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Joined: Jan 2011
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OP
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Just threw a large heavy piece of oak in the wood stove. Within about 5 minutes, the whole house had a sickly sweet smell. Never had this happen.
It's Live Oak, and is supposed to have been split about a year ago. This is out of a cord I purchased since I couldn't split enough last spring. Guy is very trustworthy, so unless he made a mistake, I believe him about how long ago it was split. Although, it was rather heavy for a year old.
I'm not overly concerned about it. Just curious. Anyone have any idea? Wood stove is old, gaskets are in good shape, and it's been working fine.
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Joined: Apr 2010
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Campfire Tracker
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Campfire Tracker
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He sold you piss-elm.
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Joined: Feb 2005
Posts: 2,979
Campfire Regular
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Campfire Regular
Joined: Feb 2005
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Oak can sit for years and not dry til it is split. You can tell whrn you pick it up if it's wet.
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Joined: Jan 2011
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OP
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Well, I don't think it's wet. If it is, not much. I've burned wet oak before.
This is just a weird sickening sweet smell it had. It didn't bother me as much as the ol'lady. Said it almost made her nauseous. And that don't happen easily.
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Joined: Feb 2009
Posts: 10,960 Likes: 7
Campfire Outfitter
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Campfire Outfitter
Joined: Feb 2009
Posts: 10,960 Likes: 7 |
If you have proper draft I can't see how you could smell anything burning in a stove? I run my pretty much non stop 4-5 months out of the year and other than the first burn after a chimney cleaning and the summer off, there is no smell.
They say everything happens for a reason. For me that reason is usually because I've made some bad decisions that I need to pay for.
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Joined: May 2009
Posts: 5,628
Campfire Tracker
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Campfire Tracker
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Yea, it's time to run your stove wide open for an hour or so. You shouldn't be able to smell anything.
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Joined: Sep 2004
Posts: 35,293
Campfire 'Bwana
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Campfire 'Bwana
Joined: Sep 2004
Posts: 35,293 |
Oak is so horribly slow to "dry"
Might have to open the draft a little extra, feed it a little more air to get the flue temp up.
Something clever here.
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Joined: Jan 2011
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OP
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Thanks for the answers. I don't get smoke in the house. Normally get no smell at all. The fire had been going for a couple hours and it was very hot.
It was just this one piece that produced that smell.
After that piece burned for a while, it quit producing a smell. It's not that cold out so that was the last piece of wood I used for the night. I'm gonna use some wood out of that same cord tonight and see what happens.
Oh, and it was cleaned at the end of last season and this is only about one week into using it.
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Joined: Sep 2004
Posts: 35,293
Campfire 'Bwana
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Campfire 'Bwana
Joined: Sep 2004
Posts: 35,293 |
What kind of oak?
Our local native oak is a red oak with a very thick, rough, semi corky bark on it. I don't like that bark. Messy schit.
Something clever here.
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Joined: Aug 2005
Posts: 26,337
Campfire Ranger
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Campfire Ranger
Joined: Aug 2005
Posts: 26,337 |
it might have been invaded by a fungus, that is mushrooms, but it's just a guess.
usually combustion of white oak has a "sweeter:" smell, at least to me, compared to a redoak.
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Joined: Jan 2011
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OP
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Campfire 'Bwana
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Campfire 'Bwana
Joined: Sep 2004
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Does not compute. They actually call it "live oak"?
Something clever here.
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Joined: Dec 2006
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Campfire Regular
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Campfire Regular
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its a thick brush down in Texas
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Joined: Jan 2012
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Campfire Member
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Campfire Member
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Live Oak Your Google-Fu needs some work.
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Joined: Sep 2004
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Campfire 'Bwana
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Campfire 'Bwana
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Something clever here.
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Joined: Jan 2011
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Campfire Tracker
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OP
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Actually, it's not THAT Live Oak.
More specifically, it's Canyon Live Oak. It's specific to California I believe.
This whole thread got me researching. Didn't know there were over 60 types of Oak throughout the US and they all seem to be a bit different.
Anyway, we call it Live Oak. But it's really Canyon Live Oak. The other type, and most common, we have and burn is Black Oak. Haven't checked yet, but I'm betting there's more to that species too.
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