Hemlock

[steve J]

Is it ok to burn hemlock in an evaporator . The wind snapped some trees off of which one is a huge hemlock with lots of limbs 3 to 4 inch in diameter. I thought once dried this might burn fairly hot?

[KenWP]

All the firewood I have is either hemlock,cedar or spruce. I burn it in the house and the small stuff in the evaporator. It boiled constantly all season. We use what we have.

[C.Wilcox]

Should work just fine. It will throw a good amount of sparks out the stack probably and will burn pretty dark due to all the resin in the wood, but it will burn plenty hot. Given that you're burning all out at a high temp you shouldn't get much creosote deposit in your chimney, but if you're burning a lot of it you might want to do a quick check between firings just to make sure you don't end up with a blockage.

[Thompson's Tree Farm]

I burn quite a bit of hemlock both limbwood and slabs and have no problems. A few more BTU's than pine but not as many as hardwood.

[Acer]

I've heard it can retain water(more than other species) if not kept undercover.

D

[ennismaple]

We've burned countless chords of hemlock with no problems.

[maple flats]

Creosote will not form on any fire that is burning full tilt. All the components that make up creosote are combusted. You only get creosote when a fire is run too cool (small). Any roaring fire as any evaporator will have forms no creosote. Just make sure to burn hot.
I burn a lot of hemlock slab with no problem and zero creosote. My only comment is to split even small limb wood at least once to expose the wood. Most evergreens have a natural fire retardent in the bark to protect them from forest fire. When split you get a hotter fire and the bark burns up better then. Doing so you will not get a build up of bark in the arch. If unsplit any wood not in a very hot spot within the arch may not burn well.

[brookledge]

I'd rather burn hemlock than pine. You will definately have no problem as long as it is not wet or green, but that is no different than any type of wood.
Keith

[TapME]

We burn every thing and this year it was an old mobile home. All nice clean and dry lumber. Did some hemlock too and it is better than pine. slabs are nice since they cut quick when they have been stacked.