Why not burn seasoned soft wood in log burners

[skyhuck]

I burn softwood on mine Larch and Pine are good, conifer okay(ish) but I mix it with hardwoods.

 

Larch and Pine are both conifers as are most if not all soft woods.

[treedave]

All I sell out is hardwood, not even bothered trying mixed loads. One of the bigger set ups near us is selling mixed bags and there going well from what i hear, but at £65 a dumpy bag (circa a m3) its good value.

My stove gets fed the random split bits, Oak slab from a local mill and what softwood the surgery job turns in. In future I'm gonna stock up on Oak slab and Larch, I've the drying space to get a couple of years ahead for the house.

 

As for clients, trying to get them to stock up in spring / summer is enough of a job, I recon their heads would pop, as would my log round, if I went over to all softwood!

[Hodge]

I have been pushing softwood this year as I have loads of dry cut and split stuff to off load, I bring a few bags home and love it! People need educating!

[testcricket01]

we sell mixed loads only as its to much hassle separating hardwood from soft wood we have no trouble selling it at all. when i had a open fire and woodburner i burned softwood perfectly fine burns very hot, the theory that it tars up the flue is total rubbish as you should get it swept at least once a year anyway so no trouble there.

[gensetsteve]

Front room hottest so far this winter. Burning kindling blocks we rejected due to large knots. Kiln dried and 16 % moisture

[Chippy]

Hardwood is snob value IMO, cant beat 2yr seasoned conifer for kicking out the heat, ok you have to fill the stove more often but thats not too hard to do.

[agrimog]

I am actually rather fussy of what I burn in my stove... it has to be tree wood...

[Sniffy]

I burn what I can get my hands on . I find that stuff like willow burns damn hot but fast . But in a small living room , who cares ? Don't have far to walk . Was given a whole very large conifer this year . So will see how that compares next winter .

If its dry I'm happy , as are the dogs

[Stubby]

So to answer the question formed by the title of the post " why not burn seasoned soft wood in log burners " There is no reason not to and it seems most people ( on here ) do ....

[Woodworks]

Just playing devils advocate for a moment.

 

Not sure on current prices but if softwood is £20 ton cheaper than hard and it takes approximately 500kg to make up a cube of logs it's cost £10 less. Softwood has less calorific value by volume by maybe 20%? If I sell a cube of hard for £100 soft should be £80 for the same amount of energy but I have only saved £10 on the raw material so made £10 less per cube. This would all be fine if soft was 20% lighter when wet but from what I have read on here it is not.

 

This is not from experience just information I have gleaned off here so please shoot this down where the sums are wrong