The moisture content of wood has, by far, the biggest effect on how much heat is released during burning. Any moisture in the wood has to boil away before the wood can burn. This has the effect of regulating the speed at which the wood burns but also reduces the amount of energy available to be released as useful heat.

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Burning logs that aren’t dry enough will create lots of tars and smoke. These tars can corrode the flue and build up to such a degree that they may catch fire. Logs that are too wet will also cause the glass in stoves to blacken.

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It is important that the moisture content of logs is both high enough to prevent them burning too quickly and low enough to cause them to burn cleanly and energy-efficiently.

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The optimum moisture content for firewood logs is below 20%.

All our logs have a moisture content of below 20%.

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Kiln dried v seasoned logs

Seasoned logs

The traditional method of reducing the moisture in wood is to stack it and allow it to air-dry. This is called “seasoning”. It can take up to two years and uses a lot of space. As the demand for firewood logs increases this method of drying is becoming less practical year on year.

Seasoned wood will only dry down to a certain moisture content and can carry moulds, spores and insects into the home.

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Kiln dried logs

During kiln-drying logs are subjected to high temperatures and increased air-flow hence the moisture content of kiln-dried logs can be reduced to a much lower level than that of seasoned logs.

Kiln drying only takes a few days and moulds, spores and insects do not survive the process. This means that kiln dried logs are much cleaner for bringing into the home.

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All our logs are kiln-dried to below 20% moisture content

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