# Burning pine = creosote ?



## nixon

Anyone care to weigh in on this ? Personally I believe it comes from clueless wood burners . I believe that creosote is the result of burning unseasoned wood at less than ideal temps . 
But, then I've been wrong here before .
Again , My premise is that burning pine creates no more creosote that burning Oak . In fact maybe even less as most don't let oak season properly .


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## muleman RIP

The whole secret is proper aging. Pine does not last as long but will burn well if seasoned. I would mix it with other wood if you can. Burn some cardboard every week and your creosote will burn off and be easy to clean.


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## nixon

muleman said:


> Burn some cardboard every week and your creosote will burn off and be easy to clean.



Cardboard ? Why ? Are You talking about an outside boiler as to oppose an inside wood stove ?


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## muleman RIP

The cardboard will burn hot and crystallize the creosote so it is easy to clean. Did it for 23 years with the stove we had in our farmhouse basement. Sunday morning ritual and never had a creosote buildup at all. I do it in my boiler as well. Once you burn the creosote it flakes right off and falls down. You need the high temps to get it hot enough to do a controlled burn. A thin layer of creosote will only burn for a few minutes and go out. A thick heavy layer will self feed and burn a long time and create a high enough temp to damage a chimney.


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## loboloco

Pine is a high resin wood.  Burning any high resin wood will create creosote.  The cardboard trick helps.


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## Trakternut

Toss some gunpowder into the fire and the chimney gets cleaned too.


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## BigAl RIP

I think any Wet Wood  will create a problem . I see people close down the damper so tight that the fire just smolders . That is not good .


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## muleman RIP

Back in the late 70's -early 80's those airtight stoves and fireplace inserts were the rage. They used a lot less wood but just about every one I ever knew of had a chimney fire also. They would not burn hot enough and the chimney would stay cold and the creosote would buildup in record time.


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## Adillo303

I had one of those wood burners. Wife kept it throttled down all day. When I got home, I reved it up till the chimney got dull cherry red. Let it cool down, put on the welding gloves and smacked the heck out of the chimney. All the creosote tinkled down never had a problem.


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## Dargo

muleman said:


> Back in the late 70's -early 80's those airtight stoves and fireplace inserts were the rage. They used a lot less wood but just about every one I ever knew of had a chimney fire also. They would not burn hot enough and the chimney would stay cold and the creosote would buildup in record time.



I bought a new insert about 3 years ago that has the catalytic converter in it (per the EPA, so I'm not polluting).  One of the benefits of such is that I have to get my burner up to 800 degrees _before_ I engage the catalytic converter.  Once it's engaged, I can really slow the air intake and burn rate and still keep temps around 1000 degrees inside the burner.

I just took my chimney cap off last weekend to check out my chimney before I started any fires this year and I could clearly see every mortar line in the clay flue all the way down and, at most, had a very slight coating of black dust inside my chimney.  I've never burned pine though.

Even 25 year old pine lumber I've seen in an attic is covered with orange looking pine tar beads on the wood and is sticky.  Older lumber in the attic of older houses look the same, but with larger beads of that sticky pine sap on them.  Based on that alone, I would never consider burning pine in my fireplace or insert.  There is plenty of other woods available for me to burn to ever bother with pine. 

It seems that even "experts" disagree on burning pine.  Some feel it's okay to burn if it's properly seasoned and others do not.  The one thing I do know is that pine is one of the worst woods to burn as far as the amount of heat it gives off and the Mbtu/lb.  I cut down a bunch of Black Locust trees last year and was going to bury them until I looked up their btu rating.  You'd have to burn twice as much pine to get the same heat as Black Locust.  You'd have to burn about 3/4 more pine to get the same btu output as oak.  So, all things considered, to me, it isn't worth burning anyway.


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## nixon

I was hoping to hear from a few wood burners  in the PNW . 
The reason I asked the original question is that Those that burn pine as a source of firewood don't seem to think it's a major problem . But , those that live in an area with plentiful hardwood will name creosote as a major problem with burning pine . 
And Dargo , Burning locust in a catalytic stove is against EPA regs . You need to send all that Vile stuff to a disposal site in West Sunbury Pa. where it can be disposed of as  safely and humanly as possible .


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## lilnixon

nixon said:


> I was hoping to hear from a few wood burners  in the PNW .
> The reason I asked the original question is that Those that burn pine as a source of firewood don't seem to think it's a major problem . But , those that live in an area with plentiful hardwood will name creosote as a major problem with burning pine .
> And Dargo , Burning locust in a catalytic stove is against EPA regs . You need to send all that Vile stuff to a disposal site in West Sunbury Pa. where it can be disposed of as  safely and humanly as possible .



Where does he live we can do a midnight raid.         locust.. locust.. we need locust.


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## northeastheavy

We  have been heating with wood for many moons.  Creosote forms from any wood when it burns at too low a temp. Burn hot and no creosote. Let it simmer and you build up creosote.  Thats why the cardboard idea works, it burns up the creosote. We had a chimney fire 20 years ago and I remember the fireman saying "now your chimney is clean as a whistle!!!
     As to burning pine, check out the BTU values of wood.  I burn mostly oak, ash, cherry and maple.  I am not sure the exact numbers but oak will put out twice the BTU's of pine. Hardwoods burn longer and give off more heat, pine burns quickly and only give 1/2 the heat!!!  Check out a wood BTU chart!!!  You have to burn 2 cords of pine to get the same heat from a cord of oak or ash.  Thats why you don't burn pine, its alot more work and twice the wood. Hows that for an explanation!!!!


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## Dargo

lilnixon said:


> Where does he live we can do a midnight raid.         locust.. locust.. we need locust.



It got down into the lower 30's last night so we burned our first fire and used some locust.  Once I got it going, I had to open some windows.  Whew!  Even with the blower off, it was too hot in the room.  I cooked all the black off the glass when the temps inside the burner crossed around 1400 degrees.


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## alaska120

I don't have any hardwood available to speak of...maybe paper birch if you want to call that hard. We burn 6-8 cord a year and 99% is spruce. In fact, that stove is all we use for heat. I don't have anything other than a wood stove in the house. And it works fine. Even at 60 below zero. I brush my chimney once a month just to make sure I have a home to come back to at the end of the day and for peace of mind. We usually fire it up in September and burn it 24/7 until May. Never even cools down. One match for the entire season.


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## muleman RIP

As long as you burn it good and hot you should never have problem. Yours sounds like my outside boiler. I light it off labor day weekend and it never goes out till I quit loading it after memorial day. It pumps out a lot of heat for me.


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## EastTexFrank

When I was a kid growing up we burned pine supplemented with coal as did most people.  There were chimney fires every year.  My father used a variation of Loboloco's cardboard trick.  Once a new fire was going he'd use crumpled up newspaper up the chimney to burn off excess soot and creosote.  The fire brigade never came to our house.


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## Cali2Idaho

I use my woodstove for about 6 months out of the year.
I burn mostly dry seasoned oak but sometimes pine and cedar.
Like many said above, wood should be dry and seasoned.
I usually start my fires with softwoods, and get it going then add the oak.
The softwoods do have alot of pitch and you can tell if its bad by the color of your glass. If its black and you cant see the fire well its sooting.
If your glass is black with soot your pipe probably is too.
I add the oak or other hardwood and it burns hot and clean and will burn off the soot.
I clean the cap and tap the side of the pipe as well to knock any loose stuff down.
If your worried about a chimney fire, clean your flue pipe with a chain from above if you dont have a brush.
Also make sure you have combustion air flowing through to get a good draft.
You can burn one of those fireplace cleaning logs as well. Good luck!!!


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## muleman RIP

Amish guy in the next hollow got lucky yesterday. They have been burning green slab wood all summer long to cook with and yesterday they had some paper bags and cardboard from shopping. his wife fired up the stove with it and had the chimney going good and hot till the fire crew got there. They wet the roof down(metal) and left it burn itself out. Then checked for any hot spots going through the roof and all was good.


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## wyelkhunter

nixon said:


> Anyone care to weigh in on this ? Personally I believe it comes from clueless wood burners . I believe that creosote is the result of burning unseasoned wood at less than ideal temps .
> But, then I've been wrong here before .
> Again , My premise is that burning pine creates no more creosote that burning Oak . In fact maybe even less as most don't let oak season properly .



I just installed a wood stove in my home, So I'm new to this. I live in a small town where many people burn conifers and aspen because we are near a national forest. 
Friends of mine who have wood stoves say they have little or no creosote in there chimneys. We burn a lot of lodgepole pine. It has very thin bark and little pitch, or sap. Perhaps that makes a difference.
Most of the pine is from old burn areas or beetle kill so it's well seasoned.


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## muleman RIP

If it is dead beetle kill stuff you should have no problems. Get it in under cover so it is dry and you will be warm. Dang wind has been blasting us for 2 days. That takes the wood pile down quick.


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## FrancSevin

Never had any issues, 20 years of burning pine in my fireplace. 
Moved it during a remodel back in 1994 and all the stainless fluepipes were shiny clean.

Still are.

I still burn pine.

And I use Muley's and Loboco's cardboard trick.

Just be careful and pay close attention to the flue where it meets combustible parts of the house.


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