How good is hemlock to burn for heatig your house as to other firewood types?

Answer 1

Answer

Here is a list of 50 or so different woods and their BTU/cord output. Hemlock ranks right below pine and comes in at 39th on the list.

http:/www.chimneysweeponline.com/howood.htm

ALTERNATE ANSWER

Hemlock, like pine, spruce and other evergreen trees is dangerous to use for heating your house. The amount of creosote buildup in the chimney caused by burning these woods puts your house and your family in great danger from chimney fires. In addition, the sparks from evergreen trees can be dangerous as they go up the chimney and land on flammable areas of the house or yard. Evergreen sparks can burn a long time.

REPLY TO ALTERNATE ANSWER:

Any wood is safe to burn as long as it is seasoned. Creosote forms because of moisture content and colder temperatures up in your chimney. It has has nothing to do with wood type or sap. For example, what tree is tapped for sap? That's right, maple.

I've supplemented my wood burning with hemlock for years and have never had a problem. No matter what wood your burn, you should sweep your chimney at least three times through the heating season. Anyway, hemlock has its redeeming values. First it seasons quickly. Second, it is great for getting the fire going (kindling and intermediate wood). Third, you can burn it on warmer fall, winter or spring days when you don't want the house to be 100 degrees because the coals don't last as long as hardwood. Also hemlock in a wood stove pops and crackles nicely. Mix it in with some hardwood and have a nice ambient fire that crackles and pops.

The only potential danger with hemlock is the fact that it does pop and crackle nicely. If you are getting your firebox up to temperature with a lot of hemlock and you open your wood stove door, be careful. Hemlock throws sparks and pops off embers. Sometimes violently.

In any event, it is a fine wood and has its place in heating my home.

Re-Reply

Having grown up in a small town in Maine beside the fire station, I can attest to the number of winter chimney fires due to people burning evergreen wood, pine, hemlock, cedar etc. The problems are:

1. Most people are not as fastidious as you are in cleaning their chimney three times a buring season. Most people barely clean it once a year.

2. Most people won't season it properly (leaving it outside on the ground in the shade under the porch etc does not season it)

3. No matter how much you season it, you are only reducing its water content, not its pitch content. That snap crackle and pop which you enjoy is all the pitch exploding. And those sparks can go up the chimney and burn quite a while out in the air.

4. Most people will not take the time (or have the skill) to work the fire correctly to keep the heat of the fire hot enough. There are times (beginning of the fire and end of the fire) when the heat is too low to sufficiently burn all the pitch residue

5. And most people don't have a fire insert that burns the gases longer.

Therefore, I stand by my first answer for the general public.

THE TOPIC CONTINUES:

Thank you for your reply. This debate is very important. But again, cresote has nothing to do with pitch, sap, or wood type. There is lots of info on the web regarding how creosote forms. Here are just a couple of links:

http:/hearth.com/econtent/index.php/articles/creosote_from_wood_burning_causes_and_solutions

http:/www.mastersweep.com/CREO.HTM

Credible creosote discussions never mention wood-type as the culprit. It is wood moisture and cool flue temps.

It's not my favorite, Hemlock, but I use being it's abundant where I live. Doug Fir or Maple then Alder followed by Hemlock.Cedar is a good hot burning wood but tends to snap crackle and pop abit and burns fast. I don't if I would classify wood as dangerous, well maybe when your falling them : ). Here's some other species I wouldn't consider unless it's the only choice, Cotton wood, Popular, all you end up with is stove full of ash and a little heat. On chimney cleaning. I have a real masonry chimney and burn dry wood pretty hot and I've cleaned my chimney once in 20 years and it wasn't to bad. I think when people start choking down the fire for a slow burn is when they run into the creosote issue along with burning wet wood.

cheers