Bill The Grill Guy said:
wdroller said:
[quote="Bill The Grill Guy":2al0p8f4]
BrooklynQ said:
Last weekend we were cooking at a friends house that used to be his father's house using cherry wood from his father's wood pile. His father's been gone for about 3 years now. My buddy has no idea how long the wood's been there.
The wood wasn't rotted or wet, but it didn't seem to give off much heat. Can wood be to old to use?
Yep, after a while wood looses its ability to produce sufficiant amounts of BTU's. I had some that was like that. Just mix it in with some newer stuff. No sence in waisting it.
Bill, please don't misunderstand me, but I really would like to know of any evidence you have re this. I mean if it's dry and not rotted.
Well wdroller, the only evidence I have is
14 years of seeing houses burn, 42 years of wood home heating and 7 years of cooking with wood. It is my experience that as wood gets older it looses its moister. Moister is what controls the heat and the "off burning" of wood. Its not the wood that burns, its the gas that wood gives off that burns. If you look at wood when its on fire, the flame is above the wood. Thats the gasses burning. As wood gets older and looses its moister, the gasses change chemicaly. Thats why an old house will burn fast and hot and a new house will burn slower but steady.
British thermal unit
n. (Abbr. BTU or Btu)
The quantity of heat required to raise the temperature of one pound of water from 60° to 61°F at a constant pressure of one atmosphere.
So, if there is less water in the wood, then the heat will be hotter and faster.