[Greenbuilding] firewood moisture content

[nick pine]

Corwyn wrote:

>... the only way the water vapor is going into the room rather than up the 
>chimney is if the fireplace is *very* open

Not true. I've often thought about making a condensing chimney, which 
Norbert says might raise a woodstove's efficiency 15%...

My Englander woodstove has a very short chimney without much draft, so I 
added a Heat Miser with a fan that blows room air through horizontal pipes 
in the chimney pipe and a dryer duct that pushes some of the Heat Miser 
output air into the woodstove outdoor air inlet (a 3" nipple) which 
increases the draft and the heat output.

The next step might be to turn on the Heat Miser fan with a room temp 
thermostat...

The next step might be to extend the 6" chimney pipe 10' inside an 8" Heat 
Miser outlet pipe to make a condensing counterflow air-air heat exchanger. 
This could have a stainless steel inner pipe and a CO detector in the room, 
in case the woodstove is not completely airtight.

Nick