First lesson in firewood.... be sure you and any sellers are talking the same lingo.

"Cord" is the most misinterpreted term i can think of. In Ontario we've got socially acceptable references to bush cords and face cords, stove cords vs furnace cords.

Cord defined http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cord_(unit)

If you paid $80, i would imagine you bought a "face cord", usually used to describe a unit of wood that is piled 4'x8' x 16 inches. That's a pretty typical price so you didn't get ripped off, but you didn't get a deal either (assuming it's the correct volume).

When buying firewood, you also want to consider the available BTUs you'll get from said firewood. Lots of sneaky buggers like to sell pizz poor firewood, at the same price others sell the best firewoods for, because many people don't know any better when buying. Most buyers just think a cord is a cord is a cord. But if you buy 10 cord of aspen/poplar, you're paying more to get the same heat you'd get with 5 cord of ironwood.

This chart does a good job of showing you the different BTU values of various woods.
https://chimneysweeponline.com/howood.htm

So, when heating with firewood that you must purchase, it behooves you to do your research and make sure you're getting a high BTU breed of wood AND adequate volume for a good price.

My father sells what he calls "scrap cords". These are face cords consisting of smaller "rounds", cut to 16"-18", of elm. They provide decent heat, but they're a pain in the butt to transport and stack and some people just don't like smaller chunks of firewood. But we're cutting out all the dead elm anyways, and can't possibly burn it all ourselves, so... what else are we going to do with it?

I"m new to the wood burning club.
I've also been told Maple is the best hardwood..but how is Ash? Did I make a wise or poor purchase? It was difficult finding a source of wood this time of year so I jumped at the Ash when I found someone selling.
-I've heard purchasing wood anywhere between July and October is the best month...what is. Why does it matter?
-Can I lay the wood on a concrete slab until I use it? Or would it suck moisture into the bottom pieces? Do I need to lay down a tarp or something first? Should it be drying outside, or is in the garage or basement ok? Or does it matter and I'm just over analyzing it.

Thanks, in advance for any help and any other tips you have on this.

Thought i'd answer these specifically in a separate post.

Ash is "okay". Not great and we've been negotiated down by knowledgeable buyers whenever we've tried to sell it. Definitely not as good as Ironwood (but that stuff is so tough to cut, split, pile & transport it's not viable to sell), nor as good as beech, oak or maple.

I don't know any reason why buying wood in particular months would matter... as long as it's been properly dried. I guess maybe if you're storing it in your house, you'd want to purchase and pile BEFORE bugs and critters begin to move into it for the colder months? Always plenty of stories about ant, mouse and snake infestations when someone's brought wood into a house and had it warm up.

You can put your wood directly on concrete with no significant effects. I know some people who simply lay down 2x2s though to keep the air flow open.

What I get is semi-dry.
Mostly maple, but there is some birch, a bit of poplar, and I can even spot the OCCASIONAL piece of cedar or spruce. Since there MAY be 1 or 2 pieces per face cord, I really don't mind and just chop them up for kindling.
Semi-dry means that they are beginning to cut now, what I will be buying in August-September. It has had some time to dry, but not the one year that would make it "dry".
For this I paid $85...up from $80 last year.
Up until this year, I stored my wood under an old tempo and just laid down some pallets to stack on. Since the tempo bit the bullet last year, I built a lean-to style shed and used the pallets again to stack on.
I usually stack about a half cord once per week into the mud room, just so I don't have to go outside every day for more wood, and yes, we get some creepy crawlies inside because of that, but no big deal really. If it bothers you, get a cat. They love chasing and eating bugs!
If you find mice or snakes in your indoor wood pile, chances are they were already inside and just moved into the pile...handling every piece of wood individually when you bring it in will make it difficult for mice or snakes to hang on unnoticed.
As for the time of year, we find that anytime after September, many sellers are running low and some even get sold out, but I have never seen a price difference due to time of year.

I have no wood predujuses, I may prefer Birch and Tamrack but I will burn anything, including low btu poplar, if I can fit it in the door it gets burnt.
Allways be a year ahead on wood, more if you can, I mostly cut my own but do order some now and again to get some high btu wood for the -40 times.
I would stack in long rows maybe to head height so the air can move through the stack, don't tarp but maybe cover the top part to shed rain. If you can keep it off the ground even better. if not off the ground and you are ahead on wood in stacks by a few years you may get something like red ants that will find your nice dry wood tastey. The drier the better, I cant stress that enough, and yes your over analyzing it, I have some birch from 4 years back, and its like loading in fuel rods into a reactor. You have what looked to be a longer horizontal run at the ceiling with bends, you need to be prepared to clean that out when needed. Its not going to take much build up there to inhibit your ability to burn hot with a good draw. Infact I am wondering how that's working even new? do you have a air supply plumbed for this stove? if not, and with that horizontal run, I suspect you may find a problem trying to start it at -20, maybe at -5...how has it been working? how is it to start?

I don't pay anything for wood. My next door neighbor owns a landscaping & tree cutting buisness. He brings me all the wood I can possibly need and store for free. I just have to split it and stack it. Pretty cool!

I don't pay anything for wood. My next door neighbor owns a landscaping & tree cutting buisness. He brings me all the wood I can possibly need and store for free. I just have to split it and stack it. Pretty cool!

Nice deal!!!

You have what looked to be a longer horizontal run at the ceiling with bends, you need to be prepared to clean that out when needed. Its not going to take much build up there to inhibit your ability to burn hot with a good draw. Infact I am wondering how that's working even new? do you have a air supply plumbed for this stove? if not, and with that horizontal run, I suspect you may find a problem trying to start it at -20, maybe at -5...how has it been working? how is it to start?

That horizontal run is maybe 5' or so from the 90 above the wood stove to the clean out outside. I thought the down draft was from the height of the chimney outside was more of a factor. It goes up high as there is a second floor and our area is adjacent farm fields so the winds can be strong.... The down draft was evident during the cold snap Ontario had the last month for sure. And it was tricky to light it in that temp. I found condensation coming in the flue from outside as the warm air was melting the snow drift that had built up on the outside at the clean out. It also created a big ice block as the snow refroze...Shoveling the snow away didnt help as it would just build up again within a day....so this spring I have to look at ways to stop the snow from drifting against this area. Any helpful hints appreciated!

I tried all the usual advice like warming the flue, using a torch to warm the inside of the stove to get some convection going..only to smoke my basement up. 🙄

The in laws came down from the north who have a wood stove, showed me how to get it lit with little to no smoke inside...how to feed it air with the door open, close it to give to push the air up until the chimney has warmed, etc. So since then we've had no issues with it. Either at minus 20 or minus 5. I think its just practice and seeing it done a few times. I also found opening one of the basement windows to allow the air pressure to equalize helped a lot. If the furnace turns on, there are return air ducts in the basement, and I'm sure that doesnt help starving the fire place by creating a slight negative air pressure...opening the window gave it a fighting chance to reverse the air flow in the flue instead of fighting the draw in.

We dont run it 24/7. Aside from ideas about protecting the base of the chimney outside from snow/ice buildup when not in use...is also any ideas about plugging up the flue at the foundation wall location when not in use. I can always disconnect the flue, jam some roxul in there to stop the cold from coming in, and stop the thermal bridging which melts the snow outside causing it to drip in...but that is a pain in the a$$ and eventually I'm going to strip the screws or the metal...is there some sort of gate valve or something I can attach to the flue to block it off when not in use? If I only use the thing once a week or a couple days a week I'd like to easily block it off the rest of the time to avoid that issue....

Oddmot, Denob, Peppercorn, I appreciate all the info. and direction. What is common sense for you guys is new territory for me so I appreciate you going back to grade 1 wood technology for me. Sailbum....nice deal! 🙂 If you ever feel overwhelmed with to much wood, I'd be happy to take some off your hands and help you out. I wouldnt even charge you to take it off your hands. 😆

Not even sure it's grade 1 knowledge.

I know tons of old timers who just cut and burn anything - why not, they've got a never ending supply and the space to store it and the time to do the runs to the furnace.

That was my dad's outlook... until he had cancer and was nearly crippled by nerve damage from the chemo. Then, suddenly, needing to spend less time in the bush cutting, less time on the field piling, less time on the tractor transporting, less trips to the basement firing, etc became more important for him.

He's gone from burning 18-20 face cords of lesser mixed woods a winter (5400 sq ft home) to just 12-15 cords of black birch, white oak, maple and beech.

The other stuff we burn in our maple syrup evaporator.

You have what looked to be a longer horizontal run at the ceiling with bends, you need to be prepared to clean that out when needed. Its not going to take much build up there to inhibit your ability to burn hot with a good draw. Infact I am wondering how that's working even new? do you have a air supply plumbed for this stove? if not, and with that horizontal run, I suspect you may find a problem trying to start it at -20, maybe at -5...how has it been working? how is it to start?

That horizontal run is maybe 5' or so from the 90 above the wood stove to the clean out outside. I thought the down draft was from the height of the chimney outside was more of a factor. It goes up high as there is a second floor and our area is adjacent farm fields so the winds can be strong.... The down draft was evident during the cold snap Ontario had the last month for sure. And it was tricky to light it in that temp. I found condensation coming in the flue from outside as the warm air was melting the snow drift that had built up on the outside at the clean out. It also created a big ice block as the snow refroze...Shoveling the snow away didnt help as it would just build up again within a day....so this spring I have to look at ways to stop the snow from drifting against this area. Any helpful hints appreciated!

I tried all the usual advice like warming the flue, using a torch to warm the inside of the stove to get some convection going..only to smoke my basement up. 🙄

The in laws came down from the north who have a wood stove, showed me how to get it lit with little to no smoke inside...how to feed it air with the door open, close it to give to push the air up until the chimney has warmed, etc. So since then we've had no issues with it. Either at minus 20 or minus 5. I think its just practice and seeing it done a few times. I also found opening one of the basement windows to allow the air pressure to equalize helped a lot. If the furnace turns on, there are return air ducts in the basement, and I'm sure that doesnt help starving the fire place by creating a slight negative air pressure...opening the window gave it a fighting chance to reverse the air flow in the flue instead of fighting the draw in.

We dont run it 24/7. Aside from ideas about protecting the base of the chimney outside from snow/ice buildup when not in use...is also any ideas about plugging up the flue at the foundation wall location when not in use. I can always disconnect the flue, jam some roxul in there to stop the cold from coming in, and stop the thermal bridging

Your description is typical of a basement stove with a horizontal run, your right the height of the insulated chimney plays a major roll but all factors contribute, experience using it will help a lot. Even so I am suspecting yours will be tempermental. As this winter is almost over I suggest using it as is through one full winter to gauge its performance, and performance through all conditions. Experience through the good the bad and ugly is what you need.
If then you want to make some impovements there is lots you can do, though I suspect you won t want to make alterations to the stove itself, so that reduces some option...I will try to find some pic's of external things you can do that will help. One question...does this model have a bypass door?
I think a picture of this area where the snow builds up on is needed before anyone can comment.

I looks like my old laptop had the pic's of some stove mods and I cant get it to power up, I only have a pic of one thing on this laptop so I will post it.
I asked if you had a bypass door as if you don't you have more than 5 feet of horizontal run, think about it, lets say your stove is 20 inches deep. You are trying to start your fire...the smoke rises, hits the top shelf, is directed 12 to 16 inches towards the front of the stove (horizontaly) then it has to change direction 180 degrees and travel another 12 to 16 inches towards the back of the stove( again horizontaly) now with a warm or hot stove no problem, but trying to light from cold., often a problem. you can add a bypass door if your handy, or you can add blower fan on the air input to insure the stove always has positive pressure to push the smoke through. In your case pick up a 120 volt ac muffin fan with a high cfm as the picture shows where I am putting one in. when you use your stove just turn it on, you can now keep your door closed when lighting and just open your air control wide, when the fires taken off just close your air control a bit. I really think adding its own fresh air supply is something you should consider in your case, its easy, Id go straight to the thimble going through the wall, drill a 4 inch opening on the bottom and you can even use the flexable aluminium drier vent pipe to bring the fresh air down to the back of your stove, you may (depending on construction of the thimble ) have to open up the external side of the thimble a bit so the air can move more freely through it.

I still am not clear about this problem you describe of water running in but in thinking about it it sounds like you just need a drip lip of some type on your pipe, run a silicone bead on the bottom 1/2 of the underside of you stove pipe, the water runs to it and drips off at this point.

Here is a shot from inside and outside.

The downspout is getting moved in the spring, and a window well is going in during the spring also when the frost is out of the ground. I originally thought it was water from the downspout that had iced up around the base...but this was all frozen even before the wood stove was in and during the -20 fiasco Ontario got. 🙂 What I really need is a way to keep the cold air from getting in through the chimney and foundation wall. Basically when the wood stove is not in use..I might as well have an open hole to the outside. Thats also where the warm air from the interior starts melting the outside snow allowing water to creep in. Its a small amount, but still annoying.

I dont see where the picture you posted peppercorn is located wrt the stove. The bypass is a new concept to me and I'm starting from scratch. If you can post a few photos of it and how it works I could probably mimic it. Anything that eases start up is much appreciated.

Ok now I think I understand what you mean about cold air getting in. There is a gap between the silver insulated pipe and foundation wall. This should not be a problem to fix, I would maybe use fiberglass insulation to stuff in around the crack, then seal on the outside with Silicone. I cant imagine the gap is big. There is another product, I haven't used it in decades so I cant remember the name but it is a type of putty, it stays flexable, and you could press fit it into the gaps to seal them. done from both the inside and out should stop cold air.

Forget what I said about fresh air from the thimble, you have something different than I thought.

I don't have any pics of a bypass door, its just a hinged piece of steel that you can lift up and it lets the smoke go straight up the chiminey for when you are lighting it. I have built and added one to a wood stove before, it is a serious project/mod to add so I would do other things first like the blower fan.The one I built was a plate attached to a rod I could pull and the plate would slid forward uncovering a a roughly 3x 5 inch hole I cut in the shelf below the chimney. I may try to take a pic of one but from inside the stove I don't know if it will turn out.

Again though, serious changes should only be undertaken (other than a simple blower for air) after you have a few seasons of experience using your model, use and observation of how it acts under what conditions is important.

Your complaint of hard starting and smoke coming back into the room is absolutey typical of a basement instulation where the chimney doesn't make a straight run vertical. The other times that this happens with stoves it usually means you need to clean your chimney.