What does Kiln dried mean?

Kiln Dried means that firewood has been treated in a timber drying kiln which heats the logs to a high temperature for some time. This process will literally cook the excess moisture from the logs. At Firewood Ireland.ie, our logs have a moisture content below 20%. Kiln Dried logs are a much cleaner log to burn as the Kiln not only dries the wood, it also kills any mould and insects in your logs.

Do you delivery nationwide?

Yes.

What size are your logs?

1m3 pallets have 25cm logs.

1.5m3 pallets have 30cm logs.

2m3 pallets have 25cm logs.

What payment methods are accepted?

We accept all major credit and debit cards. Payment can be taken over the phone or direct on our secure FirewoodIreland.ie website.

How do I know that the wood is dry?

1. There should be visible cracks on the end of the wood and this will tell you how well the wood is dried.

2. If you bang the logs together, a hollow sound will be created if they are dry, it will be a dull thud otherwise.

3. If you have an efficient stove, dry wood will burn cleanly. If not dry enough the glass will go black and there will be buildup of soot and tar in the flue or chimney.

What does BTU stand for?

BTU stands British Thermal Unit and it is a measure of ENERGY. 

1 BTU is equal to the amount of energy needed to raise 1 pound of water by 1 degree Fahrenheit. 

What type of wood do you stock?

At Firewood Ireland, we stock only the highest quality HARDWOOD, premium Kiln Dried ASH.

What’s the difference between hardwood and softwood?

Hardwoods are very dense and they have more BTU's (= heat) per volume as compared to softwoods. They will burn longer and release a good amount of heat. For all practical purposes hardwoods are the best choice for firewood. 

Some hardwoods are better to burn than others. Other quality burning hardwoods include: Beech, Birch and Hickory. Although most hardwoods do burn well, there are a few that do not. Elm, Popular & Sycamore are among a few hardwoods that have poor burning characteristics.

Softwoods are less dense than hardwoods and tend to burn very quickly. They are good for starting a fire but will release a low amount of BTU's (= heat) per volume. If you do burn softwoods as firewood the following are the best choices: Doug Fir, Yellow Pine and Spruce. Most softwoods are best used as kindling.

Caution – 

• Do not get caught out thinking you are buying Hardwood when really you are buying Softwood! 
• Do not get caught out buying unseasoned wood when you think you are buying Kiln Dried wood. You will literally be paying for the water content of those logs and if you are paying by weight, this can be a costly mistake. 

How much wood would I use in a season?

A tricky question to answer as it will depend on so many factors:

• The efficiency of your stove
• The size of your property
• How well insulated your property is.
• How often you use the stove
• The quality of the wood that you use
• How cold it is
• Method in which your burn your wood (open fire, stove etc.)
• Correct control of your air supply with your stove

To give you some idea, assuming you are using the most efficient fuel – kiln dried, then in an average year you are likely to use 3-4 cubic meters of firewood. Remember that you will use significantly more wood if it is not dry because it provides far less heat energy therefore you need a lot more wood.

Can air drying achieve the same moisture content as kiln drying?

NO!  Air drying will never achieve the low moisture contents that we can with our Firewood Ireland Kiln Drying process.

Why is it bad to burn unseasoned firewood?

Burning wet firewood is extremely bad for your stove A large amount of energy (heat) is used to burn off the water contained in wet firewood so unseasoned logs give off very poor amounts of heat. This in turn will have a knock on effect to your entire flue system. A low heat output means that your stove is not working as efficiently as it should and as such the draw of the flue is affected. With a poor draw, fire gases that should have been expelled out the top of your chimney, linger in your flue for too long and cool. This cooling of the fire gases is what leads to a chimney becoming blocked with soot, tar and creosote. A blocked chimney can be deadly and can cause toxic gases to flood into your home if not addressed. A leading cause of chimney fires can be linked to this process also. 

What is the Chimney Effect?

Consider the gas temperature inside your flue is 140° C. The outside ambient air temperature is around say 30° C. Consider this as two air columns connect at the bottom. The high density and heavier cold air will be always pushing the low density and lighter hot gases up. This causes the natural flow of gases up the flue gas stack. This pressure difference that pushes the hot gas up the flue gas stack or the chimney is the 'chimney or stack effect'