Not all types of wood are the same, nor will they give you the same burn. Here's how to Best Wood To Burn In Your Wood Heater!

You just bought a stunning new wood heater that will keep you toasty warm all winter. It’s time to throw in some wood and get a nice roaring fire going. But what is the best wood for a nice fire? Any random wood? Absolutely not! Sure any type of wood will start a fire for you. However, will you get a good, long lasting fire? No. Woodpecker strongly recommends burning only hardwoods as the best wood for a strong, vibrant fire. Hardwood will burn slower and it’s also double the density of softwoods (lower densities results in a faster burn). Best Wood To Burn In Your Wood Heater

It’s most important to ensure the wood is dried before it’s burned. Fresh wood contains a higher amount of water and will use a substantial amount of energy when burning to remove the water from the log, which will create steam during the burn. To ensure optimal burns, the best wood Woodpecker recommends are woods with a moisture content of 15% or less, and has been seasoned for at least a year.

Best way to check the moisture content in your wood? Best Wood To Burn In Your Wood Heater

The answer is simple, invest in a moisture meter! Below are great examples of a moisture meter being used on greenfire wood logs.
As the images show, the moisture content in these greenfire wood have a very high moisture content. This means the wood will not give you a good burn!

If you do regularly burn wood with a moisture content higher than 15%, as the wood burns the moisture in the wood will boil as steam. This steam not only cools the fire but causes some of the combustible gases emitted from the heated wood to condense, resulting in small particles that we see as smoke. This smoke not only creates smoke pollution, but is wasted heat as the energy goes up the chimney rather than heating your room.

These combustible wood gases can also condense as creosote in the flue or chimney. Build up of creosote can possibly ignite causing chimney fires, and also reduce the efficiency of your heater.

The best wood Woodpecker recommends Woodpecker recommends burning Red Gum wood in your heater for the most optimal burns, and suggests avoiding softwoods with high moisture content such as tea tree, pine wood and greenfire.