How to Choose Firewood

With new Australian standards introduced recently, slow combustion fires burn more efficiently today than ever before.

This makes the quality of firewood more important to ensure the fire does not burn inefficiently and produces excessive emissions.

How long a tree has been felt or dead for does not indicate how dry the wood us. Trees have a natural ability to survive through bushfires and extreme heat.

When a tree dies and falls over, the outside of the wood will naturally close trapping any moisture inside the tree.

The best way to dry the wood is to split it and expose the inner core to the sun and wind to dry the wood naturally.

Good wood marchants will split the wood for you but they might not season it for you. It is your job to dry the wood.

The amount you pay for your wood does not justify how dry the wood is. It will usually dictate the quality of the wood you’re buying.

The ONLY way to know how dry your wood is, is to use a Wood Moisture Meter.

To use a Wood Moisture Meter, firstly expose the inner core of your split wood and then push the probes into the core and it will give you the precise measurement of the moisture inside your firewood. Do NOT push the probes in the outer side of the wood as this will not tell an accurate measurement of the moisture.

ONLY burn wood on a 20% moisture, anything over this has too much moisture and won’t burn correctly. If you do burn wood over a 20% moisture, your heater won’t work correctly producing less heat as the energy of the fire is used to remove moisture and not to produce heat for your house.

• The glass will go black
• Creosote will build up inside your chimney which is a major fire hazard.

Store your wood at least for 12 months after you’ve had it delivered. Your wood should be a perfect moisture measurement of about 15% to 20%.

NEVER burn treated pine or painted wood and this way you’ll have a perfect wood fire.

And that’s it, you’ll now have a beautiful, clean burning fire to enjoy.