The dangers of burning unseasoned wood are not always fully appreciated by everyone. Buying cheap wood is not only false economy but can have extremely frightening consequences.
Seasoned wood
In your wood burner, you should be burning logs that have been 'seasoned' which means taking the moisture content down to 25-20% from typical values of 45-30%.
This is usually done by cutting & splitting the wood into pieces & then air drying for 1 to 2 years.
Alternatively, you can buy wood that has been dried in a Kiln, these logs are dried further to reduce the moisture content to below 15% which makes them very efficient in terms of heat given out and length of burn.
Unseasoned wood
Unseasoned wood, which is wood with a moisture content anywhere above 30% (some may be up to 50%) will put out less heat, which means you will need more logs for the same amount of heat produced.
Unseasoned wood doesn't burn well, therefore giving off more emissions and pollutants to the environment.
These emissions contain tar, soot and highly inflammable creosote which mean your flue will requiring more regular cleaning.
The Dangers of Burning Unseasoned Wood.
When burning wet logs, water vapor combines with other gases going up the chimney & unless the chimney is kept warm, condensation occurs and forms a creosote-like substance which hardens to form tar on the chimney liner, and as this substance is acidic it can also cause corrosion.
Burning unseasoned or wet logs produces less heat causing the chimney to cool allowing condensation to occur and a residue to form. This residue is brown or black and can be flaky, sticky, runny, tar-like or hardened and will sometimes be all of these in the same flue. The chimney may become completely blocked forcing carbon monoxide into the home or the volatile residue can ignite causing a dangerous chimney fire.
Always buy from a reputable seller.
You will save money in the long run & your wood burner will last a whole lot longer.
You can search for sellers here: www.woodsure.co.uk , here: www.hetas.co.uk/find-fuels/ & here: https://biomass-suppliers-list.service.gov.uk/
If you are in the Bristol area we highly recommend Well Seasoned Wood!