Which firewood is best for the stove, choose - oak, aspen, birch or pine

Birch

This is the queen of the Norwegian forests.
Birch has a deservedly high rank in Norway, so high that other good varieties of trees are found in the shade and many prefer it alone. Nevertheless, the status of the national firewood tree has a good justification: there is a lot of birch (it makes up 74% of all deciduous trees), and it grows large and even. The exception is mountain birch, which can be tortuous and difficult to fit into small ovens. But birch, growing in valleys and lowlands, if the trees are dense, forms a long trunk without branches.

From a processing point of view, birch is a lumberjack's dream compared to spruce and pine. The branches are thin, the leaves do not stick to gloves and tools like needles. In the stove, birch firewood behaves incomparably. Their combustion coefficient is high, they do not throw sparks into the room and turn into bright embers. In addition to this, birch bark ignites easily and helps with ignition.

But birch also has its own requirements: it needs to be well dried and quickly deteriorates if it is attacked by fungus and mold. If an undried birch tree is left lying on the ground, it will quickly rot.

Birch grows most actively until 50 years old and rarely lives more than 200 years. Downy birch can grow up to 20 meters, silver birch - up to 30 meters. The average density of wood is 500 kilograms of dry raw materials per cubic meter.

Correct loading and combustion of a solid fuel boiler with wood

Firewood is probably the most ancient type of fuel, especially in Russia, which is rich in forests. Unfortunately, most of our compatriots have lost the skill of properly preparing firewood, storing it, and using it to fuel heating devices. In this regard, quite often you can come across the question on the Internet: “how to properly heat a solid fuel boiler with wood?”

Harvesting: the logs are split, the resulting logs are stacked in rows. Each row is placed perpendicular to the previous one for good ventilation, which facilitates quick drying.

Storage: Fuel that is dried and ready for combustion is stored in a woodpile under a canopy. It is very simple to make: hollow bricks or blocks are laid on the ground in two rows. The distance between the rows is approximately 60 cm. Thick lumber is placed on them, and logs are stacked on top. To prevent the rows from falling apart, they are supported with thick stakes driven vertically into the ground. A canopy is made as protection from rain and snow. Instead, you can cover the woodpile with thick plastic wrap.

Firebox: Before placing logs into the boiler unit, make sure they are dry.

1. The first stage is warming up the device. Place paper in the firebox, splinters, small branches on it, and only then firewood. To warm up the installation, 50% of the fuel required is the usual amount.
2. Stage two. Clear the ash pan of ash. Splinters are placed in a well-heated firebox, with logs on top of them, laid in rows or in the shape of a well. You can determine how much firewood you need for a solid fuel boiler experimentally: when fully loaded, the logs should not reach 15 - 20 cm to the top of the firebox.

After combustion has become stable, adjust the draft, which affects the duration of heat transfer by the fuel.

Expert advice: A white flame and a hum in the smoke exhaust system indicate excessive draft. In this mode, the efficiency of the installation sharply decreases: the heat from fuel combustion is literally carried out into the chimney. A dark red flame indicates that there is not enough oxygen for combustion: adjust the air supply. When wood burns properly, the color of the flame is yellow.

Basic storage rules

To get a high-quality product for lighting a hearth or fireplace, you need to cut down a tree in an ecologically clean area, where there are no exhaust gases or chemical production. There should be no delay in separating the trunk and crown in parts

It is important to dry the logs outdoors with good ventilation under a canopy.

The next stage is splitting into smaller elements. This way the logs dry faster and are easier to store. It is logical that the thinner the firewood, the faster it will dry. Therefore, it is better not to store them in the form of thick logs, but to chop them in the form of thin logs. You will also need brushwood—thin branches—for ignition. Rows are laid in several ways:

• Each next row of blanks is located perpendicular to the previous one. There must also be clearance inside the row;
• All logs are stacked in one direction, maintaining a gap between each piece;
• Laying in a circle. This method is called a “stack”, it involves stacking firewood in one direction. Under no circumstances should brushwood and logs be stacked tightly: circulation will be disrupted and they will begin to rot.

The woodpile is placed in a well-ventilated space, under a canopy or dense material. The canopy must have supporting pillars without walls to restrict air movement.

The woodshed must be covered with a roof to protect the wood from ultraviolet rays and precipitation.

It is not recommended to store firewood in a shed. Lack of sunlight will lead to moisture accumulation, fungus will form, and the woodpile will begin to rot. Also, precipitation should not be allowed to enter.

Before putting it into the stove or fireplace, the firewood must be kept in the living room for at least 24 hours. They are placed next to the stove, but not very close to the firebox (keeping fire safety in mind). For this purpose, a special niche is provided or decorative floor firewood holders are used.

The best wood for kindling is dry. Therefore, you should carefully consider its preparation and storage. Whatever type of firewood is chosen for the stove, the most important thing is not to forget about the features and differences in the properties of deciduous, coniferous and fruit logs.

Good firewood. How is that?

For any tree to burn cleanly, efficiently and safely, it must meet several criteria, which do not always depend on the species.

High quality firewood:

• Dry;
• Clean;
• About 12 cm in diameter;
• Approximately equal in length and thickness;
• Made from hard hardwood.

Even ironwood firewood can be very bad if it is damp. Most of the energy will go into evaporating moisture and releasing smelly, toxic creosote. Or for burning resin:

Drying pine

You can determine whether a tree is dry enough by eye in several ways:

• Cracks in the cut of logs may indicate dryness, but this is not the most reliable indicator. Some woods may have cracks even in high humidity, and dry wood will not have cracks.
• Wood tends to darken as it dries, ranging from white/cream to varying shades of gray and even yellow. With acacia, I also noticed the opposite trend - the fresh cut was yellow-green, after 3 months all the firewood “faded” to light gray.
• The knock “stick on stick” will be “empty” and ringing, wet firewood sounds dull, “full”, “dull”.
• A dry tree weighs much less than a wet one.
• The bark holds tightly - the firewood is damp.
• Fresh sawn wood may feel damp to the touch and have a strong odor.
• It is enough to set fire to a small chip. Dry wood is flammable, wet wood hisses, smokes, stinks and is very difficult to burn.
• According to the moisture meter, the moisture content of the firewood should be within 15-20%, which is quite achievable if you start harvesting no later than six months before the heating season.

PS The issue of firewood became relevant quite unexpectedly - my daughter and her husband moved to a private house from a one-room apartment in a new building. The house is about 50 years old, until 1994 it was heated by a stove - a rough, rather unusual design (in my profane opinion of a city dweller). The children decided to tinker with the stove and install a water boiler in it to make burning wood more efficient. So the “wood issue” will be raised more than once, just like the “stove issue.” I already have experience of using it and will have something to share.

Choosing what is best for a bath...

To understand what you are dealing with, it is correct to compare different options. We have already written about the popular dilemma of choosing between linden and aspen, now we will consider two other pairs that are compared a little less often.

Pine or aspen

Be prepared for the fact that there will be no clear answer. Because first of all, you need to look at the quality of the same pine and the same aspen - there are regions where one is better than the other.

By the way! According to tradition, pine was usually used to build a house, and aspen - a bathhouse.

But it is always difficult to obtain good, functional aspen without rot inside; there is a lot of defects at the selection stage. Here, by the way, is a big piece of advice for the owner of a future bathhouse - check each log yourself when purchasing - so that the core is intact, it suffers primarily from rot.

You need logs - 15-20 centimeters or more, so be careful - trees of this thickness most often have a problematic core.

ON A NOTE! Rotting aspen is accompanied by the smell of vanilla - if you smell it, put the log aside from healthy ones.

In this regard, pine is less susceptible to rot and pests, but it swells greatly from water. And resin is a problem in a steam room.

We do not recommend pure pine without interior decoration of a steam room, so there is no need to say which is better: a bathhouse made of aspen or pine - the choice lies between a pine bathhouse with aspen clapboard inside the steam room or an aspen bathhouse without clapboard trim.

If you prefer a log house in its pure form, if there is no need for additional insulation, then make it from aspen - everything will be fine, it will only become harder later, water “hardens” it.

If there are problems with a good aspen, if you know that a poplar can be slipped in instead of it (they are relatives, the wood is very similar, but its quality is different, aspen grows in a swamp, hence its resistance to water, poplar does not have it), then take a good construction pine , build a log house from it, and protect yourself from resin with a clapboard made of aspen or linden (or other hardwood). See more information about pine here.

Alder or aspen

But here it’s more interesting - both species are deciduous, both are suitable for finishing a pair of rooms. As for a log house, aspen is definitely suitable for its construction, and alder is considered a good interior(!) material - its characteristics are similar to linden.

Therefore, we would risk recommending the following: focus here on the quality of the material. Since there is little good aspen, and specifically in your region there is good alder, you can build from it, but on condition that the lower crowns are made of oak or larch (contact with water and soil for alder leads to rotting).

BY THE WAY! The rule of the lower crowns, that is, making them from more durable and rot-resistant species, can be applied to aspen - only you will do it better.

In addition, the areas under the windows usually rot - this is a reason to take care of additional protection of these areas or to abandon windows as much as possible, leaving only the necessary ones.

In general, in the question of what is better for a bathhouse: alder or aspen, we place our bet on aspen, relying in this, as you already understand, on tradition.

What kind of firewood is not suitable for a sauna or fireplace?

Some firewood is not of suitable quality for heating a fireplace or sauna, since these stoves require healthy wood, which will bring a pleasant aroma and pleasure from it to the room.

Some people manage to sell supposedly “special firewood for the bath,” which promotes health, etc. etc., but it’s all a scam, don’t fall for these tricks! There are several types of firewood that are not recommended to be burned in the fireboxes of a fireplace or sauna, and this does not depend on the type of wood; it is better not to use:

• rotten wood, which will not provide good heat transfer, but will leave a lot of ash;
• old wood, which will bring heavy air and an unpleasant odor into the room;
• wood painted or impregnated with some substances - when burned, they release substances that can harm the health of everyone who is in the room where the fireplace or sauna stove is heated;
• thin branches - they burn quickly with minimal heat transfer, while taking up a lot of space;
• damp firewood can generally harm your sauna, since the fire on them will often go out until it dries out. During this entire time, they will release moisture in the form of steam, and the steam will be deposited in the chimney, which will clog it 10 times faster! You don’t want to clean the chimney three times a month!?

Fuel selection

When choosing the best firewood for a sauna, you may encounter different opinions:

• some recommend buying wood that releases beneficial substances when burned;
• Another group of people is sure that hardwoods are considered the best.

The choice of wood depends on various factors.

Depends on wood density

All types of wood can be divided into 3 groups:

• soft;
• medium-hard;
• solid.

It is better to use hard rocks to fire a sauna stove. They give the strongest heat and burn for a long time. Medium-hard rocks are more difficult to melt and burn for a long time. Representatives of soft breeds are the worst option. They burn quickly, emit intense heat, spark, and crack.

Depending on medicinal properties

The choice of fuel depends on the medicinal properties:

• linden, alder - cleanse the upper respiratory tract of phlegm, remove toxins from the upper layers of the epidermis;
• birch, oak - disinfect bath rooms and help clean the air;
• pine - releases essential oils that are beneficial to the body.

The latter option is less preferable due to the high resin content.

Depends on price

Oak, hornbeam, ash are expensive wood species. People often choose aspen and birch because of its availability and low price. Birch and aspen logs clog the chimney slowly.

When choosing, you need to take into account the moisture content of the material. A suitable figure is 20%.

Some types of wood cannot be stored for more than two years, as they lose their medicinal properties.

Application area

Aspen is used in agriculture - for arranging log houses for wells and cellars. Roofing shingles, also known as shingles, are made from it. It also goes on ploughshares - special planks designed to cover church domes.

Aspen, like linden, is suitable for finishing saunas and baths, and for creating carved products.

Usage

Aspen is also an approach for creating barrels and food containers. It can be used to make frames, dishes, kitchen utensils, decorations and much more.

Roofs that were created using aspen boards or at least elements have been performing well for centuries. The roof dries quickly after rain and does not rot. Over time, the wood becomes an unusual, pleasant gray-silver shade, which favorably emphasizes the texture and naturalness of the products.

Products, furniture, and finishing made from aspen boards have excellent performance properties. These lumber are becoming the best option for residential homes and bathhouses. With the correct installation and care technology, wood can last a very long time.

https://youtube.com/watch?v=JJmav4eCsBY

This is important to know!

Regardless of the type of trees that will be used for firewood, you need to know about some features:

1. Deadlines. Of course, those logs that have already served their “allotted” time will also burn (provided that they are dry and there is no mold on them). However, most trees retain their aroma only for two years. Alder and aspen are a pleasant exception in this regard - 3 years.
2. Everything has its time. In winter, the humidity of trees is at a minimum level. In this regard, the preparation of firewood must be done during this period. Drying usually takes about 12 months. However, the timing depends on the type of forest, harvesting time, storage conditions and a number of other factors. In this case, the duration may increase significantly or, conversely, decrease.
3. Dimensions. Which firewood is more profitable? Of course, those with optimal sizes. And these are 40-50 cm in length and 8-10 cm in thickness. This is how they are convenient to store and are suitable for any firebox.
4. Rot. Under no circumstances should you use rotten firewood. Keeping logs on the ground for a long time results in the accumulation of toxic substances released during combustion, which is not beneficial to humans. For this reason, when cutting down branches, you should immediately take the correct measures to store them. When choosing raw materials for heating among dead wood, you should not take into account long-fallen branches.
5. Storage issues. Logs should be laid with the bark facing up. This will protect the firewood from accidentally entering moisture, which evaporates faster from the surface of the bark. And if you show your imagination, you can build an original woodpile to the delight and surprise of your guests.

As you can see from this material, it’s not enough to know which firewood is best for the stove

It is equally important to ensure that they are stored correctly.

Regarding the arrangement of a woodpile, you can always come up with a lot of different ideas: from the most creative and crazy to the simplest to implement.

Folk tales

Superstitions and beliefs circulate among the people. For example, it is believed that it is better to prepare firewood for a bath during the waning moon. Moreover, the thinner the sickle, the stronger the logs are endowed with healing powers. Once upon a time, the Slavs believed that people who left the world turned into maples in their lives. The appearance of its leaves is akin to open palms, and its branches represent hands raised to the heavens. For this reason, they never fired maple stoves.

In the old days, residents of the Tambov province heated their stoves exclusively with apple trees to keep the house warm throughout the winter, including especially frosty days. Whether to believe all this or not is everyone’s business, but what happened was what happened. What do you, dear readers, think: what kind of firewood is better for a stove, bathhouse or fireplace?

We build a bathhouse from aspen

We will give recommendations to those who chose aspen for the construction of a bathhouse. You can prepare the material yourself, knowing some features:

1. Choose a tree that grows in a less swampy area. The trunk must be about forty years old. These conditions will reduce the risk of acquiring severely rotten trunks.
2. Make the preparation during the period of sap flow. At this time, the tree is easy to cut down and is easier to process. Leave branches and bark on the trunk to properly dry the wood. The buds will absorb moisture, the leaves will bloom, and the first natural drying of the log will occur. The bark will prevent the log from deforming.
3. Place the workpieces under a canopy, keeping them out of the sun. Direct rays will quickly draw out moisture and lead to deformation or cracking of the trunk. This is undesirable during the drying stage.
4. Leave the aspen in this state until next spring, treating the ends with clay. With the first warm days, remove the bark, which peels off easily.
5. Start processing the logs and cutting the log house. The longer the wood sits, the more difficult it will be to work with. The ax or saw will fly off the hardened surface.
6. Experts recommend cutting the bathhouse into a “paw” rather than a “bowl” to avoid cracking of the logs.
7. Sand the logs and treat them with bioprotection. No additional lining is required inside. The aspen log house does not tar and does not heat up, creating comfortable conditions for bathing procedures.

Birch - traditions should not be broken

Most people are inclined to believe that such firewood is the best fuel for starting a fire in a fireplace, stove or sauna. And all due to invaluable advantages:

• easy to light;
• burn for a long time;
• the flame turns out beautiful and even;
• no sparks;
• copious heat generation.

But the advantages don't end there. Since ancient times, the healing properties of birch have been known. The pleasant aroma has a beneficial effect on the human body, protecting it from colds and chronic diseases. In other words, birch firewood has a disinfecting effect, which causes approval among those who like to take a steam bath.

When burning, logs emit a small amount of carbon dioxide, and this is certainly a plus. But there is also a minus - a high concentration of tar. And this combustion product is no longer beneficial to health. In addition, soot and soot form on the walls of the stove and in the chimney. As a result, over time, not only is traction lost, but the risk of fire or carbon monoxide poisoning increases. Therefore, when choosing this firewood, it is also worth mastering the profession of a chimney sweep, as well as maintaining safety.

But, despite its shortcomings, birch is the most popular, cheapest and most practical fuel.

Alder - a royal gift

If you want to feel like a member of the royal family, you should get hold of some alder logs, because it’s not for nothing that they are popularly called royal logs. They flare up quickly, emit a huge amount of heat, and produce virtually no smoke, which also eliminates the appearance of soot and soot. In addition, logs burn for a very long time. That is, the question of what kind of wood is best to heat the stove in the house has already been resolved!

But the main highlight is the unique aroma, which has a healing effect. It has long been accepted that if you heat a bathhouse using alder wood, you can forget about colds once and for all. Moreover, even in ancient times, it was alder logs that were put into the royal furnaces, as well as the fireboxes of other estates of rich peasants or nobles.

A fresh cut of alder has a red-orange hue, giving the woodpile an unusual and bright appearance. However, there is one interesting feature that everyone should know about. All the benefits described apply to trees that grew in dry areas. If the plants bloomed in the swamp, then there will be soot and unbearable heat.

Alder is especially popular among those who like to smoke meat or fish. Under normal conditions, wood dries quickly, and it retains its healing natural properties for 3 years.

Calorific value of material

Calorific value is the amount of heat produced when a certain amount of wood is burned together with accompanying internal substances (esters, oils, etc.). The process releases water vapor, which is generated in two ways:

• due to the hygroscopicity of the material, the pores contain moisture, which turns into steam when heated;
• During the oxidation and decomposition of hydrocarbons, water molecules are synthesized and steam is formed from them.

There are several types of calorific value indicators

Depending on them, the combustion of raw materials used to evaporate water and heat steam is taken into account. These indicators include:

• specific calorific value volumetric;
• specific mass working;
• absolute highest;
• working volumetric lower;
• workers mass lower.

The mass specific calorific value of a sample of a certain quantity is calculated for kilograms or tons of wood. Displayed in J/t or kcal/kg.

The absolute degree (highest) is measured taking into account the heat spent on condensing the steam released during combustion. Condensation energy refers to latent combustion indices. Absolute calorific value is determined by burning a piece of wood of a certain weight or volume in a calorimeter with further cooling of all its components to the initial temperature.

The lower working calorific value in volumetric units does not take into account fuel consumption for condensation of steam released during combustion. Since when the previous indicator is identified, it is practically impossible to cool the components until complete condensation appears, the operating characteristic is widely used in calculations.

Create a cozy atmosphere in your home

Working calorific value in weight units is called the lowest mass characteristic. Measured in J/t or cal/kg. To determine it, the following provisions exist:

1. It does not depend on the species, since the weight unit of a completely dry sample of any tree includes the same amount of combustible substance, similar in composition.
2. Depends directly on humidity. A kilogram of wet raw material contains 1 kg of pure combustible component minus moisture, and in a dry sample its weight is equal to the mass of the heating substance.

A couple of phrases about calorific value

In terms of its chemical composition, wood is a rather complex material. It contains the main components - lignin and cellulose. But besides them, the tree contains:

• resins;
• proteins;
• tannins and other ingredients.

When logs burn in a stove (or simply when trees burn in a forest), these components interact with the air at a chemical level. The calorific value of wood (as well as any fuel), or thermal conductivity, is the amount of thermal energy that a unit of weight of the fuel material (in our case, 1 kg of wood) produces during combustion. Kilocalories are used to measure quantities.

The chemical composition among most tree varieties has minimal variations, which causes differences in the number of calories emitted. That is, the heat of combustion of some types of firewood can be as follows:

• for deciduous species the figure is 4460 kcal/kg;
• for coniferous species - 4560 kcal/kg;
• for mixed breeds – 4510 kcal/kg.

As you can see, the differences are minimal. At the same time, it is easy to understand that it is better to use coniferous wood for the stove due to its greater thermal conductivity. Only firewood is supplied to the market depending on volume, not weight. That is, the main criterion for choosing firewood is cubic meters. Density plays an important role here, because the higher it is, the heavier the wood.

For example, let’s take 1 cubic meter of birch logs as a starting point. Then the ratio of the volume of different rocks will look like this:

• oak logs - 0.75 cubic meters. m;
• alder logs - 1.1 cubic meters. m;
• pine logs - 1.2 cubic meters. m;
• spruce logs - 1.3 cubic meters. m;
• aspen logs - 1.5 cubic meters. m.

That is, 1 cubic meter of birch and 0.75 cubic meters. m of oak logs, 1.1 cubic meters. m of alder wood (and so on) will produce the same amount of heat. Knowing this, now, depending on how much firewood costs, you can get profitable savings for yourself.

Hardwood firewood

To make a choice, you need to consider each type of firewood separately.

Birch firewood

This type of wood has special qualities, which is why it is often used to fire baths. The heat that birch gives is a disinfectant for the room and releases the fragrant aroma of a real Russian bath. In addition, it is also credited with medicinal properties that help speedy recovery during a cold. But birch firewood cannot be kept in woodpiles for more than two years - it loses its properties and begins to deteriorate, turning into dust.

Dried birch wood, as well as its bark, has a high content of tar, which is a carbon compound, so firewood quickly ignites and burns together, without leaving behind a large amount of ash. Splinters made from dry birch logs are used to light other firewood made from heavier wood. When burning, birch gives off good heat transfer, releasing heat of such intensity that is 22 - 25% higher than the flame from aspen or pine wood.

Oak wood for heating a stove is considered an elite fuel, so it is quite expensive. Oak is a hard wood, it burns for a long time and has very good heat transfer, surpassing even birch firewood in this quality. For heating, middle-aged trees are harvested - they are the ones that have the properties described above. Oak firewood produces intense heat and spreads a tart forest aroma throughout the heated room, and this is especially felt if they are used to stoke a fireplace. The steam released by oak when burned, just like birch, has long been considered medicinal by people, especially for children.

It is interesting that famous Italian restaurateurs and cafe owners, adhering to ancient traditions, use exclusively oak firewood to prepare real pizza, although such wood is rare and has a fairly high price. Firewood from the trunks of fruit trees, such as a pear or an apple tree of a certain age, has somewhat similar qualities, but it is quite difficult to find them in large quantities.

Alder firewood

Alder firewood is popular because it does not require special conditions for drying - it reaches the required humidity on its own. This happens because those alder trees that grow in places where the soil does not have excessive moisture are selected for firewood. Such wood can retain its aromatic properties for more than three years, and also does not lose its other positive qualities. These include excellent heat transfer and low resin content - thanks to this quality, it produces less smoke when burning. Therefore, alder firewood has long been often used in baths that are heated in black. Another good quality of this wood is that the evaporation from it helps clean the chimney of soot deposits.

Alder has more than 25 species, and each of them has its own shade - beige and brown, bright red and almost white. By this feature, it can be easily distinguished from other wood.

If alder is sawed in the yard of the house, then you must place a piece of fabric or polyethylene under the sawing site to collect all the sawdust. They are useful for smoking meat and fish dishes, and it is also good to add them to the grill when preparing barbecue.

Aspen

Aspen firewood, just like alder, helps clean soot deposits in the chimney. The flame from this firewood itself does not produce soot, but the rising aspen heat makes the soot already accumulated in the chimney loose, and it begins to separate and crumble into the firebox.

However, they also have a huge drawback - aspen firewood burns quickly, giving low heat transfer, so they are not popular and are rarely used, mainly for kindling or cleaning the stove.

Linden wood, although it burns slowly, gives excellent heat, and therefore good heat transfer. Almost any linden components - leaves, color, bark and wood - are medicinal. Therefore, such firewood was often used in baths - a little honey was added to it, which gave a unique thick aroma to the steam room, which was used to treat lung diseases or long-lasting wounds. After a bathhouse heated with linden wood, the patients were given tea with linden blossom and honey - it cleanses the respiratory system and also removes toxins from the body.

The disadvantage of linden firewood is their short shelf life - no more than two years.

Poplar and Willow

Poplar firewood

Firewood made from these types of wood burns hot and burns quickly, so you need to buy a lot of such firewood. But they are considered low-grade and are not very suitable for heating, so finding them even at a very low price will not be difficult.

Advantages of this type

Logs that you can collect with your own hands or purchase ready-made are always an excellent solution for every modern person. Durable, Euro aspen firewood has an impressive number of advantages, namely:

• They are light and melt quickly. It is convenient not to light a fire with them, as when using sawdust, but to throw them in during the combustion process so that it flares up stronger, is brighter and heats more efficiently. This firewood does not create soot, burns absolutely cleanly, without leaving long-smoldering coals, so they are rarely used for barbecues and other activities where coals are needed;
• If you purchase compact euro briquettes, you can store them for up to three years, this is the advantage of aspen. It does not deteriorate for a long time, unlike other types that you can chop with your own hands, such as pine. A normal tree is stored for a maximum of two years;
• For those who are wondering what kind of firewood is better, euro aspen briquettes will help not only keep you warm on cold, frosty evenings, but also clean even the most dirty chimney of soot from previous use;
• In terms of cost, aspen firewood is much cheaper than, for example, alder firewood. Therefore, they are gladly purchased by people who do not want to make firewood with their own hands, but would rather buy a ready-made version or sawdust at an affordable price.

In fact, pine and alder firewood, despite the higher price category, also have a number of excellent properties, but this will be discussed later.

Positive properties of aspen

Aspen is by no means a cheap material for construction. Building a bathhouse from aspen, subject to careful culling, drying and processing of the wood, can cost a decent amount.

Despite this, many lovers of Russian bathhouses are ready to spend money once and get in return a high-quality steam room and truly light steam. After all, the wood of this wonderful tree has the following positive properties:

1. Long service life - a timber frame made of aspen, dried using technology and correctly assembled, lasts for many decades. This structure is not afraid of pests and high humidity. Over the years, the wood of this tree only becomes stronger and acquires the hardness of oak.
2. Toning and healing effect - after visiting an aspen bathhouse, an improvement in well-being and general condition is observed. Staying in such a steam room is recommended for people with weakened immune systems.
3. Disinfecting effect - aspen does not rot in water, but, on the contrary, disinfects it. By itself, it does not emit decay products, and fungi and mold do not grow on it. This helps create a light, clean and pleasant atmosphere in the bathhouse.
4. Aspen does not heat up at high steam room temperatures and does not emit resin. Therefore, it absolutely eliminates the risk of sticking and getting burned during health procedures.

It is these basic qualities that make aspen so popular in bathhouse construction. And if it is not possible to make an entire aspen log house, then boards from this wood are used to make individual components of the steam room.

Aspen flooring, wall cladding with clapboard or boards, making shelves and benches will be much cheaper, but will allow you to get the full range of positive qualities of this wonderful material. But in order for the bathhouse to please with its durability and comfortable atmosphere, it is necessary to carefully consider the processes of harvesting, drying, selecting and processing wood - which are associated with a number of difficulties.

Disadvantages of aspen for construction

Aspen gravitates towards wetlands. Therefore, its wood has high humidity and is prone to rapid rotting in the butt part, which can only be determined by cutting. For industrial lumber, as a rule, the top of the tree is selected, and the bottom is used for the production of firewood.

High humidity also determines the “capriciousness” of lumber during drying and storage. The shrinkage rate of aspen is 40–50 percent—during drying, it almost halves in volume. And this is often associated with its curvature and twisting.

The process of drying and storing lumber is reminiscent of a lottery. Natural drying or chamber drying, it makes no difference - sometimes the amount of rejected wood is 80 percent. Moreover, the rejection percentage directly depends on the length of the board - the longer the board, the greater the likelihood of it being warped.

All this adds up to a high price for the product. Proper implementation of the stages of lumber production, from harvesting to processing, will help reduce the final cost of an aspen bathhouse.

Which ones are best for the oven?

Any wood can be used as fuel. The main thing is that they exist. Each region has its own preferences, depending on what trees grow in the area. Many people believe that birch or alder are the best. The choice is yours.

To the bathhouse

The choice of logs for heating a sauna depends on the design of the stove. Many people prefer:

1. Alder. They produce a persistent heat and burn almost smokelessly. There is a popular belief about their healing power;
2. Birch. Burns evenly, the heat is strong;
3. Willows. The heat transfer is low, you will need a lot of them, but the spirit in the bathhouse will be especially light.

It is not recommended to use oak ones - they take a long time to burn out, the heat is intense, and they emit a large amount of carbon monoxide. Periodically, aspen is used to clean the chimney. If the furnace firebox is remote, the main selection criterion is heat transfer.

For home heating

Hardwood firewood has the best qualities and is used more often. Birch, oak, linden - any, depending on their availability and needs. The main thing is to be dry. In fireplaces it is better to use those types that smoke less and do not “shoot”.

Heating with wood can be caused either by necessity - due to the lack of another type of fuel, or by personal desire. Logs burning in the oven create an unsurpassed atmosphere of warmth and comfort, emit a lot of heat, and for the most part provide a healing effect.

Characteristics of firewood

In order to choose the right type of wood for the firebox, you need to know some of its characteristics. Firewood is distinguished by heat transfer, flammability, ash content and the amount of smoke it produces when burning.

High-quality firewood is distinguished by good combustibility and heat transfer, the ability to produce a minimal amount of ash and avoid excessive smoke. To choose exactly these, you need to pay attention not only to the type of wood, but also to its dryness, since it must contain a certain percentage of moisture.

Everyone knows that logs cut from a freshly cut tree will burn poorly due to excess moisture in them. Therefore, the preparation of firewood, and wood for outbuildings, furniture making and other needs, is usually carried out in the middle of the winter period. At this time, the trees “sleep”, and their trunks do not have such intense sap flow as, for example, in spring or summer.

The dense structures of deciduous trees are suitable for producing good heat in the firebox. They burn brightly, generating a lot of heat in the process. The trunks of fruiting trees smell pleasant when burned, which makes them indispensable in fireplaces and open hearths.

The smell of smoldering mass depends on the content of esters, resins, and tanning components. Oak releases tart tannins, rosewood scents the space with vanilla, and backout feels about the same.

Coniferous trees have an intense flame, but when burning they emit more smoke than deciduous trees. When using them, the walls and ceiling of the room, as well as the inside of the chimney, become clogged faster. The smell of turpentine, which comes from pine and spruce, spreads into the room.

Oak in the hearth

Initially, oak is considered as a valuable wood for production, so discarded trunks or measured waste are used for fuel. If we talk about full-fledged logs, their cost is high, so such options are rarely used.

It is better to burn with wood cut from middle-aged and not very old trunks. This guarantees long combustion and release of a large amount of energy. Young specimens give off a not too intense heat, and the room in the house has the smell of smoldering wood. Old trunks will leave a lot of ash in the residue, while the energy released is weaker.

Linden for bath

When burned, linden wood produces an even heat throughout the entire process. This is the kind of combustion that is required when heating steam rooms and baths. The raw material is used to maintain uniform temperature in the heating compartment.

Linden firewood emits a sweetish odor that is beneficial for the respiratory organs. It is difficult to ignite raw materials in the firebox, so torches and thin logs are used. Firewood is stored for two years, then its properties begin to decline. The calorific value of linden firewood is 2040 kcal, which is not enough to fully heat a house. Sometimes fuel is used in stoves for cooking.

Birch logs

In terms of density, birch is equal to oak, therefore it is a high-quality fuel for stoves. Its ability to transfer heat is lower than that of valuable wood, but is a quarter higher than that of coniferous trees. When burned, the raw material gives an even flame and does not emit sparks. In terms of calorific value, a cubic meter of birch firewood replaces:

• 1.15 m³ alder, pine;
• 1.3 m³ spruce;
• 0.76 m³ oak logs;
• 1.52 m³ aspen.

Logs are placed in the stove, after removing the top layer. The soot released during smoldering clogs the chimney and narrows the working channel of the exhaust gases. When burning birch fuel, a unique smell is felt; volatile substances disinfect the atmosphere and prevent respiratory infections in households. By analogy with linden, birch is stored for only two years.

Aspen in the firebox

It is rarely used, as it takes a long time and is difficult to light. Produces little heat in the fireplace and burns quickly, leaving a small amount of ash. The firewood produces a long, bright red flame without releasing any aggravating substance that clogs the chimney.

Aspen logs are placed at the end of the firebox with resinous firewood. The tree partially clears the channel walls of accumulated soot. Such firewood is not suitable for full heating of a house, so it is almost never harvested.

Alder, poplar, willow

Royal wood flares up quickly in the oven, smolders without smoke, releases a lot of energy and does not contain resinous additions. The pleasant smell is the reason for using alder in a fireplace or steam room furnace. Similarly, it removes soot deposits from the walls of the smoke channel. Good for cooking and barbecuing, smoking fish and meat. It can be stored for about three years without loss of quality.

Firewood from poplar and willow is also prepared for heating. These options are available when other raw materials are unavailable. Low-grade wood provides heat to a room if large quantities are burned. This is due to the fact that due to its low density, the material burns too quickly, but produces little heat. Even the low cost cannot cover the cost of heating a home.

Because of their strong and pleasant aroma, cherry, apple and plum are stored in storage for frying food over an open fire and for use in the hearth.

Coniferous trunks

Due to the resins contained in wood, logs burn intensely, but they smoke and smoke. With constant use of fuel, all the shortcomings of pine firewood appear, so it is necessary to regularly clean the exhaust channel of combustion products. This raw material is almost never used in home heating stoves and boilers, used only when necessary. Pine is widely used for heating baths and steam rooms. Due to excellent combustion, the temperature in the room rises quickly.

The calorific value of coniferous species is about 4920 kcal, provided that dry specimens are used. A kilogram of dried raw materials releases about three kilograms of water vapor. Oils entering the air have a positive effect on the respiratory system and tone the body when in the steam room.

The raw materials are used in fireplaces and open hearths, but the danger arises due to the high sparking of the fuel. Pine logs crack and emit hot particles into the surrounding space, so spruce firewood is often used instead. The pros and cons of fuel are balanced against the background of the low cost of raw materials. The emission of burning sparks is eliminated by installing protective screens made of heat-resistant glass or other materials.

Firewood from coniferous trees

Coniferous wood contains a large amount of resin, which promotes rapid and intense combustion with a large release of smoke and soot. Regular use of pine firewood contributes to the formation of thick layers of soot on the walls of the chimney.

Coniferous firewood logs

That is why coniferous wood is practically not in demand for heating houses; it is used to kindle stoves in bathhouses. The melted hearth of pine needles fills the steam room with a classic spruce aroma, which calms the nerves and has a beneficial effect on the respiratory system. The forest pine aroma appears thanks to the essential oils present in the pine needles. When burned, spruce and pine firewood produces a characteristic crackling noise that many people enjoy.

Note that burning coniferous wood is difficult to extinguish, and the embers flying out of it make this wood the most fire hazardous. Therefore, it is best to heat a closed stove or fireplace with pine or spruce firewood.

After analyzing all existing types of wood, you can easily find the best firewood for heating stoves in your home and bathhouse. Use different tree species, find the optimal solution for a specific situation. Enjoy the pleasant aroma, warmth and comfort that burning wood firewood gives you.

Oak - fortress of spirit

Which firewood burns longer? Of course, oak! They are characterized by high strength and density. It is no coincidence that experts jokingly classify this breed as an elite variety, and only then it is valued as a type of fuel. Due to these features, oak logs maintain heat at the required level, produce intense heat, and the negative impact of various external factors does not in any way affect them.

The aroma emanating from the firewood is so pleasant, tart and soft that you can feel the breath of the forest expanses. Like birch, oak can have a beneficial effect on the human body, in particular on the nervous system. It also promotes relaxation and strengthens the immune system.

Wood is long-lived, and finding wood suitable for kindling is not so easy. Not just any logs are suitable for this. Firewood from young plants will not produce much heat, but when old plants burn, a large amount of ash is formed, the air becomes too heavy - not every bathhouse visitor will be able to withstand it.

Heating a house with wood from middle-aged trees works well - they provide just as much heat as needed, or even more. But they are not so easy to find, so oak is rarely used as fuel, and it also grows very slowly.

For reference: once upon a time, good and strong ships were built from oak. Now it is believed that truly tasty and juicy pizza can only be cooked using oak wood. They are also ideal for lighting a fireplace, the only difficulty is that such wood is not easy to split.

Coniferous

Coniferous trees are used less often for firewood than deciduous trees. This is due to the high resin content in wood. At a high combustion temperature, the resin also begins to burn, sparkle, shooting small coals. Therefore, if you use pine or spruce firewood, then only by tightly closing the stove door.

It is better not to use coniferous wood to light the fireplace to avoid fire.

Due to the high resin content, such firewood, as a result of combustion, forms layers of soot in the chimney.

But many people prefer this type of firewood, since the pine aroma is not only very pleasant, but also beneficial for breathing. In addition, the heat transfer of pine firewood is not much lower than that of birch, and the fuel is accessible and inexpensive.

If you want to heat the stove using pine or spruce firewood, then you need to combine it with other firewood, for example, aspen. I also recommend adding juniper branches to any firewood in the firebox.

There is an interesting life hack related to the use of such firewood. Some bathhouse lovers constantly dry and accumulate potato peelings in order to then add them to the stove along with pine wood.

The starch contained in potato peelings will have a softening effect on soot, and the chimney will become less dirty.

Firewood with medium hard wood

The heat transfer of such firewood is lower than that of the first group. But they are more accessible and injectable well. Medium-hard woods include: cherry, birch, elm, cedar, fir.

Fir firewood

Can only be purchased in the Far East. You won't find this firewood anywhere else.

They prick easily, and when burned they produce a lot of smoke and sparks. It is better not to use for fireplaces and barbecues.

Also available only to residents of the Far East.

They cut hard and prick well. The coals smolder for a long time.

Birch firewood

The most popular firewood in the middle zone. Every second person orders them! Why?

Well, first of all, they are affordable. As a rule, you can only buy two types of firewood from us: coniferous (spruce and pine) and birch, or order a car that will contain birch and coniferous firewood.

Secondly, birch firewood belongs to the second group, which means that it burns for a long time and produces quite a lot of heat. After burning, it forms coals that give a good and long heat, which is why they are traditionally used for barbecues. There are not many sparks and you can calmly warm yourself by the fireplace or barbecue, in which birch logs are burning.

So, the advantages of birch firewood: they split well, ignite, give a fairly high temperature and have few sparks. BUT, they also produce a lot of soot, clogging the chimney. And here... aspen will help you!

birch firewood

Exotic

As you know, there are quite a lot of tree species, and to list all their types, you could write a thick book, or even more than one.

Therefore, in addition to the varieties listed, it is worth touching on at least a few more:

• Elm. It produces a lot of smoke, is difficult to split and takes a long time to ignite.
• Poplar. Like firewood for a stove - nothing at all. They prick easily, just scatter sparks and burn quickly.
• Beech. It is also difficult to light and split, but can be used raw.
• Fir. Like poplar, it is easy to prick and ignite, but you cannot do without a lot of smoke and sparks.
• Sycamore. Wood is easy to kindle, but difficult to split.

Can they be used for heating in a stove? Everyone can find the answer to this question themselves. But, on the other hand, why not?!

Subtleties and nuances

• The worst thing is if you have damp aspen firewood. This type of wood produces a small amount of heat, so aspen firewood will be very difficult to light. The logs will slowly smolder when exposed to temperature, releasing very little heat.
• A good option for quickly kindling raw logs is birch or spruce. Despite the fact that these tree species emit a lot of soot and soot when burned, they are optimal for quick kindling. The fire catches on the chips and birch bark in literally a matter of seconds.

• An original way to quickly dry wood was invented by our ancestors. Salt should be poured in large quantities onto wet firewood. The salt will draw out some of the moisture, and the firewood will become usable.
• If we light a fire in nature and we have flammable liquids in our arsenal, for example, diesel fuel, gasoline, kerosene, then it is quite possible to pour these compounds on the wood chips. If we want to use flammable liquids in the stove, we can moisten a rag with them and place it between the logs. The characteristic odor from such liquids will disappear fairly quickly after lighting a fire.
• Some experts recommend putting an empty bottle of vegetable oil in the firebox. With its help you can quickly get the required amount of fire.

Please note that firewood is always purchased raw. It is best to do this in winter, stocking up for the next season, when equipment easily enters the forest. In this case, you will have the firewood for a whole year before using it. They must be stored in a woodpile, protected from precipitation and blown by the wind.

As you can see, there are no particular difficulties with kindling raw firewood; the main thing is to approach this issue thoughtfully and carry out the preparatory work efficiently. With a little patience, you will have a nice, intense fire that provides warmth.