Can you burn wet wood? Is it effective or safe?

Ready to start a fire but found some of your logs are a bit damp? You might be tempted to just chuck them on the fire and hope for the best. You’ve done the right thing Googling it first though! In this article we’ll discuss why you can but shouldn’t burn wet wood.

 

Can you burn wet wood?

It is possible to burn wet wood – but a better question to be asking is should you burn wet wood. And the answer to that question is no!

 

Why you shouldn’t burn wet wood

Burning wet wood can cause a whole host of problems: health-related, environmental, and financial. See below the reasons why burning wet wood is a bad idea.

 

Environmental impact

Wet wood produces far more smoke when it burns which contributes to air pollution. DEFRA (the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs) also claims that switching to dry wood could cut particulate emissions from log burners and open fires by 50%!

 

Fire hazard

“A fire creates a fire hazard?” you’re asking yourself, puzzled. When wet wood is burned, it produces a sticky tar substance called creosote. If you burn wet wood in your log burner or fireplace, the creosote builds up inside the flue/chimney and hardens as it dries. These deposits may ignite when you set your next fire, causing the fire to become uncontrollable.

 

Health hazard

It can be toxic to burn wet wood. The extra smoke and creosote and other harmful toxins emitted by burning wet wood is a health hazard. It can cause short-term issues and can contribute to much bigger health concerns in the long run.

 

Less heat and shorter burn times

It’s best to burn wood that has 12-20% moisture content. Living/recently felled trees can have around 60% moisture content. This means a lot of energy is wasted trying to boil off the excess moisture before you can get a proper fire going. Consequently, it’ll produce less heat and you won’t get to enjoy as long a burn time.

 

Costly firewood

As above, the inefficient burn of wet wood means you’ll need to use a lot more wood to get an equal burn time to drier wood. It is worth the money investing in kiln-dried hardwood logs.

 

Costly repairs/maintenance

The increased residue left by burning wet wood can lead to costly repairs and maintenance for your log burner or fireplace. You’ll need to have your chimney swept more regularly to minimise the fire hazard risk and the condensation can be corrosive, damaging parts of your burner which will need replacing.

 

 

How do I tell if wood is too wet to burn?

It may be very obvious that your wood is too wet to burn but sometimes it’s not so obvious. Some methods you can use to check include:

• Using a wood moisture metre (look for a reading below 20%).
• Feeling its weight versus a similarly sized dry piece of wood (the wetter, the heavier).
• Knocking two bits of wood together (dry wood sounds sharp and hollow, wet wood sounds dull and thud-like).

 

How to store wood properly to prevent it getting wet?

If you’re storing your wood outdoors, it could get wet if you don’t take the right steps. We’ve written a guide to how to safely store your firewood outdoors to keep it nice and dry.

 

Buying kiln-dried firewood

If you’re based in Glasgow, Edinburgh, or somewhere else across the Central belt of Scotland, you can purchase kiln-dried firewood logs from Stewart Timber. Kiln-drying is a process of drying wood in a big industrial oven – this keeps moisture to below 20% and kills off bugs, mould, and fungi for the perfect fire! Please get in touch with our expert team if you have any questions.