WOODSTOVE UTILIZATION
Your heating unit was designed to burn wood only; no other materials should be burnt. Wastes and other flammable materials should not be burnt in your wood stove. Any type of wood may be used in your stove, but specific varieties have better energy yields than others. Please consult the following table in order to make the best possible choice.
Average Energy Yield Of One Air Dried Cord Of Cut Wood
| Wood species | Energy yield | |
| (millions of BTU/cord) | ||
|
| ||
| Oak | 29 | |
| Sugar Maple | 28 | |
High energy yield | Beech | 26 | |
Yellow birch | 25 | ||
| |||
| Ash | 24 | |
| Elm | 23 | |
| Larch (Tamarack) | 23 | |
| Red Maple | 23 | |
| Douglas red fir | 23 | |
Medium energy yield | Silver birch | 22 | |
| Alder | 18 | |
| Poplar | 17 | |
| Hemlock | 17 | |
| Spruce | 17 | |
Low energy yield | Pine | 17 | |
Bass | 16 | ||
| |||
| Fir | 13 |
Data provided by Energy, Mines and Resources - Canada
IT IS EXTREMELY IMPORTANT THAT YOU USE DRY WOOD ONLY IN YOUR WOOD STOVE. The wood must have dried for 9 to 15 months, such that the humidity content (in weight) is reduced below 20% of the weight of the log. It is very important to keep in mind that even if the wood has been cut since one, two or even more years, it is not necessarily dry, if it has been stored in poor conditions; under extreme conditions, it may even rot instead of drying. The vast majority of the problems related to the operation of a wood stove are caused by the fact that the wood used was too damp or had dried in poor conditions. These problems can be:
•ignition problems
•creosote
•low energy yield
•blackened windows
•incomplete log combustion
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