larger stove  surface area volume the produces the extra riadiant heat of a ceramic stove versus a metal one?

[Steven P]

Storage heater but with fire as the heat source and not electric element.

[Rob_the_Sparky]

If you had to get up to fuel your cast iron stove over night then I see the preference for this sort of stove.  Seems like a really good solution but oddly one that I have never heard o before in the UK.  Maybe it is all the regulations here, if every stove is build individually then how can their design be regulated.  That sort of slow release of heat just makes sense if you are heating a house with wood alone.

[Gabriel82]

A cast iron stove burning wood doesn't has long burn times. From what I know. And generates intense heat for some time then you have to refuel it before you get cold... 

I don't need that. Constant gentle warm temperatures are for me! 

"Regulations/regulated"?! God damn it if I will ever bow to uk laws. In Romania if you own the house you can do whatever you want in it. Unless we're talking electricity or natural gas pipe line, anything is do-able. Unless you burn the house down with you inside it or blow it up "unexpectadly" nobody will EVER get in your house to check a thing. And we romanians are No.1 in Europe at house ownership. Few pay rent. I don't know anyone paying rent... 

Of course dry hard wood (or ANY dry wood) is best and cheap fuel. At least around here. I would gladly use bituminous coal or anthracite but regardless how I look at prices ,dry wood bought in logs is the cheapest. And I have tried coal briquettes, coal raw bituminous ,even got coal from Ukraine(the good HIGH heat stuff). 

Compared to very dried wood is not much difference and from my point of view not worth the hassle. 

That's why I'm here: after a lot of birch ,hornbeam and anything lower in kwh than that, I decided to try some oak dried for at least one spring/summer/ and one winter. Maybe even two sprin/summers. Might extend that if I buy some more birch wood briquettes, to burn first mixed with whatever dry wood I have. 

From my view UK is full of regulations, rules,laws, etc that seriously restrict your rights, lower your quality if life to the point you just hop in your car and get a hell out to a country that lets you LIVE too, besides imposing "rules". 

It's the same in almost all western europe from what I've experienced and heard from friends. 

Highly debatable subject wich I won't get into. But here in Romania if you own the house you can build a ceramic tile stove of ANY size and unless you don't burn heavy oil fuel like in ocean ships(black sooty smoke) or plastics, nobody will tell you anything. This is when you own a house IN a town. In the country side ,you can do whatever you want. The ONLY "problem" might be your closest neighbour. If you have good relations with him/them you're free like a bird in Antarctica  😁 😎 

Hell, you can do very illegal stuff in the country side/ villages and unless you bother anyone or get turned in to authorities ,nobody will bother you with a word! Uk for me was a shock. Weather, rules/laws, discrimination because I'm romanian,etc... Now with Brexit all those white women with kids are probably a lot happier not seeing us romanians(damn license plates always gave us away) and give ugly looks to whoever is left there 🙄 

P.S. I just remembered a "chat" with some old german dudes in a parking area while I was waiting for two friends ,and I was sharing 50/50% my food with some pigeons: they first told me something in german, I don't speak that hellish language besides "nicht sprachen sie deutch", then he told me in english that if I keep feeding the pigeons I will get turned in to cops(by him probably) and fined with 6000 euros for feeding pigeons!!! I thought it's a joke, where's the hidden camera, what is this?! Turns out it is a law adressing THIS "issue" ,found out from the cop in person. He understood me/us ,after all we're "romanian savages" , I talked VERY politely since I was in Nurnberg for first time heading to HOME/Romania. And I planned to get home, without fines, after I picked those friends too. 

Shocking experience...

Edited January 16 by Gabriel82
Forgot something

[Muddy42]

I think all wood is easier to split when fresh. Some types of wood take longer to dry than others, oak being one of them, but don't think of that as a negative.  Oak is a hard strong wood with lots of stored energy hence why it holds onto water longer. Its a trade off.  If you want quick drying, cut birch or softwood but it will have less stored energy.

[openspaceman]

8 hours ago, Rob_the_Sparky said:

If you had to get up to fuel your cast iron stove over night then I see the preference for this sort of stove.  Seems like a really good solution but oddly one that I have never heard o before in the UK.  Maybe it is all the regulations here, if every stove is build individually then how can their design be regulated.  That sort of slow release of heat just makes sense if you are heating a house with wood alone.

 

American homes tend to be much bigger than UK and the masonry stove is built in to a central position, we couldn't afford the loss of space. Old houses, like mine do have substantial brick chimney breasts.

 

I have said a number of times about my cement lined chimney retaining heat which keeps the two reception rooms above 18C even with the fire not being kept in between 23:00 and 07:30. It also keeps the bedroom above warm (as well as the loft).

 

 

Picture of the chimney in the above bedroom with the solid uninsulated wall to the far left and outside temperature -3C.