What Is Wet Wood?

In our continued efforts to raise awareness of the benefits of ‘Ready to Burn’ wood, it’s worth considering what ‘wet wood’ is and why it's an undesirable alternative.

Wood sold under Woodsure’s ‘Ready to Burn’ label is wood that has been specifically kiln-dried and fully seasoned to reduce the amount of harmful emissions when it’s burned. This firewood generally has 20% less moisture than what would be considered ‘wet wood’

The Wastefulness of Wet Wood

One of the reasons why there’s been an effort to move away from wet wood in recent years is because of the fact it’s a much less efficient fuel. Take that 20% more moisture that we mentioned before. When you burn a wet wood log, energy is lost to burning away that moisture and turning it into steam.

That’s energy wasted in your fire that could have been spent warming your home, meaning that you’re ultimately going to be feeding your fire more often. More logs amount to more cost, which leads to you spending more on logs than desirable just because they’ve not been properly seasoned.

However, the benefits aren’t solely to do with getting more bang for your buck.

A Particulate Problem

When a log is seasoned and kiln-dried, it’s put in a state where it will burn more efficiently and emit less smoke. Wet logs produce more smoke thanks to its moisture content. This smoke releases pollutants and small particles into the air.

These pollutants are harmful, particularly for older adults, children, teenagers and people with extant heart or lung diseases. They increase the risk of irregular heartbeats, heart attacks, asthma attacks, strokes and early death.

What’s more, burning wet woods rather than ready to burn woods means you might be causing a creosote build-up to occur in your chimney. These build-ups are huge fire-risks, and can cause a chimney-fire if ignited, which can have disastrous consequences.

What are Wet Wood Warning Signs

The best way to spot wet wood is to check the ends of your log. Small splits in the wood are indicative that the log is dry, while smoother textures mean that there’s likely a high moisture content within it. You can also knock too pieces of wood together – dry wood makes a louder clunking noise, where wet wood makes a softer sound.

At Logs Direct, all our kiln-dried logs are perfectly dried to ensure the longest burn and the richest aroma without the acrid smoke of increased health risks of wet wood.

If you want to know more information about our commitment to quality, you can contact us today.