Is it possible to get firewood to 20% MC if air dried outdoors without a roof in the UK?

[scbk]

1 hour ago, Dan Maynard said:

Depends where in the UK you live too, piece of cake in East Anglia here , not so easy if you live on Dartmoor.

Even a mile or 2 can make a huge difference.

Round here you can get some absolute damp frost pocket midge ridden hollows, then just up the road; wind battered, sunny all day, cheeks bright red and haggard.

 

Either way, don't piss about, build a decent log shed.

A log shed is as integral to the wood burner as a chimney.

[scbk]

If you heat by gas, you need a mains supply or a tank

 

If you heat by oil, you need an oil tank

 

If you heat by wood, you need a wood shed

 

 

 

(if you heat by electric, you need deep pockets)

[Elliott.F]

10 hours ago, Dan Maynard said:

Depends where in the UK you live too, piece of cake in East Anglia here , not so easy if you live on Dartmoor.

In Devon, not far from Dartmoor 😎

[Paul in the woods]

10 hours ago, Elliott.F said:

So you can get below 20% without a roof on single row stacks?

Wood cut, split and stacked before we get our usual month or so sunny, dry and windy spring weather.(Guaranteed if youve planted loads of bare root trees). We also tend to get a month of dry sunny weather in September and then I cover the logs.

 

A woodshed is on the to do list.

[slack ma girdle]

Yes

[HJK]

Yeh I did it two years ago to see for myself and that's what I do now for my own use and towards September/October I put a tarpaulin over it 

[Steven P]

In the winter some sort of cover is useful - log shed, half the garage, tarpaulin.

 

Drying wood is more about air flow than heat though, a windy spot will dry wood quicker than not - I have 3 sides I can use on he drive, lengthways along the house, wind blows along it will fry far quicker than at the end of the house where the wind just hits (same amount of sun), other side of the drive is shaded and will need 2 seasons to dry anything

[sandspider]

I left a few big, gnarly rounds I couldn't be arsed to split on a pallet, uncovered. For 3 years maybe. Split a few the other day to burn in the firepit as I thought they'd be too wet for a proper wood burner, and they were maybe 15/16% moisture - I was surprised. I do cover my main log stacks (polytunnel, shed, roofed log stores, covers on stacks in stone crates) but perhaps I won't be so careful in future.

Having said that, I do tend to split my logs by march then burn them that winter, so keeping the water off really helps for a shorter drying time. Some are logged up and part seasoned before splitting / final drying.

[Elliott.F]

21 hours ago, scbk said:

If you heat by gas, you need a mains supply or a tank

 

If you heat by oil, you need an oil tank

 

If you heat by wood, you need a wood shed

 

 

 

(if you heat by electric, you need deep pockets)

Good analogies. I do have a wood shed with 10+ cubic metres of split and stacked firewood. I was just wondering whether you could season out in the open without a roof. 

[Elliott.F]

11 hours ago, HJK said:

Yeh I did it two years ago to see for myself and that's what I do now for my own use and towards September/October I put a tarpaulin over it 

Nice cross cross stacking. 
it seems the general view is cover your stacks for winter or bring the wood inside.