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Bob F

J Burns wrote:
On 10/23/14, 4:19 PM, Oren wrote:
On Thu, 23 Oct 2014 12:56:59 -0700 (PDT), wrote:

I live in NW Washington. It rains a lot here, 69 inches so far this
year, so my firewood never gets real dry. Consequently, it produces
a lot of smoke. Compounding the problem is the length of the
chimney; the distance from the top of the stove to the top of the
chimney above the roof is almost 25 feet. I clean the chimney at
least once every year and sometimes twice. Opening the stove door
almost always allows some smoke to escape unless the fire is really
hot and often a really hot fire is not necessary. So I'm stuck with
a smoky house. Is there some way (mechanical or otherwise) of
creating a good draft when it's necessary to open the stove door?

Do you stack the wood on a rack, keep it off the ground and cover it
with a tarpaulin while it seasons? That enhances moisture removal so
it burns more efficiently, less smoke, and better BTU.

If it's under an overhang on the sunny side of a building, the sun and
wind can help drying. If on two or three occasions when you reach
into the wood pile, you get a little bite and don't know what it was,
take care. The fourth time, the copperhead may run out of patience.

Copperheads are not a major problem in NW Washington.

OP, you do have some kind of cover over the wood to prevent direct rainfall on
it, don't you? I built a frame with corrugated metal over mine and my wood gets
very dry here in Seattle.