willow in stove...

crackcrack30

Anyone got to the stage yet where they are burning willow from a planned plantation in a stove....?

webels

Not from a planned plantation, but regularly burn willow and find it excellent. It certainly will not burn as long as Ash and some of the other hardwoods but its speed of growth is its huge advantage. I currently burn thinnings, which I am trying to coppice as best I can from hedgerows.

I will begin a 5/6 year rotation this winter on a quarter acre to start with and take it from there.

I find it dries quite quickly to about half its weight (certainly within the same year). Overall I think its a great option for a stove. Have read some good posts from Reilig where he describes using willow in his gasification setup.

reilig

As Webels said, I'm at the stage where I am almost burning 100% willow in my gasifying boiler and I'm finding it great. I do burn a small amount in a stanley errigal range mixed with turf and it is good too - burns a little fast, but massive heat out of it.

Currently burning willow in the gasifyer that was cut in september 2011, sawed and dried. It was from a bog that I was reclaiming. Some of the willow was growing in water and although the wood is very dry, it doesn't burn as well as the stuff that was growing on terra ferma. But when its all mixed together, its top notch for heating my house.

webels

Yeah I have also cut willow from the ditches around a bog, really wet stuff it is a seriously underrated fuel. Should get loads more this winter as there is a really overgrown bog that needs tidying up.

manjou

Started clearing round farm last year to try and manage the timber better as areas are going wild so want to end up with better timber in future. So have shed full with everything from willow to oak.Last night ended up with a mixture of willow and leylendis in stove.Burned a bit quick but heated the house nicely.My attitude to timber is if dried properly i will burn any timber in a stove because at price of oil cant afford to be picky.

Oldtree

I think most woods will be ok to burn. With my work I have taken down many different types of trees for customers and always brought some home to see how it burns. It all burns well when dry but some spark more than others, lelandii seems to spark quite a bit as does pine and sitka. Ash is always the best in my mind as no sparks and great heat, with sycamore a very good second. My father in law used a bit of oak I got for him, not so long ago, that was so dense it needed coal to get keep it going.

Burning any wood is a very good idea as it is simply carbon captures equals carbon released on combustion, with a small amount of exhaust in its local production (smaller if you use aspen and biodegradable chain oil) vs imported oil or coal with its vastly more carriage and production exhaust as well as the more immediate vast exhausts on combustion.

There is also the issue of carbon sequestered in the tree roots to be added to the plus side for burning locally produced wood.

Lelandii wood also makes for very good long lasting posts.