Storing firewood properly – and how to measure the moisture yourself
A good fire starts months earlier in the woodpile. This is how your wood dries reliably, how to check it with a simple meter – and how to tell that it is not ready yet.
Most of the problems customers describe to us with their stove – black glass, smoke when opening the door, little heat – have a common cause: the wood is too wet. Water in the wood must evaporate before it burns. That costs energy, cools the fire and causes soot. A few simple steps when storing the wood can prevent this. ## The right place for the stack - Airy and as sunny as possible: A house wall or a shelter on the south or west side is ideal. Wind dries at least as well as sun. - Covered on top, open at the sides: A roof or cover keeps rain and snow away. A tarpaulin that reaches down to the ground, on the other hand, traps moisture. - Not directly on the ground: Pallets or squared timbers underneath keep the stack dry. - Some distance from the wall: A hand’s width is enough to let air circulate behind the wood. - Not fresh into the cellar or garage: There is no draught there. Fresh wood hardly dries in enclosed spaces and can go mouldy.  ## How long does wood need? That depends on the type of wood and the size of the logs. As a rough guide from our experience: - spruce, pine, birch: about one to two summers - beech, ash, maple: about two years - oak: more like two to three years Split wood dries much faster than whole round logs. So split it as soon as possible after felling. ## How to measure correctly A simple wood moisture meter with two prongs does not cost much and saves a lot of trouble. What matters is how you measure: 1. Take a log from the middle of the stack, not from the outside. 2. Leave it in a warm room for a day or two – cold wood shows values that are too low. 3. Split it once and measure on the fresh split surface in the middle, across the grain. 4. Measure several logs and take the highest value seriously. The meter usually shows the wood moisture relative to the dry wood. If the value is below 20 %, the wood is ready. Values below 25 % are legally permitted, but the drier it is, the better it burns. ## How to recognise wet wood without a meter - It hisses or foams at the ends when it burns. - The flames stay small and dark red, and the glass quickly turns grey. - Two logs knocked together sound dull instead of bright. - The bark is still firmly attached, and there are no drying cracks at the ends. ## Our tip Bring in what you need for two or three days at a time. That way the wood is at room temperature when it goes into the stove and lights cleanly straight away. You can read more about lighting and adding wood in our article Heating correctly with wood.
