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Drolet Escape 1800-I Wood Stove Insert Trio (25ft) DB03127K

Drolet Escape 1800-I Wood Stove Insert Trio (25ft) DB03127K is a premium heating solution engineered to bring high efficiency and modern aesthetics to your h...

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What Is the Most Efficient Way to Burn Wood?

There is nothing more romantic than the orange-red embers of a fire slowly burning in the fireplace during a cold winter night. The warmth of a fireplace brings a rich, natural heat that only comes from burning firewood. Most homes built today have replaced the natural log fireplace with gas fireplaces. Gas fireplaces are often much less efficient and run the potential risk of filtering carbon monoxide into your home, especially if you opt for a ventless fireplace.

Does your home have a fireplace and a chimney, or are you thinking about installing a small wood-burning stove or fireplace into your home? Some tricks of the trade will allow you to maximize the heat that comes from burning wood. Learning the agrarian art of properly cutting, storing, and burning wood is a great way to sustainably heat a home or add a bit of extra warmth without having to turn up the thermostat.

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By Tobias Roberts, Rise Writer

Apr 7, 2025 · 5 min read

Get the Right Wood

The chances are that your grandparents could walk through the woods and tell you which trees were suitable for burning and which were practically useless. To the modern-day urban person, a tree is a tree. Over time, many of us have lost contact with the natural world and have "outsourced" our needs. This outsourcing has led to the loss of a wide variety of agricultural and outdoor skills and knowledge that used to be a necessity for survival.

What Is the Best Firewood for Heat?

When it comes to wood for burning, the white pine or spruce tree in your backyard that blew over during a windy storm won't offer you near the same amount of heat value as beach, oak, or ash trees. BTUs are the unit of measure for heat produced by different types of firewood. Eastern hardwood trees, such as Osage orange, shagbark hickory, and black locust, have some of the highest BTU values of any variety of wood. This attribute means that they will burn longer and hotter and vastly increase the amount of heat in your home.

You can research the BTU values of several types of popular tree species here.

How to Stack Firewood Wood

You can always order a truckload of pre-cut firewood, or you might want to spend a weekend cutting the logs and splitting them yourself with an ax in hand. Either way, learning how to stack firewood properly is essential to keep it dry, mold-free, and fireplace-ready. Simply put, wet wood isn't going to burn nearly as well as dry wood.

Ideally, you want to end up with wood that has a moisture content of about 20%. This moisture level is best achieved by effective stacking. Proper stacking of wood protects it from moisture (from above and below) and maximizes airflow to increase drying efficiency.

First, you need to choose a spot to stack your firewood where moisture naturally flows away instead of accumulating. Next, you will want to create two "towers" on either side of where you are stacking the cord of wood you just cut to help stabilize it in place. Tip: most of the drying will occur from the cut ends of the wood. Wind patterns usually blow in an east/west direction. So, you will want to organize your stack so that your firewood ends are facing east/west instead of north/south.

Finally, you will want to stack the wood in intermittent sizes and shapes to amplify the number of air passages that can pass through the wood. While it might be a good idea to cover the top of your finished woodpile when you expect rain, you do not want to protect it completely. If you were to do this, you would eliminate any airflow. Thus, it is best only to cover the top of your woodpile while leaving the sides exposed.

What is a Cord of Firewood?

When purchasing firewood, you generally buy it by the "cord" or fraction of a cord. This commonly accepted unit of measure is equal to 128 stacked cubic feet. This volume corresponds to a neatly piled stack of wood that measures four feet high by four feet deep by eight feet long. Another well-known measure, the "face cord," is a neatly piled stack of wood measuring four feet high by eight feet long by 16 inches deep.

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Drolet Escape 1800-I Wood Stove Insert Trio (25ft) DB03127K

What Is the Most Efficient Way to Burn Wood?

Get the Right Wood

What Is the Best Firewood for Heat?

How to Stack Firewood Wood

What is a Cord of Firewood?

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Tobias Roberts

Get the Right Wood

What Is the Best Firewood for Heat?

How to Stack Firewood Wood

What is a Cord of Firewood?

How To Start a Fire Safely

Ideas for Efficient Burning

What Are Some Alternatives to Fireplaces?