pine for fire wood?

[canaanmaple]

Is there a preferred type of wood to burn for evaporating besides lower BTU and needing to use more, or is that overthinking? (have a cinderblock arch)

I have an abundance of pine logs and would rather burn that if possible, and save the hardwoods for heating my house.


Thanks!!

[Russell Lampron]

Yes burn the pine. It's like rocket fuel when it's dry so be prepared to fire more often and to draw off syrup sooner and more often. I use a lot of pine here and like to use it before shut down because it doesn't form coals so that the evaporator will cool down sooner.

[bigschuss]

Is there a preferred type of wood to burn for evaporating besides lower BTU and needing to use more, or is that overthinking? (have a cinderblock arch)

I have an abundance of pine logs and would rather burn that if possible, and save the hardwoods for heating my house.


Thanks!!

Just finished up 3 pages on just about this same exact question....

http://mapletrader.com/community/sho...hat-kind/page3

But yes, burn that pine! It will burn hot and fast.

[nymapleguy607]

^+1 burn the pine, be ready for some embers through the stack but it burns great. I'm running sawmill slab wood seasoned 1 year and its crazy hot.

[wnybassman]

I like to mix it in throughout the boil, especially when things tend to slow down. It's a great way to reduce coals if you have any start to build up. I also like to run straight pine for the last half dozen firings of the boil so I don't end up with any coals at the end. it disappears so much faster and gets me out of the shack quick at the end of the night.

[maple flats]

For in an evaporator as long as it's dry any wood is good, it's not like in the house where you add wood and want it to last for hours. With all pine you might just end up fueling a minute or 2 sooner than with hardwoods, but being you should not burn it in the house, this is a good place to use it up.

[red dorakeen]

Came into a bunch of cedar (ends from the building the shack) in the woodpile.
Stuff burns great and shutting down is a bit more abrupt with less coals.
Never wanted it to heat the house but for the evaporator it seems ideal.
I'll be putting up a lot of cedar for next year.

[antelope76]

I also like to mix it in with hardwood. At the end of the day when trying to finish I'll add more pine than hardwood.

[wally]

Is there a preferred type of wood to burn for evaporating besides lower BTU and needing to use more, or is that overthinking? (have a cinderblock arch)

I have an abundance of pine logs and would rather burn that if possible, and save the hardwoods for heating my house.


Thanks!!

on a per-ton basis, pine has more btus than many hardwoods. on a per-cord basis, not so much.

[NhShaun]

I've always burned pine. This year I'm burning slab pine that I split to about 2 inches wide. It burns super hot but fast, so I have to reload the Firebox every 10 or 15 minutes. Luckily I got 6 cord of slabs for free so the quick firing doesn't bother me.